The Wrong Woman

ot let down, there was unanimous expression of opinion in the corral, an old wether stamping his foot sternly and leading the chorus with a doleful not

f the dead lamb intended to get her to care for the present lamb, who was an orphan; which is to say, the extra pelt was the lamb's meal-ticket, and she had given him several meals on the evidence of smell. The deception had worked all the more readil

fastened on by means of holes cut at the corners, through which the live one's legs were inserted, c

hrunk, he found difficulty in removing it. Seeing, upon further effort, that he could not get it off without risk of straining the lamb's anatomy, he lai

ed out. In her elongated picture of things there were several miles of prairie, the sun just edge-to-edge with the horizon, and any amount of blue sky above. In the sky were some birds soaring at a great height. Smaller birds went skimming over the prairie,-now a golden meadowlark, the

later the dog arrived on the scene; he made a sudden dash and performed his part in a most creditable manner, overtaking the lamb and upsetting it with a poke of his nose. The lamb, not at all disconcerted by the tumble, which was only a variation of

rked. "You 're feeling a

rprise. As who would not be surprised to see a black lamb with a white head and white legs, and two tails. Such being the result of her

sed it in front of the shack to put the pelt on the lamb. Naturally, it was still there. Having it again, he sat down near the fire-hole, where he could keep an eye on the kettle, placed the lamb on his la

ning, Mis

own. It is a very bea

little work on this lamb. I guess you know h

that stepped in

his mother did n't think she wanted any lamb. But another sheep had one that died and I could see she w

thing to do,

rders go crazy? Just wait a minute, Mis

back he set to work on the hind legs. Janet, becoming interested, s

her sheep want to a

p don't belie

their own sometimes!

d n't have much milk anyway, and maybe she thought he might as well die. If it had n't been for

peration by catching hold of a too active hind leg. "But I don't see how you could fool her t

ined. "They go by smell. And later on

seem to know

e said. "I 'm

you do get al

ld n't be so particular. Especially with this one; he has been a lot of trouble.

d Janet, lending further

round with me all day I got to

urally would,

er more skillful fingers, removed the fore legs from the armholes o

r hands, examined it curiously, runnin

do with this

pon second thought, "I guess you had better k

lace" on the prairie and spread it down. Then,

e in a cigar-box. The bank is a little steep for you to climb down, so I guess you had better go round and get in the front way. On your wa

d followed his instructions, going down the slope and skirting round

anet, as she entered the house-like cosiness of this diminutive valley, felt very much as if she had just stepped in out of the universe. On a prairie there is such an insistent stare of space, so great a lack of stopping-place for the mind, that this li

ere was something so intimate in the live push of the current against her hand, that she lathered her arms an unnecessary number of times and kept rinsing them off. It was a brisk little stream and so bent upon its business that she could

had been standing on the side of the knoll and started down

he announced as he passed.

ter down below. It was Mr. Brown "washing up." In little more than the minute he was back again

he said, quite directly. "I was looking out o

you see the

aw how he had learned to use his le

s an old hand now-this i

n't he unus

w, or they could n't keep up with the procession. He's

little thing as he was could learn so much. Why,

coat of molasses on a large piece of hot bread. "It

have to learn

ody else. But if they get started out right, with a good meal the first thing, and a warm sle

a lamb can get right up and f

dle around pretty well in a few hours; but they could n

e spent a few moments reflecting up

u can herd those sheep and take care of the

guess that Harding must be drunk. If he doesn't get

at will

tays right there with it. That is, she does if she is one of the natural kind. Pretty soon the flock has gone on and she is left behind. After a while another has a lamb and

pose that man will t

-lambs and their mothers stringing along behind; then when he came with help he could get them in for the night. They would be all right to stay out on the pr

ated this state of affairs. "And how about the ones who had mothers? Would

ered around on the prairie all night even if thei

rown, that that man is quite cert

onger. He knows mighty well he has my ho

e they ate

ain. When he gets back with my horse and I am free of this place, I can show you

't I be of some ass

t here alone at the shack; so maybe you 'd better come along with me. And if you want to drop behind

