"Where the dickens are my pants?" he whispered. "See anythin' of 'em, Bill?"
"Anse," Billy's voice was sympathetic. "I see I have to tell you everythin'. Ma, she's goin' fo give you the canin' of your young life, jest as soon as she thinks we're proper asleep."
"Canin'? Me? Whatfer?"
"Why, seems she was up here lookin' fer somethin' a little while ago. She saw your pants layin' there an' she thought maybe they needed patchin', so she took 'em down with her."
"Well, what of it?"
"Oh, nuthin', only she happened to find a pipe in one of the pockets, that's all."
"Jerusalem!" Anson's teeth chattered. "Well, I'm goin' down anyway. I don't mind a hidin', but I'm derned if I'm goin' to lay here and get clawed up by no gorilla."
"Anse, listen," Billy put a detaining hand on his brother's shoulder. "You don't need to do that, an' you needn't sleep in this bed neither. I'll sleep in it, an' you kin sleep in mine. That gorilla, er whatever it is, can't hurt me, cause I've got that rabbit-foot charm that Tom Dodge give me. I'll tie it round my neck."
Anson reflected, shuddering as a long low wail came from the forest.
"That's the boys," Billy told himself. "I've gotta move fast."