nswer nor permit Shadrach to
do so.

The Bacheldor family were at supper when the callers arrived. Abner
himself opened the door and he looked rather embarrassed when he saw the
pair on the steps. Captain Shad did not wait for an invitation to enter;
he walked in and Mary-'Gusta followed him.

"Now then, Ab," said the Captain, briskly, "what's this about our cat
stealin' your chickens?"

Mr. Bacheldor and Con, separately and together, burst into a tirade of
invective against the offending David.

"That's all right, that's all right," broke in the Captain, crisply. "If
that cat stole your chicken it ought to be shot. But are you sure of the
cat? Do you know ours did it? This girl here says 'twasn't ours at all."

"I know a dum sight better," began Abner, savagely. But this time it was
Mary-'Gusta who interrupted.

"Cap'n Gould," she said, "please ask him what time it was yesterday
afternoon when he saw the cat run off with the chicken."

Bacheldor did not wait to be asked.

"'Twas quarter-past four yesterday afternoon," he declared. "I know the
time."

"I don't see what the time's got to do with it," put in Shadrach.

"But it's got everything to do with it," urged Mary-'Gusta. "Honest
truly it has."

"Oh, it has, eh? Why?"

"'Cause--'cause--Ask him if he's sure?"

Again Abner did not wait. "Course I'm sure," he replied. "I told Isaiah
Chase--yes, and I told that young-one, too--that I looked at the clock
just afore I looked out of the window and see the critter in the very
act. Yes, and Con see him too."

Mary-'Gusta stamped her foot in triumph. "Then it wasn't David,"
she said. "It wasn't David at all. 'Twas somebody else's cat, Mr.
Bacheldor."

"Somebody else's nothin'! Don't you suppose I know--"

"Hold on! Heave to, Ab. Mary-'Gusta, how do you know 'twasn't our cat?"

"'Cause--'cause David was with me from four o'clock till most five;
that's how. He was in the--in our house with me. So," triumphantly, "he
couldn't have been anywhere else, could he?"

Con and his father both began a protest, but Shadrach cut it short.

"Keep still, for mercy sakes," he ordered. "This ain't Shoutin'
Methodist camp meetin'. Let's get soundin's here. Now, Mary-'Gusta, you
say the cat was with you from four till five; you're sure of that?"

"Yes, sir. I know because Mr. Chase had gone out and we knew he wouldn't
be back until five 'cause he said he wouldn't. So we looked at the clock
before we went in."

"Went