He dismissed that thought grimly. There
had been no talk of going away lately, and he knew that Jimmy had
little money. Dannie started for home, and for a rod on either side
he searched the path. As he came to the back of the barns, he rated
himself for not thinking of them first. He searched both of them,
and all around them, and then wholly tired, and greatly disgusted,
he went home and to bed. He decided that Jimmy ~had gone to Mrs.
Dolan's and that kindly woman had relented and taken him in. Of
course that was where he was.
Dannie was up early in the morning. He wanted to have the work done
before Mary and Jimmy came home. He fed the stock, milked, built a
fire, and began cleaning the stables. As he wheeled the first
barrow of manure to the heap, he noticed a rooster giving danger
signals behind the straw-stack. At the second load it was still
there, and Dannie went to see what alarmed it.
Jimmy lay behind the stack, where he had fallen face down, and as
Dannie tried to lift him he saw that he would have to cut him
loose, for he had frozen fast in the muck of the barnyard. He had
pitched forward among the rough cattle and horse tracks and fallen
within a few feet of the entrance to a deep hollow eaten out of the
straw by the cattle. Had he reached that shelter he would have been
warm enough and safe for the night.
Horrified, Dannie whipped out his knife, cut Jimmy's clothing loose
and carried him to his bed. He covered him, and hitching up drove
at top speed for a doctor.
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