oy straightened himself. He saw the other Letitia and his blue
eyes were full of admiration and bravery. "Of course I know how,"
said he. "Haven't I killed ten wolves and aren't their heads nailed
to the outside of the meeting-house?"

Letitia was quite sure that the boy lied, but she knew that he lied
to please her, and she liked him for it.

Great-great-grandmother Letitia sniffed. "You are the greatest
braggart in the Precinct," said she. "Nary a wolf have you killed,
and you ran because you heard a wild cat or a bear. Where are the
Injuns, pray?"

"I know there were Injuns after me," said the boy earnestly, "but
perhaps I frightened them away. I brandished my knife as I ran."

Great-great-grandmother Letitia sniffed again, but she looked
anxious. "I hope," said she, "that father and mother will not be
molested on their way home."

"Give me a musket," declared the boy bravely, "and I will guard the
path."

"You!" returned Great-great-grandmother Letitia scornfully. "You are
naught but a child."

"I can handle a musket as well as a man," said Josephus Peabody with
such a straightening of his small back that it seemed positively
alarming, and another glance at Letitia, who returned it. She thought
him a very pretty boy, and quite brave, offering to guard the path
all alone, although he was so young, not much older than she was.

Great-great-grandmother Letitia took up a musket decidedly. "Very
well," said she, "if you can handle a musket like a man, here be the
chance. Take this musket, and I will take one, and Letitia will take
one, and we will leave the door ajar, so we can dash in if
hard-pressed, and we will keep watch lest father and mother be
attacked unawares at the threshold."

Letitia was horribly afraid, but she had learned in the Spartan
household of her ancestors, to be more afraid of fear than of
anything else, so she pulled a blanket over her head and shouldered a
musket, and, after the elder Letitia had unbarred and unbolted the
door, they all stepped out into the night, armed and ready to guard
the house.

"Candace can handle a musket and so can little Phyllis at a pinch,"
said the elder Letitia thoughtfully, "but I for one am thinking that
your Injuns are catamounts, Josephus Peabody."

"They are Injuns," said the boy stoutly, peering out into the gloom.

They were in perfect darkness, for it was a cloudy night, and not a
ray came from the house-door.

"For what reason were you abroad