der, and when Shep had executed certain commands necessary to get them headed in the right direction, the trio of caretakers began their slow progress through the day. Shep, subject to orders, followed at Stev

one," Steve re

one," Steve re

m there had now come to sight the long file of trees which marked the course of Comanche Creek; looking back she could still see the shack, quite plainly, on its knoll. As he spoke, and pointed, her eyes follo

that these words had too serious a sound, she added,

go over w

answered, an

aid about the creek,"

e creek, bringing his arm around in a semicircle as if it were

he strode on after the sheep. They had been g

's usual drunken contest with the laws of gravity. While he stepped on air and tried to get the hang of things, Janet followed his fortunes with bated breath. When he had got his four legs firmly planted, the first thing he did was to shake himself; and he did it with such vigor that he upset himself. This was a surprise to Janet if not

nd he went down forward on his knees. A moment later the hind legs stumbled and fell, and he was all down; now he decided to take a rest. As the mother nosed him over and showed every sign of affection, Janet began to see that her

however, but that she could soon have overtaken it. She walked along at a moderate

succeeded in standing up; he even took a distinct step; then he shook himself like a dog just out of water. Like the other lamb, he shook himself down; he hit the ground with rather more decisive a

man would carry them back to the corral; why not she? She took the lamb in her arms intending to go off a distance and see whether the mother would follow. The experiment proved unnecessary, however; the ewe not only followed but kept close at her side

es, and hugged to her breast the warm objects of their attention, it seemed to her-a very puzzling delusion-that she had done this same thing before; it was like a half-faded memory. Nor did it seem natural to think of Mr. Brown as a str

survey of the stuffed clothes of Mr. Pete Harding under whose manly presentment the lambs enjoyed protection. Mr. Brown had made a very good imitation of a man by filling the herder's working-clothes with marsh grass; the figure had been made to stand up by means of a pole thrust through the fence, to the end of which Mr. Harding was suspended by the neck as if he had been hung in effigy. The man

when she first went out, she held her course so well that when she next came in sight of the line of trees she was at the same point as before. Here she set s

t up suddenly and stared at her in alarm. The twins had evidently been successful, so far, in all their undertakings, not the least of which is to take a rest. They were in very good condition to be carried. She took the

en along with him an extra large lunch which he expected her to share with him somewhere along the shaded banks of the Comanche; the little plan passed momentarily through he

e course. This arrangement he had made entirely with a view to being quickly found in case help arrived; he had left a note behind giving instructions. As this was all very plain sailing, Janet saw that she would be quite free to come and go, and she had been quick t

hem, beech, hickory, live-oak, nor pecan, encroached beyond the right of way nor seemed ever to have been forgetful that these were the Plains. It was very much as if they recognized that trees ought not to grow here. As, indeed, they ought not. The prairie is itself as much as is the ocean or forest, and it has no room to spare. Space, like wood and water, must have its own exclusive regions wherein to exercise its larger and deeper spell. These were the earthly fastnesses of space; and so pre?mpted. Many grapevines

s rippling bends, its comfortable resting-places where sun and shade played together. Inviting as it all was, however, she kept well out on the open where her business lay; only occasionally did she let her gaze wander from its set task to loiter in this more restful scene. She kept on

was silence. It might have been imagination, assisted, possibly, by some rumor of the distant flock; but yet the still small voice had seemed to come from somewhere near at hand. Sh

e that he was on his last legs as well as his first ones. As she went to him he took a step or two as if to meet her, but his legs lacked sti

ive he must have his first meal without delay. She paused to decide the matter, holding his passive little hoofs in her hand. To keep right on after the flock might prove the quickest way; but again it might not

nstitution she had observed with great interest. Each pen was just large enough to crowd a ewe in, being calculated to allow her no liberty in any way; they were all built so that sheep could be put into them from the inside of the corral. She opened one of them, seized upon the first lamb at hand and put it in, and when the f

e rails and gave it a lift. Once it had its legs under it, it managed for itself. To Janet's great satisfaction it filled up visibly. When it was done, she let out

