DUE LITTLE FOLKS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1731, 24 January 1885, Page 27

DUE LITTLE FOLKS.

A Brave Girl.

" 9r h ' p ?? a »" called a clear » & ir K«h voice, " Yea, Lindy • what's wanted ?" "Ma wants to know how long it'll be 'fore you're ready." "On, tell her I'll be at the door by the time oho gets her things on. Be Bure you have the butter and eggs all ready to put into the waggon. We're nukin' too late a start to town.

Butter and eggs, indeed I As if Lindy needed a reminder othor tban the new dress for which they were to be exchanged. "Elmer and I can go to town nest time, cant we, ma?' sha asked, entering the house. " Yes, Liudy ; I hops so," was the reply. But don I bother me now : your pa is coming already, and I haven't my shawl on yet. Yes, Wilbur; I'm here. Just put this butter in r- a A y ; } n ,, c^ TT jS >c e^ B in m y la P- Now, Lindy, don I let Elmer play with the fire or run away.

And in a moment more the heavy lumber waggon rattled away from the door, and the children stood gazing after ifc for a while, in a half forlorat manner. Then Lindy went in to her work, Elmer resumed her play, and boob everything waa moving along as cheerfully aa ever. ' After dinner Elmer went to sleep, and Lindy feehog rather ionaly again, went out-of-doors for a change. It was a warm autumnal day almost the perfect counterpart of a dozen or more which had preceded if,. The sun shone , brightly, and the hot wiads that swept through the tall gras3 made that and all else it touched co dry that the prairio seemed like a vast Hndor-box. Though her parents had but lately moved to this place, Lindy was accustomed to the prairies. She had been born on them, and her oyes wore familiar with nothing elsa ; yet, as she stood to-day, wifch that brown unbroken expat se rolling away beforo hor until it reached the pale bluish-groy of tbe sky tho indescribable feeling of awe and terrible solitude which such a scene often inspires in one iiofc familiar with it stolo gradually over her. But Lindy was far too practical to remam long under such an influence. The , chickens were " peeping " loudly, and she remem bored that they were still without their dinner.

As she passed araund the corner of the house with a dish of corn in her hands tho wind almost lifted her from the ground. It was certainly blowing with greater violence than during tho morning. j Gseafc tumble-weeds went flying by turninir ■ over and over with almost lightning-like rapidity ; then, pausing for an instant's rest, were caught by another gust and carried along mile after mile, till some fence or other obstaclo was Maahed, where they could pile up in great drifts, and wait till a brisk wind from an opposite direction', should send them rolling and tumbling all the way back. But Lindy did nofi notice the tumble-weeds. The dish of corn' had, fallen from hex- hands, and, she stood looking straight ahead' with wide open, terrified eyes; • ■ . I What was the eight that f rigtaned her % Only a line of fire below the horizon. Only a liu'e of firo, with' forked flames darting high into the air and a cloud of smoke drifting away from them. A beautiful relief, this bright 1 changing Spectacle, from tha brown monotonY of the prairie. • But the 'scene was without beauty for Lindy. Hei* heast had given one great' bound when she first saw the' red lino, and theu it seemed t<> cea«o beating. She had seen many prairie fires ; had soon her father and other men fipljifc ttiem, and she knew at onoe tbe danger her honro was in. What could she, a little girl, do to Rave it, and perhaps horsolf aud hei 1 little brother, from the destroyer which the south wind was bringing straight toward them. ' ' Only for a moment Lindy stood, white and motionless ; then -with a bound she was ab the well. Her course was decided upon. If only time and strength were given her? Drawing two pails of water, Bhe laid a large bag in each and then, getting some matches, hurried out: beyond the stable. She must fight iire with fire. .That waa her only hops; but a strong, experienced man would have shrunk from starting a back-fire in such a wind. ' ' l' ■ She I 'fully realised the danger, but it waß vnpossible to escape from otherwise inevitable destruction, and she hesitated not an instant to attempt it. Cautiously starting a blaze', she stood with a wet bag ready to smother the first unruly flame. • i 1 ■ The great fire to tha southward was rapidly approaching. P.rairie chickens a ! nd other birds! driven from their nests, were frying over, uttering distressed cries. The air was full of smoke and burnt grass, and the crackling of the fjamos could plainly be heard. Ifc was a trying moment. The increased roar of the advancing fire warded Lindy that she had but very little time in tfhich to complete the circle around house and barn; still, if she humeti too much, she would lose control of the fire she had started, and, with it, all hbpe'rf Bafety, '■ „ The heat was intense; the smoke suffocating ■ the" rapid swinging of the heavy bag moat exhausting but she Was Unconscious of these things The extremity of the danger inspired her with wonderful strength and endurance. Instead of losing ' courage she increased her almost auperlniman exertions,' and in another brief interval the ta^fc was completed. None too Boon either, for' tho swiftly advancing Column had nearly Reached the Wavering B tru# meet 'it ? W°TO line L . ind y *»«! sent out to \JLFt\ awm > f »«» n atWiJ. half terrible, half beautiful scene. The tongues of flame leaping above each other with airy, fantastic grace, seemed, cat-like, to toy with their victims befote devouring them. A sudden, violent gust of wind, and then with a great crackling roar the two fires met, the flames shooting high in the. air as they rushed together. * 3f<fr thfe brief, (nom.ertf they re.,-

mained there, lapping the air with their fieica, hot tongues; then, suddenly dropping, they died quickly out ; and where an instant bsforo had been a wall of five waa nothing now but a cloud of blue smoke rising from the blackened ground, and here and tfjere a sickly fume finishing an obstinate tuffc of grass. The fire on each side, meeting no obstacle, swept quickly by, and Lindy stood gaeing, spellbound, after it as it dartp.d /and flashed m terrible zigzag lines further and further away. " Oh, Lindv I" called a ahrill little voice from the house. Elmer had juat awakened. "Yes, I'm coming," Lindy answered, turning. But how very queer she felt ! There was a roaring in her ears louder than the fire had made; everything whirled befora ber eyeß, and the sun seemed suddenly to have ceased shining, all was so dark. Reaching the house by a Rreat effort, she sank faint, dizzy, and trembling upon the bed by her brother's side. Elmer, frightened and hardly awake, began to cry, and, as he never did anything in a half manner, the result was quite wonderful. His frantic shrieks and furious cries raised his half fainting sister as effectually as if he had poured a glass of brandy between her lips ; she soon sat up, and by-and-bye colour began to return to the white face, and strength to the exhausted body. Her practical nature and strong will again asserted themselves, and, instead of yielding to a weakness and prostration, she tied on her sunbonnet firmly, and gave the chickens their long-delayed dinner. But when, half an hour later, her father found her fast asleep, with the glow from the eky reflected on her weary little faoe, he looked out of the window for a moment, picturing to himself the terrible scenes of the afternoon, and then down at his daughter. " A brave girl !" he murmured, smoothing the yellow hair with his hard, brown hand— "a brave girl !" — Charlotte A. Butts, in St. Nicholas.