“And there was?”
“Yes, and in a very little while I knew that he was coming in my direction.”
“Go on,” said Nat.
“I couldn’t see who it was,” continued the Porcupine, “but I knew it was only one person by the footsteps. I heard him stop at the barn door and fumble with the catch for a moment. Then I heard him say:
“‘Locked!’
“Now this was kind of curious, so I crept quietly around the building on my toes. Just as I reached the corner and peeked I heard a tinder-box snapping, then there was a light flared up, and I saw that the person at the barn door was the boy who has been visiting at Coopers’ of late.”
“Ezra Prentiss!” almost cried Nat, with a start.
“Yes, that’s his name,” said the dwarf. “The hired man told it to me the first day I saw him around the place; and I’ve remembered it, because it’s not a name,” meaningly, “that I’m likely to forget.”
“I see,” said Nat. Then he added quickly, “But you haven’t spoken to any one about his name being the same as that other?”
“No,” replied the other, promptly. “I never do things like that until I’m sure of them.”