dden.

He heard no more of the search that had been made for the burglars and
their booty, and he congratulated himself on his caution in keeping
silent about what he had found.

"Now, ef it hed been that thar wide-mouthed Barney, stid o' me, he'd hev
blabbed fust thing, an' they'd all hev thunk ez he war the boy what them
scoundrels put through the winder ter steal the folkses' truck. They'd
hev jailed him, I reckon."

He had begun to forget his own part in the wrong-doing,--that his
silence was helping to screen "them scoundrels" from the law.

This state of mind continued for a week, perhaps. Then he fell to
speculating about the stolen goods. He wondered whether they were all
there yet, or whether the burglars had managed to carry them away. His
curiosity grew so great that several times he was almost at the point of
going to see for himself; but one morning, early, when an opportunity
to do so was suddenly presented, his courage failed him.

His mother had just come into the log cabin from the hen-house with a
woe-begone face.

"I do declar'!" she exclaimed solemnly, "that I'm surely the
afflictedest 'oman on G'liath Mounting! An' them young fall tur-r-keys
air so spindlin' an' delikit they'll be the death o' me yit!"

They were so spindling and delicate that they were the death of
themselves. She had just buried three, and her heart and her larder were
alike an aching void.

"Three died ter-day, an' two las' Wednesday!" As she counted them on her
fingers she honored each with a shake of the head, so mournful that it
might be accounted an obituary in dumb show. "I hev had no sort'n luck
with this tur-r-key's brood, an' the t'other hev stole her nest away,
an' I hev got sech a mean no-'count set o' chillen they can't find her.
Waal! waal! waal! this comin' winter the Lord'll be _obleeged_ ter
pervide."

This was washing-day, and as she began to scrub away on the noisy
washboard, a sudden thought struck her. "Ye told me two weeks ago an'
better, Nick, that ye hed laid off ter sarch the Conscripts' Hollow; ye
'lowed ye hed been everywhar else. Did ye go thar fur the tur-r-key?"

She faced him with her dripping arms akimbo.

Nick's face turned red as he answered, "That thar tur-r-key ain't a-nigh
thar."

"What ails ye, Nick? thar's su'thin' wrong. I kin tell it by yer looks.
Ye never hed the grit ter sarch thar, I'll be bound; did ye, now?"

Nick could not bring himself to admit having been near the pla