l keep out a' the way.
You an' I ain't got noth'n' to worry about, Ingua--unless you blab.'

"I didn't believe a word he said, Josie. They was jus' words, an' it
was nat'ral he'd lie about that night's work. When I went to bed it was
near mornin', but Ol' Swallertail was still sett'n' by the fire.

"Nex' day he went on jus' as usual, an' from then till now he's never
spoke to me of that night. In a couple o' weeks we heard as Ned Joselyn
had run away. His wife come down here askin' fer him, but nobody'd seen
hide ner hair of him. That's all, Josie; that's the whole story, an'
I'm glad you know it now as well as I do. Wha' d'ye think? Did Ol'
Swallertail kill Ned Joselyn?"

Josie woke from her meditation with a start.

"I--I'm going to think it over," she said evasively. "It's a queer
story, Ingua--mighty queer--and it's going to take a lot of thought
before I make up my mind about it."

CHAPTER XII
THEORIES ARE DANGEROUS

"What were you and Ingua talking about for so long?" asked Mary Louise,
when she and Josie were alone.

"She was telling me her story," was the reply.

"All of it?"

"Every bit of it, I think."

"Oh, what was it all about?" questioned Mary Louise eagerly.

"I've promised not to tell."

"Not even me, Josie?"

"Not even you. Ingua insisted; and, really, dear, it's better you
should know nothing just at present."

"Am I to be left out of all this thrilling mystery?" demanded Mary
Louise with an aggrieved air.

"There won't be a thrill in it, until the end, and perhaps not then.
But you shall come in at the finish, if not before; I'll promise that."

"Won't this enforced promise to Ingua tie your hands?" queried the
other girl, thoughtfully.

"No. I didn't promise not to act, but only to keep the child's secret.
For Ingua's sake, as well as to satisfy your curiosity--and my own--I'm
going to delve to the bottom of Ned Joselyn's disappearance. That will
involve the attempt to discover all about Old Swallowtail, who is a
mystery all by himself. I shall call on you to help me, at times, Mary
Louise, but you're not to be told what is weighing so heavily on poor
Ingua's mind."

"Well," said Mary Louise, "if I may help, that will serve to relieve my
disappointment to an extent. But I'm surprised at Ingua. I thought she
loved and trusted me."

"So she does," asserted Josie. "Since I've heard the story, I'm not
surprised at Ingua at all. If you knew all, my dear, you would realize
wh