BETTY COMES THROUGH
Betty admitted that she was badly frightened. She was afraid of the
crossed wires, and would have been in any case. The spurting blue flames
she knew would savagely burn her and Ida Bellethorne if they touched them,
and the wires might give a shock that would kill either girl or horse.
But seven miles or so beyond those sputtering flames was Dr. Pevy's
office. And Dr. Pevy was needed right away at Candace Farm.
A picture of poor Hunchie lying white and moaning in the bed rose in
Betty's memory. She could not return and report that it was impossible for
her to reach the doctor's office. Afraid as she was of the crossed wires,
she was more afraid of showing the white feather.
If Bob Henderson were here in her situation Betty was sure he would not
back down. And if Bob could overcome difficulties, why couldn't Betty? The
thought inspired the girl to do as Bob would do--come through.
"I must do it!" Betty choked, holding the mare firmly headed toward the
writhing, crackling wires. "Ida! Get up! You can jump it.
You--just--must!"
The black mare crouched and snorted. Betty would have given a good deal
for tiny spurs in the heels of her shoes or for a whip to lay along the
mare's flank. Spirited as the creature was, and well trained, too, her
fear of fire made her shrink from the leap.
There was a width of six feet of darting flames. The electricity in the
heavy cables was melting the other wires, and from the broken end of each
wire the blue light spurted. The snow was melting all about, turning black
and yellow in streaks. Betty did not know how long this would keep up; but
every minute she delayed poor Hunchie paid for in continued suffering.
"We must do it!" she shrieked to the horse. "You've got to--there!"
She whipped off her velvet hat and struck Ida Bellethorne again and again.
The mare crouched, measured the distance, and leaped into the air. Well
for her and for Betty that Ida Bellethorne had a good pedigree; had come
of a long line of forebears that had been taught to jump hedges, fences,
water-holes and bogs. None of them had ever made such a perilous leap as
this!
The mare landed in softening snow, for the scathing flames were melting
the drifts on either side. Betty had felt the rush of heat rising from
the cables and had put her hat over her face.
Ida Bellethorne squealed. Without doubt she had been scorched somewhere.
And now secure on her feet she darted away through the ravine, running
faster than she had run while Betty had bestrode her.
Betty could not glance back at the sputtering wires. She must keep her
gaze fixed ahead. Although at the speed the mare was now running it is
quite doubtful if the girl could have retarded her mount in any degree.
They came to the forks that Mrs. Candace had told her of, and Betty
managed to turn the frightened mare up the steeper road to the left. There
were few landmarks that the snow had not hidden; but the way to Dr. Pevy's
was so direct that one could scarcely mistake it.
Ida Bellethorne began to cool down after a while and Betty could guide her
more easily. She had begun to talk to the pretty creature soothingly, and
leaned forward in her saddle to pat the mare's neck.
"I don't blame you for being scared, Ida Bellethorne," crooned Betty. "I
was scared myself, and I'm scared yet. But don't mind. Just be easy. Your
pretty black apron in front is all spattered with froth, poor dear! I
wonder if this run has done your cough any harm--or any good. Anyway, you
haven't coughed since we started."
But Betty knew that if the mare stood for a minute she must be covered and
rubbed down. She had this in her mind when she came to the blacksmith shop
and the store, directly opposite each other. Dr. Pevy's, she had been
told, was the second house beyond on the blacksmith side of the road.
It proved to be a comfortable looking cottage with a barn at the back, and
she urged Ida Bellethorne around to the barn without stopping at the
house. The barn door was open and a man in greasy overalls was tinkering
about a small motor-car. He was a pleasant-looking man with a beard and
eyeglasses and Betty was sure he must be the doctor before he even spoke
to her.
"Hullo!" exclaimed the amateur machanic, rising up with a wrench in one
hand and an oil can in the other. "Whew! That mare has been traveling
some. And such a beauty! You're from Bill Candace's I'm sure. Did she run
away with you? Here, let me help you."
But Betty was out of the saddle and had led the mare in upon the floor,
although Ida Bellethorne looked somewhat askance at the partly dismantled
car.
