Halsey's
presence without a painful encounter.
"The ol' thing shook me till my teeth rattled!" wailed Jim Henderson,
etc.
"Sarves yuh right! What cha be'n up t', any way?" retorted Mrs. Halsey,
the hope of dinner still lingering, but growing dim as Sary did not
return.
Fortunately, for the general peace of all concerned, Mr. Brewster drove
up to the porch, on his way to Oak Creek. His wife's beseeching look
appealed to him understandingly.
"Good morning, Mrs. Halsey. Ah hear you-all are inviting folks to the
dance at the school house. Want me to give you a lift to Jamison's
ranch--he hasn't been invited yet!"
"Why, Ah figgered goin' thar after dinner. Be you-all goin' off before
yuh eat?"
"Ah am not sure when we will have dinner to-day, the young ladies are
so engaged with riding, you see."
The moment the Halsey scions heard mention of "dinner" they clung to
their mother's skirts and whined: "We-all wanta stay to dinnerr! Don't
cha go widdout dinnerr!"
"Why not give the children some cake, mother, and then Mrs. Halsey can
have a bite with Jamison. He can lift her on to the next ranch, too,"
suggested Mr. Brewster.
Mrs. Brewster instantly acquiesced and ran to cut three generous
triangles of cake, while her husband came up and lifted Sally up into
the deep wagon. Before any of the Halsey family could protest, he had
turned, lifted Jim Henderson up beside his sister and then asked the
visitor if he could help her up to the seat.
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