She flashed the lantern into his face.
"Oh Doc!" she cried, "dear Doc, I have been waitin' and waitin' for ye. Git in there to the granary. Arthur's the sickest thing ye ever saw. Git in there on the double jump." She put the lantern into his hand as she spoke.
Hastily unhitching the doctor's horse she felt her way with him into the driving shed. The night was at its blackest.
"Now, Thursa," she laughed to herself, "we got him, and he'll do it, dear Doc, he'll do it." The wind blew dust and gravel in her face as she ran across the yard.
When she went into the granary the doctor was sitting on the box by Arthur's bed, with his face in his hands.
"Oh, Doc, what is it?" she cried, seizing his arm.
The doctor looked at her, dazed, and even Pearl uttered a cry of dismay when she saw his face, for it was like the face of a dead man.
"Pearl," he said slowly, "I have made a terrible mistake, I have killed young Cowan."
"Bet he deserved it, then," Pearl said stoutly.
"Killed him," the doctor went on, not heeding her, "he died in my hands, poor fellow! Oh, the poor young fellow! I lanced his throat, thinking it was quinsy he had, but it must have been diphtheria, for he died, Pearl, he died, I tell you!"