I would have minded whether he had any money or not--sure, he was very
fond of me, sir, and we could have pulled along somehow. After that I
came back to my father's place here; the rest of the children died on
me, and then my father died, and I'm doing the best I can by myself.
It's only that I'm a little bit troubled with the boy now and again."

"It's a hard case, ma'am," said the sergeant, "but maybe the boy is only
a bit wild not having his father over him, and maybe it's just that he's
used to yourself, for there isn't a child at all that doesn't love his
mother. Let you behave yourself now, Tomas; attend to your mother, and
leave the beasts and the insects alone, like a decent boy, for there's
no insect in the world will ever like you as well as she does. Could you
tell me, ma'am, if we have passed the first turn on this road, or is it
in front of us still, for we are lost altogether in the darkness?"

"It's in front of you still," she replied, "about ten minutes down the
road; you can't miss it, for you'll see the sky where there is a gap in
the trees, and that gap is the turn you want."

"Thank you, ma'am," said the sergeant; "we'd better be moving on, for
there's a long tramp in front of us before we get to sleep this night."

He stood up and the men rose to follow him when, suddenly, the boy spoke
in a whisper.

"Mother," said he, "they are going to hang the man," and he burst into
tears.

"Oh, hush, hush," said the woman, "sure, the men can't help it." She
dropped quickly on her knees and opened her arms, "Come over to your
mother, my darling."

The boy ran to her.

"They are going to hang him," he cried in a high, thin voice, and he
plucked at her arm violently.

"Now, then, my young boy-o," said the sergeant, "none of that violence."

The boy turned suddenly and flew at him with astonishing ferocity. He
hurled himself against the sergeant's legs and bit, and kicked, and
struck at him. So furiously sudden was his attack that the man went
staggering back against the wall, then he plucked at the boy and whirled
him across the room. In an instant the two dogs leaped at him snarling
with rage--one of these he kicked into a corner, from which it rebounded
again bristling and red-eyed; the other dog was caught by the woman,
and after a few frantic seconds she gripped the first dog also. To a
horrible chorus of howls and snapping teeth the men hustled outside and
slammed the door.

"Shawn," the serg