Chapter 17 A DESOLATE HOME AND A DESOLATE PEOPLE.

As Gretchen was hurrying home on the evening after these exciting scenes, she met Mrs. Woods in the trail, and she saw at a glance that her foster-mother was in great distress.

"O Gretchen," she said, "I am so glad that you have come-you are all that is left to me now! I am all alone in the world! Have you heard it, Gretchen?"

"What, mother?"