dy else, don't he, boys?"

"If yees don't travel mighty sudden, I'll make a scatterin' among yer,"
said the man, between his clenched teeth; "I'll be dog-gone if I don't
shoot some o' yer;" and he reached for a long double-barrel shot-gun that
stood behind his chair.

"Avast, there, you old landlubber," exclaimed Simpson; "just drop that
shootin' iron, will you. We're four to your one, and you don't suppose that
we are going to stand still and be shot down, like turkeys on Thanksgivin'
morning, do you? No, sir, that would be like the handle of a jug, all on
one side. Shootin' is a game two can play at, you know. Come, put that
we'pon down;" and Simpson held his musket in the hollow of his arm, and
handled the lock in a very significant manner.

The man saw that the sailors were not to be intimidated, and not liking
the way Simpson eyed him, he leaned his gun up in the corner again, and
muttered something about Yankee mudsills and Abolitionists.

"Just clap a stopper on that jaw of yours, will you," said Simpson; "or,
shiver my timbers, if we don't try man-o'-war punishment on you. Now,
Frank," he continued, "you just jump up there, and shoot off the old
rascal's gun; and then keep an eye on him, and don't let him get out of
his chair; and the rest of us will look around and see what we can find in
the way of grub."

Frank sprang up the steps that led on to the porch, and fired both barrels
of the gun into the air, and then, drawing a chair to the other end of the
porch, coolly seated himself, and deposited his feet on the railing; while
the others went into the house, where they secured a pail of fresh milk
and a loaf of bread. From the house they went into the wood-shed, where
they found a quantity of sweet potatoes. They then returned to the place
where they had left Frank.

"Come on, now," said Woods; "we'll have a tip-top dinner, in spite of the
old secesh.

"Hold on," said Frank; "where are you going? I move we cook and eat our
dinner here. There's a stove in the house, and every thing handy."

The man was accordingly invited into his own house by the boys, and
requested to take a seat, and make himself perfectly at home, but to be
careful and not go out of doors. They deposited their muskets in one
corner of the room; and while Archie started a fire in the store, Frank
dressed the squirrels, and washed some of the sweet potatoes, and placed
them in the oven to bake. Woods drew the table out into the middle