-and dizzy. I believe I'm going
to faint," and he accordingly did so. Billy cut away the trousers from
Dic's wounded leg, disclosing a small round hole in the thigh. The blood
was issuing in ugly spurts, and at once Billy knew an artery had been
wounded. He tore the trousers leg into shreds and made a tourniquet
which he tied firmly above the wound and soon the haemorrhage was greatly
reduced. By the time the tourniquet was adjusted, Williams was well down
towards the river, and Billy called to him:--

"Go up the river to the first house and tell Mrs. Bright to send the man
down with the wagon. Perhaps if you assist us, the theory of the
accident will be more plausible."

Williams did as directed. Dic was taken home. Within an hour Kennedy,
summoned by an unwilling messenger, was by the wounded man's side. Billy
Little was watching with Dic's mother, anxious to hear the doctor's
verdict. There was still another anxious watcher, our pink and white
little nymph, Sukey, though the pink had, for the time, given way to the
white. She made no effort to conceal her grief, and was willing that all
who looked might see her love for the man who was lying on the bed
unconscious.

Williams remained with Bays's tenant till next day, and then returned to
Indianapolis, carrying the news of the "accident."

THE LOVE POWDER

CHAPTER XII

THE LOVE POWDER

Rita was with her mother when she received the terrible news. Of course
the accident was the theme of conversation, and Rita was in deep
trouble. Even Mrs. Bays was moved by the calamity that had befallen the
man whose face, since his early boyhood, had been familiar in her own
house. At first Rita made no effort to express her grief.

"It is too bad, too bad," was the extent of Mrs. Bays's comment. Taking
courage from even so meagre an expression of sympathy, Rita begged that
she might go home--she still called the banks of Blue her home--and help
Mrs. Bright nurse Dic. Mrs. Bays gazing sternly at the malefactor,
uttered the one word "No," and Rita's small spark of hope was
extinguished almost before it had been kindled.

Within a few days Billy Little went to see Rita, and relieved her of
anxiety concerning Dic. Before he left he told her that Sukey was
staying with Mrs. Bright and assisting in the nursing and the work.

"I have been staying there at night," said Billy, "and Sukey hangs about
the bed at all hours."

Billy did not wish to cause jealousy in Rita's