Winning Her Way 



A STORY OF A CHANGE OF HEART 

 "BY EBEN E. REXFORD 



Chapter Y. — (Continued.) 



MISS BETTY'S eves were as sharp 

 as a hawk's. She did not pretend 

 to see anything snpicioiis abont the 

 ohl barn, bnt it was not long before she 

 had satisfied herself that some one was 

 watching her from the loft. 



•''It's Yonr tnrn to langh now," she said, 

 grimly. "Mebbe it'll be my tnrn afore 

 long,"' and she actually chnckled over the 

 prospect of tnming the tables on the 

 author of her present troubleo 



]\[iss Betty made no attempt to drive 

 Old Bruiser awa}', because she know very 

 well that he wouldn't go. The only thing 

 to do was to accept the situation, possess 

 her soul in patience, and keep an eye out 

 for rescue. 



By and by she saw Mary in the door- 

 yard. 



"Mary !'' she called, shrilly, "Ma-ry !" 



Mary heard the call, but was at a loss 

 to tell where it came from. 



"I'm here — in the pastur' — on the stone 

 heap !" 'screamed Miss Betty. 



Mary finally located her, and started 

 to come to her, wondering what had hap- 

 pened. 



"Go back !" shouted Miss Betty. "01' 

 Bruiser's in the pastur', 'n' he'll come for 

 ye if he sees you. He's got me treed. Go 

 into the woodshed 'n' get that ol' scare- 

 crow that's hangin' up in the corner, 'n' 

 bring it to the fence, 'n' then I'll tell ye 

 what to do with it.", 



Mary did as she was told. 



"^vTow you h'ist the thing over the fence, 

 'n' Stan' it up, 's ef 'twas alive," ordered 

 Miss Bett5^ "Then you make a noise to 

 draw 01' Bruiser's 'tention, 'n' we'll see 

 what happens." 



Mary acted on Miss Bett3^'s orders. 

 When she had the scare-crow man braced 



up firmly against the fence she got a club 

 and pounded the rails and made a great 

 racket, which Old Bruiser looked around 

 to discover the cause of. Seeing wdiat he 

 took to be a man inside the pasture fence, 

 and believing he stood a better chance of 

 getting at him that at Miss Betty on the 

 apex of the stone heap, he wheeled about, 

 snorted, lowered his head, shut his eyes, 

 and made a desperate charge toward the 

 enemy. The result was that the scare- 

 crow man was jammed into the fence by 

 the horns of the savage old animal, whose- 

 neck was almost broken by the force with 

 which he came against the scare-crow's 

 backing. He gathered himself up, shook 

 his head as if to make sure it still was- 

 part of his body, and walked away, looking 

 very foolish. 



Miss Betty took instant advantage of 

 the opportunity for escape, and clambered 

 down from the stone pile. The old barn 

 was the nearest place of safety, and she 

 reached it before Old Bruiser had fully 

 recovered from his bewilderment and cha- 

 grin. The barn door was open. She went 

 in and looked about. No one was to be 

 seen. Nothing was to be heard. 



A long ladder ran from the barn floor > 

 to the doft overhead. This she shook 

 loose from it position, and it came tumb- 

 ling to the floor with a force that shook 

 the old building. 



"It'd be, quite a drop fer a boy," she 

 chuckled, measuring the distance from 

 the floor to the loft with her twinkling 

 eye. Then she went out, swung the daor 

 to, and fastened it with the old-fashioned 

 hasp which was operated wholly from the 

 outside. 



"There !" she said, with a long breath 

 of satisfaction. "I ruther guess it's my 

 time to laugh now." 



John was mowing late clover in the field 



