It seemed to Mindy, who did not even move, that somewhere she had seen all of this before. Cindy, always so quick to think and act, would naturally be the one to take her father's desperately needed gun to him. Alec, running toward the picket line to get Pete Brent's sorrel pony, would of course try to find Cindy and bring her back.
Then Mindy realized why it all seemed familiar. It was because, in such a situation, her brother and sister couldn't possibly have done anything else. But try as she would, Mindy could not even imagine herself doing anything so spirited and daring.
Alec bridled the sorrel pony, leaped on him bareback, and wheeled him past the Simpson wagon. "I'll find her, Mother!" he shouted as he sped toward the border.
Alec was gone, and Mindy saw a great crowd of running men with, here and there, a rider dashing among them. Occasionally, like a white sail in the distance, she saw the white cover of a wagon.
Mindy swallowed hard, and never before in her life had she felt such awful fear. Her father had gone into no one knew what danger. Cindy had followed him, and Alec had followed Cindy. Therefore, Cindy and Alec were in danger too. At the same time, though her heart was torn for her father, brother, and sister, Mindy knew that she must not give way to fear.
"That child certainly acts fast," said Granny Brent.
Mrs. Simpson said, "Cindamine was always headstrong."
"Maybe, but I'd call this quick thinking," Granny said. "Well, John won't get his message now. I do hope he doesn't worry."
And before she could stop herself, Mindy heard herself saying, "I'll take the message to the telegraph station."
Mrs. Simpson arched surprised brows. Mindy looked only briefly at her mother. She knew how Mrs. Simpson felt, because she herself felt the same way. But if she looked too long at her mother's face, the tears that were in her heart might leap into her eyes. That must not be.