forth, in the dimness swayed the body of
the woman, hushing her babe.

Almost as suddenly as the darkness had fallen, it lifted. The lightning
ceased to threaten, and almost frolicked,--little wayward flashes of
white and yellow dancing in mid-air. The wind wailed less frequently,
like a child who sobs in its sleep. And at last Henderson could make his
voice heard.

"Is there anything to build a fire with?" he shouted. "The children are
shivering so."

The woman pointed to a basket of buffalo chips in the corner, and he
wrapped his little companions up in a blanket while he made a fire in
the cooking-stove. The baby was sleeping by this time, and the woman
began tidying the cabin, and when the fire was burning brightly, she put
some coffee on.

"I wish I had some clothes to offer you," she said, when the wind had
subsided sufficiently to make talking possible. "I'm afraid you'll have
to let them get dry on you."

"Oh, that's of no consequence at all! We're lucky to get off with our
lives. I never saw anything so terrible. Fancy! half an hour ago it was
summer; now it is winter!"

"It seems rather sudden when you're not used to it," the woman admitted.
"I've lived in the West six years now; you can't frighten me any more.
We never die out here before our time comes."

"You seem to know that I haven't been here long," said Henderson, with
some chagrin.

"Yes," admitted the woman; "you have the ear-marks of a man from the
East."

She was a tall woman, with large blue eyes, and a remarkable quantity of
yellow hair braided on top of her head. Her gown was of calico, of such
a pattern as a widow might wear.

"I haven't been out of town a week yet," she said. "We're not half
settled. Not having any one to help makes it harder; and the baby is
rather fretful."

"But you're not alone with all these little codgers?" cried Henderson,
in dismay.

The woman turned toward him with a sort of defiance. "Yes, I am," she
said; "and I'm as strong as a horse, and I mean to get through all
right. Here were the three children in my arms, you may say, and no way
to get in a cent. I wasn't going to stand it just to please other folk.
I said, let them talk if they want to, but I'm going to hold down a
claim, and be accumulating something while the children are getting up a
bit. Oh, I'm not afraid!"

In spite of this bold assertion of bravery, there was a sort of break in
her voice. She was putting dishes on the table as she t