She raised it again, but suddenly Ephraim made a strange noise and sunk away before it, down in a heap on the floor.
Caleb heard him fall, and came quickly.
"Oh, mother," he sobbed, "is he dead?
What ails him ?" "He's got a bad spell," said Deborah.

"Help me lay him on the bed." Her face was ghastly.

She spoke with hoarse pulls for breath, but she did not flinch.

She and Caleb laid Ephraim on his bed; then she worked over him for a few minutes with mustard and hot-water--all the simple remedies in which she was skilled.

She tried to pour a little of the doctor's medicine into his mouth, but he did not swallow, and she wiped it away.
"Go an' get Barney to run for the doctor, quick!" she told Caleb at last.