She stroked his forehead with gentle touch:
"I won't give up for your sake——"
"It's a promise now?" he cried.
"Yes, I promise——"
"Then I'm going for a doctor right away——"
"You can't find him, Boy," his father said. "It's thirty miles across the Ohio into Kentucky where he lives. An' in all this sickness he ain't at home. Hit's foolishness ter go——"
"I'll find him," was the firm response.
The father made no further protest. He helped him saddle the horse, buckled the stirrups to fit his little bare legs and gave him as clear directions as he could.
"The moon'll be shinin' all night, Boy," were his last words. "Yer can cross the river before eight o'clock. Ef ye git lost on t'other side ax yer way frum the fust house ye come to——"
The Boy nodded, and when had fixed his bare toes in the stirrups he leaned low and whispered: