“You big man!” she said.  “You could help Mother!  Good for you!”

“Is the dam gone?” he asked.

“Part of it,” said Kate, sliding her feet before her, as she waded toward Polly in the doorway.

“Did Father shut the sluice-gate, to hear the roar?”

Kate hesitated.  The shivering body in her arms felt so small to her.

“I ’spect he did,” said Adam.  “All day he was fussing after you stopped the roar.”  Then he added casually:  “The old fool ought-a known better.  I ’spect he was drunk again!”

“Oh, Adam!” cried Kate, setting him on the porch.  “Oh, Adam!  What makes you say that?”

“Oh, all of them at school say that,” scoffed Adam.  “Everybody knows it but you, don’t they, Polly?”

“Sure!” said Polly.  “Most every night; but don’t you mind, Mother, Adam and I will take care of you.”

Kate fell on her knees and gathered both of them in a crushing hug for an instant; then she helped them into to dry nightgowns and to bed.  As she covered them she stooped and kissed each of them before she went to warm and put on dry clothes, and dry her hair.  It was almost dawn when she walked to George Holt’s door and looked in at him lying stretched in deep sleep.

“You may thank your God for your children,” she said.  “If it hadn’t been for them, I know what I would have done to you.”

Then she went to her room and lay down to rest until dawn.  She was up at the usual time and had breakfast ready for the children.  As they were starting to school George came into the room.

“Mother,” said Polly, “there is a lot of folks over around the dam.  What shall we tell them?”

Kate’s heart stopped.  She had heard that question before.

“Tell them the truth,” said Adam scornfully, before Kate could answer.  “Tell them that Mother opened the sluiceway to save the dam and Father shut it to hear it roar, and it busted!”

“Shall I, Mother?” asked Polly.

A slow whiteness spread over George’s face; he stared down the hall to look.

“Tell them exactly what you please,” said Kate, “only you watch yourself like a hawk.  If you tell one word not the way it was, or in any way different from what happened, I’ll punish you severely.”

“May I tell them I held the lamp while Adam got you out of the water?” asked Polly.  “That would be true, you know.”

George turned to listen, his face still whiter.

“Yes, that would be true,” said Kate, “but if you tell them that, the first thing they will ask will be ‘where was your father?’ What will you say then?”

“Why, we’ll say that he was so drunk we couldn’t wake him up,” said Polly conclusively.  “We pulled him, an’ we shook him, an’ we yelled at him.  Didn’t we, Adam?”

“I was not drunk!” shouted George.

“Oh, yes, you were,” said Adam.  “You smelled all sour, like it does at the saloon door!”