e light from the window was
effectually excluded by the thick blanket, and my slumber had been
so peaceful that I had scarcely stirred; my relaxed hand had merely
dropped away from the trigger of the rifle lying beside me. The cat
was in her old place at my feet, and I smiled to see her trying to
thrust an inquisitive paw into the muzzle of the gun. Finding the hole
too small for that purpose she wriggled around lazily until she had
brought an eye to bear on the cavity that she seemed to suspect might
contain a mouse. When I had dressed and gone outside I was filled with
wonder at the narrowness of the escape that the house had had. There
had been no rain for weeks; scarcely a drop, indeed, since the
dreadful accident that had left us fatherless--and everything was as
dry as tinder. Once started, a fire would have devastated the whole
valley. In the retrospect the danger that we had escaped seemed even
more terrifying than in the hurry and excitement of the fire itself.
And--how came that heap of combustible stuff under the window? Who was
that man whom I had seen running up the hillside as if pursued by the
furies?

The morning's chores done, I procured broom and rake and set about
clearing away the unsightly heap from under the window. I was
raking industriously, when my eye was suddenly attracted by a small
glittering object near the outer edge of the pile. Stooping, I picked
it up. It lay in the hollow of my hand, and I stood looking at it for
a long, long time. "All things come to him who waits." The origin of
the fire was no longer a mystery, but there were other things. We had
suffered nearly five years of petty, relentless persecution, and had
never, never by any chance, been able to produce any direct evidence
against our enemy. The wind sweeping through the pine boughs on the
hillside above had, to my fancy, the sound that a great fire makes; a
great fire that, rioting unchecked, leaves suffering and death in its
wake. "Much harm would have been done to others besides us if I had
not been here to put the fire out," I thought, gravely regarding the
thing in my hand. "Much harm; and the law punishes any one convicted
of setting a fire, here in the mountains in a dry time, very
severely." Then I went into the house to put the glittering trifle
safely out of sight.

CHAPTER VI

A VISIT FROM MRS. HORTON

I had not looked for Jessie and Ralph to return before night, but the
article that I had found was