Stanton," she said, "that the man who took the money
would burden himself with a gun? Isn't a rifle heavy for one in flight
to carry?"

"It is," said father. "Your mother saw nothing of two men?"

"Only one, and she knows he didn't carry a gun. Except the man you
took in, no stranger has been noticed around here lately?"

"No one. We are quite careful. Even the gun was not loaded as it
stood; whoever took it carried the ammunition also, but he couldn't
fire until he loaded."

Father turned to the corner where the gun always stood and then he
stooped and picked up two little white squares from the floor.

They were bits of unbleached muslin in which he wrapped the bullets he
made.

"The rifle was loaded before starting, and in a hurry," he said, as he
held up the squares of muslin. Then he scratched a match, bent, and
ran it back and forth over the floor, and at one place there was a
flash, and the flame went around in funny little fizzes as it caught a
grain of powder here and there. "You see the measure was overrun."

"Wouldn't the man naturally think the gun was loaded, and take it as it
stood?"

"That would be a reasonable conclusion," said father.

"But he looked!" I cried. "That first night when you and the boys went
to the barn, and the girls were getting supper, he looked at the gun,
and he LIKED it when he saw it wasn't loaded. He smiled. And he
didn't limp a mite when I was the only one in the room. He and Leon
knew it wasn't loaded, and I guess he didn't load it, for he liked
having it empty so well."

"Ummmm!" said father. "What it would save in this world if a child
only knew when to talk and when to keep still. Little Sister, the next
time you see a stranger examine my gun when I'm not in the room,
suppose you take father out alone and whisper to him about it."

"Yes, sir," I said.

The way I wished I had told that at the right time made me dizzy, but
then there were several good switchings I'd had for telling things,
besides what Sally did to me about her and Peter. I would have enjoyed
knowing how one could be sure. Hereafter, it will be all right about
the gun, anyway.

"Could I take my horse and carry a message anywhere for you? Are both
your sons riding to tell the neighbours?"

Father hesitated, but it seemed as if he stopped to think, so I just
told her: "Laddie is riding. Leon didn't take a horse."

Father said there was nothing she could do, so she took my hand