The sight of the little girl stopped Andy near the door. Instantly his alert mind pictured Waldstricker's present anxiety and the awful retribution he'd exact when he learned of her abduction. He had no idea as yet what Tess intended to do and her attitude revealed no hint. Personally, he was powerless because, to his physical weakness, the storm presented an unsurmountable obstacle. Except for Mother Moll, he was alone in the house with Tess and the Waldstricker child. Here was a terrible predicament. He'd already lost many years of his life, because he was present when Waldstricker's father was killed. He'd done what he could to avert that crime and paid a heavy penalty, for his interference. What to do, now, he didn't know. How to save the little one and protect Tess he couldn't guess. Casting frightened eyes first on the girl, then on the silent child, he crouched against the wall. "What ye goin' to do with 'er?" he mumbled at last.... "What's the whip for?" "I don't know yet," replied Tess, and she balanced the raw-hide in her hand. "This is the whip Waldstricker used.... Jake says to beat 'er like he beat Boy." The cruel look on her face and the fire in her eyes frightened the dwarf. To him, she seemed almost insane. "What'd ye tell 'em you'd do, Tess? Air you goin' to lick 'er?" "I guess so. I didn't tell 'em for sure what I'd do." She dropped the whip on a table and walked across the room to the window where she stood looking out into the night with unseeing eyes. Then, whirling on Andy, she clenched her fists and burst forth. "She's the only thing Waldstricker loves! If I hurt her, don't I hurt him?" "Sure, dear," the little man acquiesced. "Sure, it'd make 'im ... think a bit ... mebbe." Elsie stirred uneasily, making the chair rock back and forth. "Baby's hungry," she whimpered. Tess threw off her wraps and flung out of the room. In the kitchen she stirred the fire and heated some milk and broke bread into it. While she was gone, the dwarf made up his mind that now, if ever, he must prove the power of the faith Tess'd taught him. Motionless, but watching the baby, he reviewed the proofs he'd had in the shack and during his years with Tessibel on the hill. Surely, the hands stronger'n Waldstricker's had lost none of their protective power! So absorbed did he become, he hardly noticed when the girl came back, but he heard her say to Elsie, "Here, cat! I hate you so, I could strangle you with it!" Tess was kneeling beside the chair and he noted that her fingers fed the child carefully, and when a few warm drops of milk ran down the shaking baby chin, Tess took out her handkerchief and wiped the little face gently. "Uncle Forrie won't be back tonight," he observed, after a while. "Don't talk about him," gasped Tess. "I don't want to think of 'im." "I don't see what we're goin' to do, brat," returned Andy miserably.