was a nice lady!"

Wesley lifted him and something in his manner of handling the child
infuriated Margaret. His touch was so gentle. She reached for Billy and
gripped his shirt collar in the back. Wesley's hand closed over hers.

"Gently, girl!" he said. "This little body is covered with sores."

"Sores!" she ejaculated. "Sores? What kind of sores?"

"Oh, they might be from bruises made by fists or boot toes, or they
might be bad blood, from wrong eating, or they might be pure filth. Will
you hand me some towels?"

"No, I won't!" said Margaret.

"Well, give me some rags, then."

Margaret compromised on pieces of old tablecloth. Wesley led Billy to
the cistern, pumped cold water into the tub, poured in a kettle of hot,
and beginning at the head scoured him. The boy shut his little teeth,
and said never a word though he twisted occasionally when the soap
struck a raw spot. Margaret watched the process from the window in
amazed and ever-increasing anger. Where did Wesley learn it? How could
his big hands be so gentle? He came to the door.

"Have you got any peroxide?" he asked.

"A little," she answered stiffly.

"Well, I need about a pint, but I'll begin on what you have."

Margaret handed him the bottle. Wesley took a cup, weakened the drug and
said to Billy: "Man, these sores on you must be healed. Then you must
eat the kind of food that's fit for little men. I am going to put some
medicine on you, and it is going to sting like fire. If it just runs
off, I won't use any more. If it boils, there is poison in these places,
and they must be tied up, dosed every day, and you must be washed, and
kept mighty clean. Now, hold still, because I am going to put it on."

"I think the one on my leg is the worst," said the undaunted Billy,
holding out a raw place. Sinton poured on the drug. Billy's body twisted
and writhed, but he did not run.

"Gee, look at it boil!" he cried. "I guess they's poison. You'll have to
do it to all of them."

Wesley's teeth were set, as he watched the boy's face. He poured the
drug, strong enough to do effective work, on a dozen places over that
little body and bandaged all he could. Billy's lips quivered at times,
and his chin jumped, but he did not shed a tear or utter a sound other
than to take a deep interest in the boiling. As Wesley put the small
shirt on the boy, and fastened the trousers, he was ready to reset the
hitching post and mend the fence without a word.

"Now am I cl