At last with her scarf across her
shoulders and her umbrella over her head she went out to find her
daughter.
Mary reached the meadow just as Dot screamed.
For a moment she stood still and looked around. The meadow was empty.
Then she knew that little Dot was in the field with Big Ben.
Swift as the wind Mary ran on, closing the umbrella as she went.
Under the fence she crept and ran toward Dot.
Poor little Dot was running and stumbling and crying. Big Ben was
bounding nearer and nearer.
"Don't be afraid," Mary called, as she came up to the little girl.
Then Mary did a strange thing. She opened the red umbrella and whirled
it around and around. Then she threw it toward Big Ben as far as it
would go. It went rolling over the grass, with Big Ben bounding wildly
after it.
The red umbrella made him so angry that he forgot all about the little
girls.
Mary and Dot crept under the fence to safety.
"O Mother," sobbed Mary, when the children reached home and told the
story, "O Mother, your lovely red umbrella is all ruined!"
"But my little girl is safe," said Mrs. White, "and she has saved the
life of her little friend." Mrs. White put her arm around Mary and held
her tightly, and drew little Dot to her, too, just as Dot's own mother
would have done.
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