Then she broke down utterly, and Bart had a hard time keeping her from being hysterical.
She said that her mother intended staying all night at the side of her suffering husband and had tried to send some reassuring word to her son.
"You must tell me the worst, you know, Bertha," said Bart. "What do they say at the hospital? Is father in serious danger? Will he die?"
"No," answered the sobbing girl, "he will not die, but oh! Bart—the doctor says he may be blind for life!"
CHAPTER V
READY FOR BUSINESS
Bart Stirling stood ruefully regarding the ruins of the burned express shed. It was the Fourth of July, and early as it was, the air was resonant with the usual echoes of Independance Day.
Bart, however, was little in harmony with the jollity and excitement of the occasion. He had spent a sleepless night, tossing and rolling in bed until daybreak, when his mother returned from the hospital.
Mr. Stirling was resting easily, she reported, in very little pain or discomfort, but his career of usefulness and work was over—the doctors expressed an opinion that he would never regain his eyesight.