“It must be to the left,” she said, in bewilderment, after a moment’s hesitation, and slowly turned in that direction.  But she had taken the wrong way.  She went on and on, wondering why she did not come to a gate, when the road suddenly turned into a narrow wagon track, with dark corn-fields on each side.  There was not a house or a human being in sight.

The moon was not high enough yet to dispel much of the gloom of the twilight, and bullbats were circling overhead, dipping so low at times that once they almost brushed her face.

“Oh, I’m lost!” she whispered, with trembling lips.  All of a sudden there was a rustling of the high corn, and out of it limped a big burly negro.  He had a gun on his shoulder, and a savage-eyed dog skulked at his heels.  Betty nearly screamed in her terror at this sudden appearance.  She knew at a glance that the fellow must be “Limping Tige,” one of the worst characters in the county.  He had just served a third term in the penitentiary, and she had heard Mom Beck say that nobody in the Valley would draw an easy breath while Limping Tige was loose.

A cold fear seized the child, and such a weakness numbed her trembling hands that she could scarcely hold the bridle.

Wheeling the pony so suddenly that she almost lost her balance, she gave him a cut with the switch that sent him flying back over the road he had come, at the top of his speed.  Now every bush and every tree and every brier-tangled fence corner seemed to hold some nameless terror for her, and even her lips were cold and blue with fear.

At the cross-roads she had another fright, as something big and black loomed up in the moonlight ahead of her.  “Oh, what is it?” she moaned, so frightened that her heart almost stopped beating.  The next glance showed her that it was some one coming toward her on horseback, and then a cheery whistling reassured her.  Nobody could be very dangerous, she knew, who could go along the road whistling “My Old Kentucky Home” in such a happy fashion.

It was Keith, who had come to hunt for her.  They had missed her, when the charades were over, and, finding her pony gone too, thought that she must have been taken suddenly ill, and had slipped away quietly in order not to disturb the pleasure of the others.

Keith had offered to ride up to Locust and see what was the matter, and his surprise showed itself in his rapid questioning when he met her riding wildly away from the place where she had seen Limping Tige.  It did not take long for him to learn the whole story of her lonely ride, and the fright she had had, for his questions were fired with such directness of aim that truthful Betty could not dodge them.  “And you missed it all—­the charades and the chance of taking the prize—­and came all the way back by yourself just to post a letter, when you didn’t know the way!” he exclaimed again as they drew in sight of the old mill.

“Well, I call that pretty plucky for a girl.”