and, splashing its contents over
her garments, and she uttered a little frightened cry. He whispered her
name again and Myra timidly put out her hand.

"Air it yerself, Ezy?" she implored.

"Yep, I air here. I comed to see Mammy and Satisfied, and to tell ye
that it air time for ye to be savin' Ben Letts if ye loves him. Ben
throwed me in the Hoghole, he did, but I know that ye loved him, and I
comed."

The boy staggered with weakness, and his sister threw an arm around him.

"Ye air to come to Mammy," she urged. "Mammy loves ye, Ezy dear."

"Wait," whispered the boy. "Ben Letts air to be arrested."

"What?"

The cry was sharp--the words hurt.

"Ben Letts air to be tooked to jail. It were him what killed the
gamekeeper. It weren't Orn Skinner."

"Who were a-sayin' it were Ben?" demanded Myra, her mouth hard and
lined.

"I says it," replied Ezy. "I seed him when he done it, and I comed to
tell ye, and to see Mammy and Satisfied."

"Then come in, and go to bed, for ye be sick."

A change gradually came over Myra: cunning grew in the faded eyes and
determination straightened the thin shoulders, as she led her brother
into the hut.

"Mammy," she called softly, opening the door, "here air Ezy!"

"Fetch him in," cried Satisfied.

Mrs. Longman sank weakly into a chair. The sight of her son, her only
son, white and emaciated, and the appearance of the livid scar on his
brow drew a painful cry from her lips.

"He air sick," continued Myra, "put him to bed."

"Where air ye been all this time, Ezy?" asked Longman, assisting him
into the small back room. But Ezra was too ill to tell the story, and
the mother hushed him to sleep just as she had in those childhood days
when he had been good, and always at home.

Meantime, Myra, pale and thoughtful, moved about the shanty. Her mind
was upon one subject--she must save Ben Letts from the dreaded rope. She
did not question the verity of her brother's statement, for she realized
that Ben was not only capable of killing the inspector, but also of
placing the guilt upon an innocent man. It did not, however, change her
squatter love. The more she thought of Ben's danger, the more she loved
and wanted to save him, the more determined she grew to take him away to
some place where the officers could not find him.

"Goin' to bed, Myry?" asked Longman, taking the candle and climbing the
ladder to the loft.

"Yep, but I air a-goin' to rock the brat a little while. Ye and