nd call out. Cristy shouted in to her and with many strange
Icelandic expressions of astonishment Mrs. Thorlakson came to the door
and let her in.

The kind-hearted woman's appearance in a flaming red canton-flannel
nightgown, her hair comically "done up" for the night, was grotesque.
But Cristy did not laugh. Instead, she asked for Thorlakson and cried
out in dismay to learn that he was not there--that he had taken the
handcar and had gone off with the two Norwegians to visit Bilodeau, the
foreman on the section below.

Cristy poured out her story, at least as much of it as she thought
would convey the urgency of the situation; but it was rather difficult
to make the woman grasp it, Mrs. Thorlakson's English being somewhat
limited, while the girl had no knowledge whatever of Icelandic. At
last she gave it up.

"May I have some biscuits or something from the pantry?" she asked, and
at the woman's nod she rummaged around among crocks and pans in search
of portable edibles. She stuffed a handful of stale doughnuts inside
her shirtwaist, together with a lump of cheese.

Mrs. Thorlakson stood at the door with the lamp held high in one hand,
peering in upon these operations in dumb wonderment. When she finally
realized that the girl purposed setting off along the track on foot,
she became loud in her protests. Cristy made out that she was anxious
about the sprained ankle; but this was so entirely better that it had
given her no trouble at all so far and she merely laughed away the good
woman's fears and, with a hasty good-bye, ran out of the house and
disappeared in the dark. For several minutes Mrs. Thorlakson continued
to stand in the doorway, the lamp above her head, her face shining in
the mellow glow with a queer mixture of apprehension and mystification.
These city people were beyond her comprehension.

Cristy hesitated a moment as to which direction she should take. She
knew that Indian Creek was west and she knew also that she and Kendrick
had walked that eastern stretch of track for miles and miles. She
turned west.

At first she ran, experiencing a thrill of satisfaction that her ankle
seemed to be almost as good as it ever was. Lack of breath soon
slackened her pace to a walk. There was a long trudge ahead of her
before she could hope to reach the station above and the wisdom of
conserving her energies was evident. She had no idea how far away the
station might be--possibly a couple of miles; mo