ut."

"I am getting along very well--I don't need any kind of help from any
one, at present," said Lottie coldly.

"You're mighty inderpendent fer a bit of a girl; but when you come to
find out jest how you air fixed, you may change your tune," and Mart
Highton grinned maliciously.

Lottie made no answer, and he continued:

"We come to you, my wife an' I did, to let you know that this place
_belongs to us_; but, not wishin' to be too hard on you, we offered you
the privilege of stayin' on here with us till you could make some other
'rangements. I told my wife to be easy on you, an' not break the news
too suddint, but she didn't seem to work it jest right. So the next best
plan is to come out plain an' let you know exactly how you're situated."

"I'd like to know, if there's anything I don't understand," said Lottie,
so quietly that Mr. Highton looked rather astonished at the way she was
taking the matter.

"Wal, then, this is the way the business stands. When your father
settled down here, an' entered his quarter-section, he jest made a
mistake an' put his improvements on the wrong quarter. Nobody didn't
happen to discover the mistake, fer folks wasn't comin' in here to no
great extent; but, now a railroad is bein' talked of, people is lookin'
after things middlin' sharp. I found out how it was 'tother day, when I
was over to the land office, an' I jest clipped in an' filed on it
quicker'n a wink. So now I'm goin' to come right along an' take
possession. You kin stay, as I said afore, 'till you kin make other
'rangements--_purvided_ you're a mind to make yourself agreeable! 'Taint
everybody as would be so easy on you, you must remember!"

"No, _it is not_ every one who would try to rob helpless children,"
answered Lottie, scornfully. "I do not believe a single word of your
story. You have prepared a scheme to rob us of our home--to drive us
away from the only shelter we have; but you will not succeed in your
wicked plans. I intend to keep possession here, until father comes back,
and will defend his home against claim jumpers as long as there is life
in my body."

Lottie had risen as she made this declaration, and stood cool and
resolute before the man whom she knew had determined to drive her out of
her father's house. Her cheeks glowed, her eyes gleamed, her form seemed
taller by an inch, and she looked quite unlike the bright-faced, merry
girl that she usually was.

Eva clung to her hand and looked up at h