The Witch Tree Symbol Read Online Free

buildings dotted the yard.
    Nancy’s knock was answered by an Amish woman who looked as if she had been crying. “You’re Mrs. Kreutz?” the girl asked, smiling.
    The woman nodded silently.
    “Is Manda at home?” Nancy inquired.
    “You know Manda?” the woman asked.
    Nancy replied that she had met the Amish girl on the road and told the whole story.
    Suddenly Mrs. Kreutz burst into tears. “Manda has gone again! Papa is so strict! He told Manda she could live here, but he gave orders that nobody in the family could speak to her!”
    “How dreadfull” Nancy thought.
    “We have six sons,” Mrs. Kreutz explained. “They are married and have their own farms near here. But Papa is mayschter, and we obey him.”
    The woman looked pleadingly at Nancy. “Maybe Papa would listen to you, since you are outside our family. He will not admit to us his feelings are hurt because his only daughter has left home. Please talk to him about Manda. He is near the barn, by the bull pens.”
    Nancy agreed, though she had little hope she could persuade Mr. Kreutz. Bess and George joined Nancy, and the three girls walked toward the barn. They saw a large enclosure with three pens. In each stood a large black bull.
    Mr. Kreutz was a giant of a man, with a ruddy complexion, sandy hair, and a long beard. He was working in the first pen.
    As he heard the girls’ footsteps, the farmer looked up. At the same instant the huge bull beside him lowered its horns, caught up the man, and threw him across the pen!

CHAPTER IV
    Nancy’s Strategy
     
     
     
    BESS screamed. This angered the bull. With a loud snort he lowered his head as if to make a second attack on Mr. Kreutz, who lay stunned near the gate. Bess cried out again. The animal delayed his charge momentarily, eying the girl.
    “Quick!” Nancy exclaimed, seeing several buckets of water standing by the barn. “Grab a pail!”
    Nancy picked up one. With full force, she threw the water over the fence at the bull’s head, just as he headed for the farmer again. The animal stopped dead, temporarily blinded by the water.
    Then, with increased fury, he bellowed and plunged toward the motionless farmer. George now threw her water at the bull, and Nancy called to Bess, “Stand by the gate and be ready to open it when I tell you!”
    Nancy grabbed another pail and heaved it into the pen. Then, reaching through the bars, she grabbed Mr. Kreutz by his shirt and dragged him forward. The bull, confused, backed up.
    “Open the gate!” Nancy yelled.
    As Bess obeyed, Nancy and George reached in and dragged Mr. Kreutz to safety. Bess then slammed the gate shut and locked it.
    With a roar the bull rammed headfirst into the bars of his pen, trying to batter them down with his horns. Fortunately, the bars were strong.
    Spying a water wheel in a sluiceway, Nancy filled another pail and hurried back to Mr. Kreutz. She dipped her handkerchief in the cold water and applied it to his forehead. Presently the man open his eyes.
    “Wuu bin ich?” he murmured.
    “You’re with friends,” Nancy replied, knowing he had asked where he was. “Just lie quiet for a while and you’ll be all right.”
    Mr. Kreutz closed his eyes, but half a minute later he opened them again. Sitting up, he gazed at the three girls. Then he heard the noise of the stamping bull and this seemed to remind him of what had happened.
    “How did I get here?” the farmer moaned.
    “We dragged you out of the pen,” George reported. “If it hadn’t been for Nancy, you might have been killed by that bull.”
    “I remember now,” Mr. Kreutz said, sitting up. “I saw you just before the bull tossed me.”
    The girls helped the farmer to his feet and assisted him into the kitchen.
    “Papa, Papa, what is the matter?” Mrs. Kreutz cried.
    Bess explained about the bull charge.
    “Ach!” the woman exclaimed.
    “He’ll be all right,” Nancy assured her.
    Mrs. Kreutz ladled out steaming soup from a huge old-fashioned kettle into a