nd of how he himself had lost his legs.

Could she, by means of the rope, save the three precious things back
in that awful room--Bobbie, Happy Pete, and her fiddle?

To be once more under God's sun with the blue above gave her new
strength. Then she turned and crawled slowly back.

At the corner she grew faint-hearted. It must have been the gorge
below that made her breath come in catching sobs. But on and on she
went until through the window she could see Bobbie with Happy Pete
asleep in his arms. The child was still muttering over his little
prayers, his blind eyes rolling in bewildered anxiety.

Jinnie was very white when she sat down beside him. Putting her face
close to his, she brushed his cheek lovingly.

"Bobbie," she said, touching his hair with her lips, "how much do you
love Jinnie?"

"More'n all the world," replied Bobbie without hesitation.

"Then if you love me _that_ much, you'll do just what I tell you."

"Yes," Bobbie assured her under his breath.

Jinnie took a towel--she couldn't find a rope--and strapped the violin
to Bobbie's back.

"I've got to take my fiddle with me, dearie," she explained, "and I
can't carry it because I've got you. You can't carry it because you've
got to hold Happy Pete.... Now, then, come on!"

Jinnie drew the reluctant, trembling child to his feet and permitted
him to feel around the window-sash; she also held him tightly while he
measured the stone ledge with his fingers.

"I'm awful 'fraid," he moaned, drooping.

Jinnie feared he was going to have another fainting spell. To ward it
off, she said firmly:

"Bobbie, you want to see Lafe, don't you?"

"S'awful much," groaned Bobbie.

"Then don't hold your breath." She saw him stagger, and grasping him,
cried out "Breathe, Bobbie, breathe! We're going to Peggy."

Bobbie began to breathe naturally, and a beatific smile touched the
corners of his lips.

"I got so many stars to-day, Jinnie," he quavered, "one slipped right
down my throat."

"But you mustn't be scared again, Bobbie! If we stay, the black man'll
come back and shake you again and take us to some place that'll make
us both sick. You just keep on praying, and I will, too.... Now, then,
I'm going out, and when I say, 'Ready,' you crawl after me."

"What's that noise?" shivered Bobbie, clutching Happy Pete.

"It's water," answered Jinnie, "water in the gorge."

Bobbie's teeth chattered. "Do we have to jump in it?"

"No, I'm going to take you