Laughing at her ludicrous dream, the young girl woke--someone was shaking her roughly by the arm. "Lina Meredith, for shame," said her aunt, towering above her, angular and slim, in a striped calico night-dress. "Sleeping in the window at midnight, and the lamp a-burnin' bright, too! Willful waste makes woful want! But I'll not scold you this time. I'm glad you're up and dressed; you must fetch the doctor from town." Jaquelina rose, stretching her cramped limbs and yawning drearily, only half awake. Mrs. Meredith grabbed a wet towel and deliberately mopped her face with it. "There, now! I've got you awake," she said, triumphantly. "Did you hear what I said, Lina? You'll have to saddle Black Bess and fetch the doctor from town. Baby's got the cramp--dreadful bad, too!" Jaquelina, broad awake now, stared in dismay at Mrs. Meredith. "Why, aunt," she cried, "how can I go for the doctor at midnight? The town is at least a mile and a half from here." "Only a mile through the woods," answered Mrs. Meredith, quickly. The young girl shivered. "Come, come, I never knew you afraid of anything," Mrs. Meredith began quickly; "surely you'll do this much for me, Lina--if not for me, for your poor little cousin Dollie, a-wheezin' her life away, and none to bring a doctor." But Jaquelina hesitated. "Aunt Meredith," she said, "the road through the woods is very dark and lonely, and, you may see for yourself, the moon is going down, and then those dreadful outlaws may be lurking in the woods. Is Dollie so very bad? Perhaps she would do until daylight." "Come," said Mrs. Meredith, pulling the girl by the sleeve, "you shall see." Jaquelina followed her down stairs to the room where the fat baby lay upon the bed wheezing terribly, while now and then a hoarse, whistling cough echoed painfully through the room. Jaquelina's heart, always tender to pain, was touched by the sight of the infant's suffering. "Oh, Lina, will you let the darling die?" cried the frightened mother, whose hard heart could soften, at least, to her own child's suffering. "Surely you'll bring the doctor to little Dollie?" "Can't I go over to Brown's and send Sambo?" asked the girl, still shrinking from the thought of the lonely midnight ride. "No, no," wailed the mother, clasping the sick child frantically in her arms, "I'll not trust that negro! I'll trust no one but you, Lina, to go and come in a hurry; I can depend on you to do your best. Oh, for God's sake, Lina, _do_ go for the doctor; no one will hurt you--there's not a sign of danger. Your uncle and them other men have captured the outlaws long before this time of night. Oh, Dollie! Dollie! my darling--I do believe she's dying now!" Jaquelina waited for no more urging. She ran out of the house with the cry of the frightened, helpless mother still ringing in her ears, and made her way to the stable. Her uncle had ridden one of the horses. Black Bess, the remaining one, stood patiently in the stall.