"Needn't be afraid of the road-bug, my beauty," said Dr. Pevy, putting out
a knowing hand to stroke the mare's neck. "She must be rubbed down and a
cloth put on her----"
"I know," said Betty hastily. "I'll do it if you'll let me. But can you go
back with me, Doctor?"
"To the Candace Farm?"
"Yes, sir. A man has been seriously hurt and there was nobody else to
come."
"Wonder you got here without having a fall," said Dr. Pevy.
"She is sharpened. And she is a dear!" gasped Betty. "But I hope you can
start right away. Hunchie is suffering so."
"Can't use the road-bug, that's sure," said Dr. Pevy, glancing again at
the car. "That's why I was doctoring her now while the snow is too deep.
But I still have old Standby and the sleigh. I'll start back with you in a
few minutes and we'll lead the mare. The exercise will do her good. My!
What a handsome creature she is."
"Yes, sir. She is quite wonderful," said Betty; and while they gave Ida
Bellethorne the attention she needed Betty told the doctor all about
Hunchie and her ride through the forest. When Dr. Pevy heard about the
broken wires in the road, he went to the house and telephoned to the
Cliffdale power house to tell them where the break was. The linemen were
already searching for it.
"That peril will be averted immediately," he said coming back with his
overalls removed, a coat over his arm and carrying his case in his other
hand. "That's it, my dear. Walk her up and down. Such a beauty!"
He got out his light sleigh and then led Standby, a big, red-roan horse,
out on the floor to harness him.
"These automobiles are all right when the snow doesn't fly," Dr. Pevy
remarked. "But up here in the hills we have so much snow that one has to
keep a horse anyway or else give up business during the winter. You were a
plucky girl to come so far on that mare, my dear. A Washington girl, you
say?"
"We just came from Washington," Betty explained. "But I can't really claim
to belong there. I--I'm sort of homeless, I guess. I do just love these
mountains and this air."
"This air," commented Dr. Pevy, "smells just now of a storm. And I think
it may drizzle again. Now, if you are ready, my dear."
He unbuckled Ida Bellethorne's bridle rein and made it a leading rein. He
helped Betty into the sleigh and gave her the rein to hold. The mare led
easily, and merely snorted when Standby leaned into the collar and started
the sleigh.
The roan was heavy footed, and his shoes, too, were calked. They started
off from the village at a good jog with the blanketed black mare trotting
easily behind the sleigh.
Betty tried to mould her velvet hat into shape. It had been a hat that she
very much prized, and was copied after one Ada Nansen wore, and Ada set
the fashions at Shadyside. But that little hat would never be the same
again after being used as a goad for Ida Bellethorne. Betty sighed, and
gave up her attempt.
When they came to the place in the ravine where the wires were down Dr.
Pevy drew up Standby. The mare snorted, recognizing the spot. But the
electrical display was over, for the power had been turned off.
"You certainly must have had a narrow squeak here," remarked the
physician, as he looked at the fallen wires.
"Oh, Doctor, it was awful!" breathed Betty. "I thought sure that we were
going to have the worst kind of accident."
"The company ought really to put up a new line of poles, so many of these
are getting rotten," was the doctor's reply. "But I suppose they are hard
up for money these days, and can afford only the necessary repairs."
The sleigh climbed the mountain after that to the Candace Farm. As they
came in sight of it Betty saw the troop of young stock being driven in
through the lane, and saw Bob and Tommy with the stock farmer and his men.
It was well she had ventured for the doctor on the black mare, or poor
Hunchie Slattery would have suffered much longer without medical
attention.
Bobby ran out to meet them when the sleigh came into the yard. Mrs.
Candace stood at the back door explaining to the red-faced man, her
husband. It was Bob who came to take the leading rein of the black mare
from Betty's hand.
"Cricky!" he exclaimed. "What have you been up to now, Betsey? Is this
that English mare? Isn't she a beauty! And you've been riding her?"
"I've been flying on her," sighed Betty, "Don't talk, Bob! I never expect
to travel so fast in the saddle again unless I become a jockey. And I know
I am growing too fat for that."