“You’ve guessed it!” Adele cried gayly. “And now open it up and see what you will see!”
Granny Dorset gave a little cry of joy when she beheld the purple silk dress. “It’s just what I’ve always wanted,” she said; “and there’s lace in the neck and sleeves.” Then she added, “Della, being as it’s my birthday, I wish I could put it on.”
“And so you shall,” Adele declared. Then she and Eva assisted the little old lady into the bedroom, whence a little later she emerged, dressed in the purple gown, and the happiness glowing in that dear old face made the girls glad indeed that Adele had thought of that particular birthday present.
Then, when the old people were comfortably seated in the easy-chairs, some having been brought from the big house, and the girls, tailor-wise, on the floor, Granny Dorset said, “’Lijah Dally, being as the girls have turned that sheep-herder’s cabin into a play-house, why don’t you tell them something that happened round there when you was a boy?”
Grandpa Dally looked pleased to be called upon to entertain the company. “I would, Sarie,” he replied, “but just this minute I don’t seem to think of nothing.”
“Suppose you tell ’em how you met the wolves,” Mr. Quigley suggested.
“Oh, Grandpa Dally,” Rosamond cried with a shudder. “Did you really meet some wolves once, and didn’t they eat you?”
Every one laughed at Rosie’s question. “If they had,” Grandpa Dally replied, “I wouldn’t be here to tell you the story. Well,” he began, “when I was about eight years old, my father and me lived in that sheep-herder’s cabin out in the meadows. I hadn’t a mother and I sort of grew up any way. There was wolves hereabouts in them days, and when they got real hungry, especially in winter, they came prowling around and howling at night. Often father and the other herder who lived with us would go out with their guns and drive them away from the fold.
“When I was twelve year old, my father gave me a gun and taught me how to shoot it, and after that I felt very brave and bold.
“That winter was bitterly cold, and the snow was deep, but it was crusted over so that we could walk on it. The sheep were all in the fold, and at night we often heard the wolves howling in the hills.