board but what Allie could get a smile out of it, nor a sick soul that
didn't bless 'er for 'er kindness an' care. Sick o' body, sick o' heart,
Allie did for 'em all, bless 'er."

"She was happy, then," put in Babe.

"Yes. Comin' out to Californy to 'er lover, she were, all her folks back
in the States bein' dead. She'd took care of 'er mother, last. 'Twas why
'er man came on ahead. An' when she got here - "

"Aw-w, Bet, don't you cry," said Babe. "Y' see, when we got here, Curly,
we found her boy'd been shot in a fight over a mine. Allie, she hadn't
no money left, and no gumption much, like Bet an' me, to fight her way,
so we took 'er along o' us. We tried to keep her the little lady that
she was, but - Well, we got snowed in last winter up on the divide an' -
Faro Sam - Well, it broke her pure heart, an' most Bet's an' mine, too.
An' she ain't never got over the cold she took, up there in the snow."

"Life's hard for a girl anyways you put it, an' she'll be happier over
the river where there ain't no cold nor sorrer. Bet! Aw-w, she'll sleep
on a finer bed nor you an' I could give 'er, an' wake happy, with
ever'one she loved best around her. She's layin' there so white an'
small an' still it'd most break your hear to see 'er. Like a little
snowdrop you've picked, an' worn, an' slung away. So gentle - "

"Well, what's this, anyway? A wake?" broke in Faro Sam's icy voice. "Do
I hire fiddlers to play a funeral dirge? Get on with you," scattering
the girls in the direction of the card tables and the dancing platform.
"Which ones do you want, Curly?"