But it was while she was still patiently fanning the stranger and trying to piece out a meaning from his foreign looks and words, that Stella was attracted by fresh activity on the part of the dog, who had lain apparently asleep at her feet. She looked up, and saw a tall, lightly built young man coming rapidly toward her, his serious face breaking into smiles as he noticed her start of pleased surprise.
“Why, Ethan! is it really you? Where did you come from?” she cried, springing to her feet, but quite forgetting to hold out her hand. The Sioux are not demonstrative in the matter of greetings.
Ethan, however, did not hesitate to take prompt possession of the little brown hand and press it warmly for a minute, as he looked into the soft, child-like eyes which met his with the old simplicity.
“Gad, but she’s a winner! Just about twice as handsome and ten times as magnetic as she promised to be, two years ago,” thought the boy, but he only said:
“Oh, I just ran down for a few days to see Uncle Si and all the folks! College opens in three weeks, you know—my last year. Uncle and I were busy talking over old times and the prospects of the crops, and the convivial moment had just arrived with the buttermilk, when Cynthia appeared, all out of breath, and from her story I judged I’d better come and look after you without loss of time.
“So this is your tramp, eh? The poor chap looks harmless enough, to be sure, but for all that it was a risky thing to do, for a girl. I suppose you ‘wanted to help’ like that time I had to fetch you home at ten o’clock at night from Buffalo Bill’s Wild West—do you remember?”
The girl’s rich color deepened a trifle under his openly admiring eyes, as he added, pleasantly:
“He’s better now, thanks to the little Samaritan; a green Polander out of a job, I should say at a guess. Suppose I toll him over to Uncle Si’s place and try to persuade the old fellow that he wants an extra hand?
“But if you often get into such scrapes, I don’t see how you could keep it up very long without me to help you out, Stella.”