"Zane Grey - Betty Zane" - читать интересную книгу автора (Grey Zane)

to little. Let us hurry."

"I did not save him. It was the dog," Alfred made haste to answer.

They carried the dripping form to the house, where the door was opened by Mrs.
Zane.

"Oh, dear, another poor man," she said, pityingly. Then, as she saw his face,
"Great Heavens, it is Isaac! Oh! don't say he is dead!"

"Yes, it is Isaac, and he is worth any number of dead men yet," said Colonel
Zane, as they laid the insensible man on the couch. "Bessie, there is work
here for you. He has been shot."

"Is there any other wound beside this one in his arm?" asked Mrs. Zane,
examining it.

"I do not think so, and that injury is not serious. It is lose of blood,
exposure and starvation. Clarke, will you please run over to Captain Boggs and
tell Betty to hurry home! Sam, you get a blanket and warm it by the fire.
That's right, Bessie, bring the whiskey," and Colonel Zane went on giving
orders.

Alfred did not know in the least who Betty was, but, as he thought that
unimportant, he started off on a run for the fort. He had a vague idea that
Betty was the servant, possibly Sam's wife, or some one of the Colonel's
several slaves.

Let us return to Betty. As she wheeled her pony and rode away from the scene
of her adventure on the river bluff, her state of mind can be more readily
imagined than described. Betty hated opposition of any kind, whether
justifiable or not; she wanted her own way, and when prevented from doing as
she pleased she invariably got angry. To be ordered and compelled to give up
her ride, and that by a stranger, was intolerable. To make it all the worse
this stranger had been decidedly flippant. He had familiarly spoken to her as
"a pretty little girl." Not only that, which was a great offense, but he had
stared at her, and she had a confused recollection of a gaze in which
admiration had been ill disguised. Of course, it was that soldier Lydia had
been telling her about. Strangers were of so rare an occurrence in the little
village that it was not probable there could be more than one.

Approaching the house she met her brother who told her she had better go
indoors and let Sam put up the pony. Accordingly, Betty called the negro, and
then went into the house. Bessie had gone to the fort with the children. Betty
found no one to talk to, so she tried to read. Finding she could not become
interested she threw the book aside and took up her embroidery. This also
turned out a useless effort; she got the linen hopelessly twisted and tangled,
and presently she tossed this upon the table. Throwing her shawl over her
shoulders, for it was now late in the afternoon and growing chilly, she walked
downstairs and out into the Yard. She strolled aimlessly to and fro awhile,