weather there was a touch of chill in the air. Janet sat down in the doorway of the shack and held the lamb in her lap, doubling her skirt up over it in order to get it warm. Like any other lamb it submitted to whatever was done to it. Now

as the time passed and brought them nothing. One of them, tired of wheeling round and round, sat on one of the posts of the corral and waited for something to happen. These were the dusky angels that carried away the lamb's body of the day before; she had seen its little white bones down at the foot of the knoll. The present watcher, a stoop-shouldered, big, rusty-black bird, was quite indiffe

flected, it was not so bad as it might be, and she did not really mind it much; it was his place; he was just over the horizon somewhere; and as long as it was his place

circumstances, it was her duty to get supper. It was a welcome thought; she would see what sh

Merrill; the folks at Merrill would think she was still at the school, all of which was very fortunate, and so she thought no more about it. She was mainly concerned with the lambs, and particularly, at the present moment, with supper. She spread down her two white napkins, which had not seen service the night before, placing them corn

into the corral; then followed Steve Brown escorted by three sheep. He carried four la

ing forward to meet them. "Did yo

and intelligent look at the fire-hole. "And I was afraid I

re direct eyes which paid close attention and shot their beams straight as along the barrel of a rifle. The live interest

ing is all re

't keep you

ring, and presently she heard him "washing up" with more than his usual

ccount of her day's work, telling first about the orphan and how sh

altogether

uld not have

N

nd disappointment in her loo

ey had been really coming fast. It would take a w

se, "you could n't have carried

as just ab

them all in,

y way we could have done it. As it turned out, it was just the right thing to do-all that was necessary." After a moment's

the lamb again, she went into the shack and brought him out. Having been assured that he was looking well and was likely t

or a lamb myself when his mother won't have anything to do with him. You ought to be out here later on,

mbs play together lik

ng-like a goat. That first lamb will soon be so lively that plain r

served Janet. "That's to give the

rring thus familiarly to Nature. "She pu

do, for instan

ere is n't any place to jump off of. Well, maybe some day a lamb will be galloping and cavorting around, and he 'll come across a hunk of rock salt that has been all licked off smooth on top and hollowed out. He 'll take a running jump at that and land on it with all four hoofs in one spot and then he'll take a

y funny!" exc

d 'hi-spy' and 'ring-around-the-rosy.' Why, Miss Janet, if you were ou

might be,"

for a lamb, so he has to go off and have his own fun. He 'll gallop around with

go away like that and ever find his mother

a different pitch; they all sound different some way o

t know there was any object in it. Or

t and she'll start up too; and that way they'll keep signaling to each other. A lamb will run into a crowd of a thousand sheep and g

go by looks, even wh

now all the children by sight and don't have to call the roll. When a

ce at times, his attitude toward her was mainly sober and earnest. Janet, all absorbed in the subject of lambs, was in quite as serious a mood. She waited fo

then; while they are answering each other, doe

halfway. You see, that's the quickest way, When

ny trouble in that w

that, and it takes them a little time to get it into their minds. That's when a herder has got troubl

he would, wo

s so they can go home to dinner together. For of course

ep know t

tends to that, too. But there's a lot that nature is

dependent upon human c

has got to get a meal right away, and a little sleep, and not get too chilled, or wet. Then if his mother and him sti

. Brown, before everythi

ew days. Just as soon as w

band?" s

ave n't dropped lambs yet are called the drop band; they travel too much for lambs. Sheep with lambs ought to go out together and be handled separate. Well, whenever a lamb is born in the drop band, he is brought home to t

Janet, growing mor

he lambs are all having a high old time and managing for themselves; and then one man can handle

to exhaust

ng to do to-morro

a great many of them. There might not be many lambs come; but the trouble is that you can't tell. If I thought there were going to be a great many lambs, and he was n't coming right away, I would keep the whole bunch here a

quite a probl

I was beginning to

be in the next day or two, i

o or thre

o o

down in her lap and considered th

undred," she re