three men I would visit. The old don, the young handsome one, and he of the scarred nose. It was a thing to live for.

My mother had taught me never to hate. Hate would destroy him who hated. Nevertheless, I would hate. My mother was gone, my father had been murdered, I had nothing else.

My legs were short. I wished they were longer, and tried stretching my steps. Behind me the sun would be rising. The tracks were there, sometimes plain, sometimes faint. My father had taught me a little of tracking, but here it was not needed. The tracks of ten horses were plain.

I had no water. We had stopped at no spring. I had not been this way before. I did not know where water couldeconomy is growing at a sluggish pace. Employers added an average of about 175,000 jobs a month from January through March. The unemployment rate has fallen to 4.5 percent, the lowest in nearly a decade.

KEY DRIVERS: Many economists forecast that growth was just 1 percent or lower at an annual pace in the first three months of the year. Consumers appear to have pulled back on spending after healthy increases in last year's fourth quarter.

Yet growth should rebound in the April-June quarter, analysts say. Employers are confident about future demand and are posting open jobs. Many are struggling to find the qualified workers they need, according to a report from the Federal Reserve on Wednesday.

Many companies say they have had to raise pay to attract new employees, the