“What color was she?” asked Kenneth.
“Brown, with a bell-shaped mark of white on her forehead. And spirited? Why, she’d sling Swedes all over the prairie, even when she was an old horse. She didn’t take after her son.”
“Tell the story about her,” said Eunice.
“Well, she belonged to a young woman who came out here with her husband in Injun times, and, as they hadn’t many horses, this Silver Bell was a great pet. She’d come when you called her, and kind of snuff round. She was company for the young woman, too, when her husband was off with the cattle, and there was nobody but her and the baby in the house.”
“Go on,” said Kenneth. “Did the Indians come?”
“Well, I just guess they did! One day she heard a shot, and saw smoke coming from a ranch four miles away. You know how sound carries in this air, and the smoke looked big, just as Eunice did the other night. So she just grabbed her baby, and put a bridle on Silver Bell, who came right up to the corral. If Silver Bell hadn’t come when she was called that day—”
“Well?” asked both children, breathlessly.
“Well—we mightn’t have been telling this story here to-night.”
“Oh, go on!” said Kenneth, impatiently. “Did the Injuns catch her?”
“No, but they would have, if it hadn’t been for Silver Bell. Once, when they were down in a hollow, the girl saw about a dozen Injuns riding towards her as hard as they could go, and she knew if she came out of that hollow they’d see her for sure. But if she stayed in the hollow, of course they’d find her when they got there. So for a moment she couldn’t decide just what to do.”