nd he
straightway took a fancy to Prince, the pet pony of the family. An
unwritten plank in the platform of the pro-slavery men was that the Free
Soil party had no rights they were bound to respect, and Sharpe remarked
to Will, with a malicious grin:

"That's a nice pony of yours, sonny. Guess I'll take him along with me."
And he proceeded to exchange the saddle from the back of his own horse
to that of Prince.

"You old coward!" muttered Will, bursting with wrath. "I'll get even
with you some day."

The justice was a tall, burly fellow, and he cut so ridiculous a figure
as he rode away on Prince's back, his heels almost touching the ground,
that Will laughed outright as he thought of a plan to save his pony.

A shrill whistle brought Turk to the scene, and receiving his cue, the
dog proceeded to give Sharpe a very bad five minutes. He would nip at
one of the dangling legs, spring back out of reach of the whip with a
triumphant bark, then repeat the performance with the other leg. This
little comedy had a delighted spectator in Will, who had followed at a
safe distance. Just as Sharpe made one extra effort to reach Turk, the
boy whistled a signal to Prince, who responded with a bound that dumped
his rider in the dust. Here Turk stood over him and showed his teeth.

"Call off your dog, bub!" the justice shouted to Will, "and you may keep
your little sheep, for he's no good, anyway."

"That's a bargain!" cried Will, restored to good humor; and helping the
vanquished foe upon his own steed, he assured him that he need not fear
Turk so long as he kept his word. Sharpe departed, but we were far from
being rid of him.

About a fortnight later we were enjoying an evening with father, who was
now able to come downstairs. He was seated in a big arm-chair before the
open fire, with his family gathered round him, by his side our frail,
beautiful mother, with Baby Charlie on her knee, Martha and Julia, with
their sewing, and Will, back of mother's chair, tenderly smoothing the
hair from her brow, while he related spiritedly some new escapade of
Turk. Suddenly he checked his narrative, listened for a space, and
announced:

"There are some men riding on the road toward the house. We'd better be
ready for trouble."

Mother, equal to every emergency, hurriedly disposed her slender forces
for defense. Martha and Julia were directed to help father to bed; that
done, to repair to the unfurnished front room above stairs; Will wa