e cabin door, so that there was a
good fire blazing on the earthen hearth. But the rotting, falling logs
of the cabin's walls were far apart, the mud which had once made them
snug having dropped out; and the chilly, rising wind blew bitterly
through the miserable hut. The covers on the bed were few and thin,
although Father Orin had spread Toby's blanket over them. The three
little white faces lying in a pathetic row on the ragged pillows, lay so
still that the doctor was not sure they were alive, till the oldest
child, a boy of three, languidly opened his eyes, looked up unseeingly,
and wearily closed them again.

There was a tightening in the doctor's throat when he turned away, and
he was glad to smile at Father Orin's housekeeping. The priest certainly
had left nothing in his power undone, to keep life in the frail little
bodies. On the hearth was such food as he had been able to prepare,
carefully covered to keep it warm. As the young man's gaze thus wandered
sadly about the cabin, his eyes encountered the old man's. The laughter
with which he was fighting emotion died on his lips, and their hands met
in a close clasp.

"The poor little things!" the young man said. "Ah, Father, it is wild
work--this making of a state. The soil of Kentucky should bear a rich
harvest. It is being deeply sown in pain and sorrow, and well-watered
with tears and blood."

They stood silent for a moment, looking helplessly at the bed and the
little white faces.

"What shall we do?" then asked Father Orin. "These children can't stay
here through another night. That wind blows right over the bed, and
there is no way to keep it out. They could hardly live till morning. And
yet they may die on the way if we try to take them to the Sisters at
once."

"That is their only chance. We are bound to take the risk. We must do
our best to get them to the Sisters as quickly as possible. Women know
better than doctors how to take care of babies. What is there to put
round them--to wrap them in?"

There were no wrappings, nothing that could be used for the purpose,
except the bed covers and Toby's blanket. The men took these and with
awkward tenderness covered the helpless, limp little bodies as well as
they could. Father Orin then went out of the cabin, and with a nod
summoned Toby to do his part. When the priest was seated in the saddle,
the doctor turned back to the bed, and lifting one of the three limp
little burdens, carried it out and care