“Ye never hurt nobody, did ye, Tobe?” She had turned very pale. “I 'lowed it couldn't be the wind ez I hearn a-hollerin'.”
“I hopes an' prays I hurt 'em,” he said, as he replaced the rifle in the rack. He was shaking the other hand, which had been jarred in some way by the hasty discharge of the weapon. “Some dad-burned horse-thief war arter the mare. Jedgin' from the sound o' thar running 'peared like to me ez thar mought be two o' 'em.”
The next day the mare disappeared from the stable. Yet she could not be far off, for Tobe was about the house most of the time, and when he and the “Colonel” came in-doors in the evening the little girl held in her hand a half-munched ear of corn, evidently abstracted from the mare's supper.
“Whar be the filly hid, Tobe?” Eugenia asked, curiosity overpowering her.
“Ax me no questions an' I'll tell ye no lies,” he replied, gruffly.
In the morning there was a fall of snow, and she had some doubt whether her mother, who had gone several days before to a neighbor's on the summit of the range, would return; but presently the creak of unoiled axles heralded the approach of a wagon, and soon the old woman, bundled in shawls, was sitting by the fire. She wore heavy woollen socks over her shoes as protection against the snow. The incompatibility of the shape of the hose with the human foot was rather marked, and as they were somewhat inelastic as well, there was a muscular struggle to get them off only exceeded by the effort which had been required to get them on. She shook her head again and again, with a red face, as she bent over the socks, but plainly more than this discomfort vexed her.
“Laws-a-massy, 'Genie! I hearn a awful tale over yander 'mongst them Jenkins folks. Ye oughter hev married Luke Todd, an' so I tole ye an' fairly beset ye ter do ten year ago. He keered fur ye. An' Tobe—shucks! Wa'al, laws-a-massy, child! I hearn a awful tale 'bout Tobe up yander at Jenkinses'.”
Eugenia colored.
“Folks hed better take keer how they talk 'bout Tobe,” she said, with a touch of pride. “They be powerful keerful ter do it out'n rifle range.”
With one more mighty tug the sock came off, the red face was lifted, and Mrs. Pearce shook her head ruefully.