"Lizzie Cornell's cousin he said that his Uncle Mose had ketched a panther by the tail an' knocked his brains out."
Their father smiled again.
"That kind o' floored ye, didn't it, old girl?" said he, with a kiss. "Le's see," he continued, drawing the children close on either side of him. "I don' know as he ever ketched a panther by the tail, but I'll tell ye what he did do. One day when he hadn't any gun with him he come acrost a big bear, an' Uncle Sile fetched him a cuff with his fist an' broke the bear's neck, an' then he brought him home on his back an' et him for dinner."
"Oh!" the girl exclaimed, her mouth and eyes wide open.
Socky whistled a shrill note of surprise and thankfulness. Then he clucked after the manner of one starting his horse.
"My stars!" he exclaimed, and so saying he skipped across the floor and brought his fist down heavily upon the lounge. Uncle Silas had been saved—plucked, as it were, from the very jaws of obscurity.
When they were ready to get into bed the children knelt as usual before old Aunt Marie, the housekeeper. Sue ventured to add a sentence to her prayer. "God bless Uncle Silas," said she, "and make him very—very——"
The girl hesitated, trying to find the right word.
"Powerful," her brother suggested, still in the attitude of devotion.
"Powerful," repeated Sue, in a trembling voice, and then added: "for Christ's sake. Amen."