She was awake now, oblivious of the swift sinking of her vital energy. She must have the ring, for it was the pledge of a great glory....
A breathless little girl flung herself into the cabin.It was Sophy Hanks, one of the many nieces who squattered like ducks about the settlement.
"Mammy!" she cried shrilly. "Mammy Linkorn!"She stammered with the excitement of the bearer of ill news. "Abe's lost your ring in the crick. He took it for a sinker to his lines, for Indian Jake telled him a piece of gold would cotch the grit fish. And a grit fish has cotched it. Abe's bin divn' and divn' and can't find it nohow. He reckons it's plumb lost. Ain't he a bad 'un,Mammy Linkhorn?"