ok Jonathan out of his wagon and hushed him, and then they had a
consultation as to what was best to be done. Mirandy related, with
tearful breaks, the story of her well-filled bucket and its mysterious
disappearance.

"Of course Cap'n Moseby was watching out there with his gun and took
it," said Daniel.

It was finally agreed that they would all go in a body to Cap'n
Moseby's, and try to recover Mirandy's bucket, that she might not have
to face her mother without it. When they reached the Moseby house the
doors were closed and the windows looked blank. They knocked as loudly
as they dared, and there was not a sound in response. They looked at one
another.

"S'pose he ain't at home?" whispered Harriet.

"Dan'l, you pound on the door again," said Eliza.

And Daniel pounded. Abijah pounded, too, and Eliza herself rattled away
on one panel, with her freckled face screwed up, but nobody came.

"If he's there, he won't come to the door," said Daniel.

Suddenly the silence within the house was broken. Then came a volley of
quick barks, and the children all fell back in a panic, and scurried
into the road.

"He's in there," said Daniel; "an' he's been keeping the dog still, but
he can't any longer."

"Just hear him!" whispered Harriet, with a shudder.

The dog was not only barking and growling, but leaping at the door.

[Illustration: "THE VISIT TO CAP'N MOSEBY'S"]

Mary Ann began to cry. "I'm going home," she sobbed. "S'pose that door
should break;" and she started down the road.

Eliza grasped the handle of Jonathan's wagon. "I guess we might just as
well go," she said. "I don't b'lieve he'll come to the door if we stand
there a week. I don't know what mother'll say when she finds that good
bucket's gone. I guess Mirandy'll catch it. An' when she finds out she's
been stealing, too, I don't know what she will say."

The sorry procession started. Jonathan's wagon creaked; but Mirandy
stood still, with a stubborn pout on her mouth, and her brows contracted
over her blue eyes.

"Come along, Mirandy," called Eliza, with a foreboding voice.

But Mirandy stood still.

"Why don't you come?" Harriet said.

"I ain't coming," said Mirandy.

"What?"

"I ain't coming till I get my bucket."

Then the whole procession stopped, and reasoned and argued, but Mirandy
was unmoved.

"What are you going to do? You can't get in," said Eliza.

"I'm going to sit on the door-step till Cap'n Moseby comes out,"
answered M