almost at the door.

"All right," said George, pluckily.

"Father," said Miss Cynthia, "the men are at the door! Shall I let them
in?"

Mrs. Buckley turned away her head, for there were tears in her eyes.

CHAPTER IX

IN GREATEST PERIL

"Wait!" commanded the minister. There was a new look, one of decision,
upon his face. "Heaven forgive me," he said, "if I am not doing right--but
I cannot send a man to the gallows!"

He took a step towards the door leading to the entry.

"Not a word, Cynthia," he ordered. He opened a large closet, filled with
groceries and preserving jars, quickly pushed George and Watson into it,
and closed the door.

"Now, Rachel," he said, "let the men in." The girl departed. Within the
space of a minute nearly a dozen neighbors, all of them carrying muskets,
trooped into the kitchen. They were sturdy planters, and they looked wet
and out of humor.

"Well, Dominie," exclaimed one of them, walking up to the fire and warming
his hands, "you can thank your stars you're not out a mean night like
this. Have you heard about the big engine steal?"

"Friend Jason has written me about it," replied Mr. Buckley.

"Why, it was the most daring thing I ever heard tell on," cried another of
the party. "A lot of Yankees actually seized Fuller's train when he was
eating his breakfast at Big Shanty, and ran it almost to Chattanooga. They
had pluck, that's certain!"

"We're not here to praise their pluck," interrupted another man. "We are
here to find out if any of 'em have been seen around your place. We've
been scouring the country for two hours, but there's no trace of any of
'em so far--not even of the man with the boy and the dog, as Jason's son
said he saw."

"Why didn't Jason's son tackle the fellows?" asked a voice.

"Pooh," said the man at the fireplace; "Jason's son ain't no 'count. All
he's fit for is to dance with the girls. It's well our army doesn't depend
on such milksops as him. He would run away from a mosquito--and cry about
it afterwards!"

"You haven't seen any one suspicious about here, have you, parson?" asked
a farmer.

The minister hesitated. He had never told a deliberate falsehood in his
life. Was he to begin now?

"Seen no suspicious characters?" echoed the man at the fireplace. "No boy
with a dog?"

The tongue of the good clergyman seemed to cleave to the roof of his
mouth. He could see the eagle glance of Miss Cynthia fixed upon him. Just
then Waggie, who