He held out the spoon and the amazed woman swallowed the contents before
she realized what she was doing. Then the Harvester ran a hand under
her shoulders and lifting her gently he tossed her pillow with the other
hand.
“You are a light little body, just like my mother,” he commented. “Now I
have something else sick people sometimes enjoy.”
He held the fruit juice to her lips as he slightly raised her on the
pillow. Her trembling fingers lifted and closed around the sparkling
glass.
“Oh it's cool!” she gasped.
“It is,” said the Harvester, “and sour! I think you can taste it. Try!”
She drank so greedily he drew away the glass and urged caution, but the
shaking fingers clung to him and the wavering voice begged for more.
“In a minute,” said the Harvester gently. But the fevered woman would
not wait. She drank the cooling liquid until she could take no more.
Then she watched him fill a small pitcher and pack it in a part of the
ice and lay some fruit around it.
“Who, Ruth?” she panted.
“A Medicine Man who heard about you.”
“What will Henry say?”
“He won't know,” explained the Girl, smoothing the hot forehead. “I'll
put it in the cupboard, and slip it to you while he is out of the room.
It will make you strong and well.”
“I don't want to be strong and well and suffer it all over again. I want
to rest. Give me more of the cool drink. Give me all I want, then I'll
go to sleep.”
“It's wonderful,” said the Girl. “That's more than I've heard her talk
since I came. She is much stronger. Please let her have it.”
The Harvester assented. He gave the child some of the fruit, and told
her to sit beside the bed and hold the drink when it was asked for. She
agreed to be very careful and watchful. Then he picked up the bucket,
and followed by the Girl, returned to the woods.
“Now we have to begin all over again,” he said, as she seated herself at
the table. “Because of the walk in the heat, this time the programme is
a little different.”
He replaced the wafer box and opened it, filled the glass, and heaped
the cold fruit.
“Your aunt is going to have a refreshing sleep now,” he said, “and
your mind can be free about her for an hour or two. I am very sure your
mother would not want you deprived of anything because she missed it, so
you are to enjoy this, if you care for it. At least try a sample.”
The Girl lifted the glass to her lips with a trembling hand.
“I'm like Aunt Molly,” she said; “I wish I could drink all I could
swallow, and then lie down and go to sleep forever. I suppose this is
what they have in Heaven.”
“No, it's what they drink all over earth at present, but I have a
conceit of my own brand. Some of it is too strong of one fruit or of the
other, and all too sweet for health. This is compounded scientifically
and it's just right. If you are not accustomed to cold drinks, go
slowly.”
“You can't scare me,” said the Girl; “I'm going to drink all I want.”
There was a note of excitement in the Harvester's laugh.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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