Through Forest and Fire | Page 7

said Nick, in bidding his sister good-by,
"that I won't be here much before four o'clock, so I will look out for
you and you can look out for me and I'll take you home."
Nellie said she would not forget, and walked cheerfully up the road,

singing a school song to herself.
The little girl, when early enough, stopped at the house of Mr. Marston,
whose girl Lizzie attended school. This morning, however, when Nick
called from the road, he was told that Lizzie had been gone some time,
so he drove on without her.
The dwelling of Mr. Kilgore stood so far back that Nellie never could
spare the time to walk up the long lane and back again, but she
contented herself with peering up the tree-lined avenue in quest of
Sallie and Bobby Kilgore.
However, they were also invisible, and so it was that Nellie made the
rest of the journey alone.
The distance being so considerable, Nellie and Nick always carried
their dinners with them, so that, after their departure in the morning, the
parents did not expect to see them again until between four and five in
the afternoon.
The roan mare was young and spirited, but not vicious, and the boy had
no trouble in controlling her.
When half way through the stretch of woods they crossed a bridge,
whose planks rattled so loudly under the wheels and hoofs that the
animal showed a disposition to rear and plunge over the narrow railing
at the side.
But the boy used his whip so vigorously that he quickly tamed the beast,
which was not slow to understand that her master was holding the
reins.
When Nick was on such journeys as these, he generally carried his
father's watch, so as to "make his connections" better. The timepiece
was of great size and thickness, having been made somewhere in
England a good many years before. It ticked so loudly that it sounded
like a cricket, and would have betrayed any person in an ordinary sized
room, when there was no unusual noise. Nick's own handsome watch

was too valuable for him to carry.
The former was so heavy that it seemed to Nick, when walking with it,
that he went in a one-sided fashion. However, the lad was quite proud
of it, and perhaps took it out oftener than was necessary, especially
when he saw the eyes of others upon him.
Nick was kept in Dunbarton so long by the many errands he had to
perform, that he was fully an hour late in starting. The mare was
spirited enough to make up this time, if urged, but there was no need of
doing so, and the boy knew his father would prefer him not to push the
animal when no urgency existed.
Thus it came about that when Nick re-entered the main highway that
afternoon, and looked in the direction of the school-house, he saw
nothing of Nellie, nor indeed of any one coming from the school.
"She has gone home long ago," was his conclusion, as he allowed the
mare to drop into a brisk trot, which speedily took him to his house.
When Nick had put away the horse and rendered up his account of the
errands done, he was surprised to learn that Nellie had not yet
appeared.
"I cannot understand what keeps her," said the father, in his native
tongue; "she was never so late before."
It was plain from the mother's face and manner that she also was
anxious, for she frequently went to the gate, and, shading her eyes,
looked long and anxiously down the road, hoping that the figure of the
little girl would come to view, with some explanation of the cause for
her delay.
But the sun was low in the west, and its slanting rays brought to light
the figure of no child hurrying homeward. The single object that was
mistaken for the loved one proved to be a man on horseback, who
turned off at the forks and vanished.

"Nick, go look for your sister," said his mother, as she came back from
one of these visits to the gate; "something has happened."
The boy was glad of the order, for he was on the point of asking
permission to hunt for Nellie.
"I'll stay till I find out something," said Nick, as he donned his hat and
took a general look over himself to see that he was in shape, "so don't
worry about me."
"But you ought not to be gone so long," said the father, whose anxious
face showed that he was debating whether he should not join his boy in
the search, "for it won't take long to find out where Nellie is."
"I think she has been taken sick and has