depart, "maybe George would like to hear about the thing
you've seen when he comes back." She paused on her way to the door,
and turned an earnest face upon the two girls. "Say, children, you
didn't see no blue lights, did ye?"

"No, mother Hephzy," said Alice sleepily. "There were no blue
lights."

"Ah," in a tone of relief. "There's no gainsaying the blue lights.
They're bad. It means death, children, death, does the blue
light--sure." And the good lady passed out of the room with the
shuffling gait which a pair of loose, heelless slippers contrived to
give her.

"Prue," said Alice, when the door had closed, "when are you going to
ask Robb to come?"

"As soon as possible, if you like."

"Thanks. Good-night, dear; mother Hephzy is a sweet old thing."

The two girls turned over, and in a few moments were sleeping soundly.
It would have taken more than the recollections of their adventures to
banish sleep from their tired eyes. They slept the sweet refreshing
sleep of those who have passed their waking hours in the strong,
bracing air of the prairie.

Two days later Hervey was abroad early. He was cleaning his guns
outside the back door of the house. Two weapons were lying upon a
large dust sheet which was spread out upon the ground. The guns were
in pieces, and each portion had been carefully oiled and wiped. He was
now devoting his attention to a heavy revolver.

Prudence was standing in the kitchen doorway watching her brother.
Andy was over by the barn superintending the dispatch of the teams to
the harvest fields; the hands were preparing to depart to their work.
Prudence's early morning work was in the creamery.

Hervey looked up from the weapon he was cleaning, and turned his great
eyes upon his sister.

"When is this fellow coming out here?" he asked in a tone of
irritation. His question was merely the result of his own train of
thought. He had not been speaking of any one in particular.

"Who? Robb Chillingwood?"

"Yes, of course. I've not heard of any one else's coming."

"We've asked him for a fortnight to-day. Why?"

Hervey ran the cleaning-rod through a couple of the chambers of the
pistol before he spoke again. The rag jammed in the barrel and
entailed a hard pull to extract it.

"Who asked him to come?" he went on, as he re-adjusted the piece of
rag in the eye of the rod.

"Mother did. He's a very nice fellow." Prudence looked over at the
parade of "Shire" teams as they started for th