"Ah did not, but Ah heard him shoot, den w'en Ah looked, Ah didn't sawed him no moah."
"Who was it?" demanded a mountaineer.
"Ah doan know. Ah didn't sawed him close 'nuf, an' den Ah didn't sawed him at all."
"He oughter be strung up anyway," suggested a voice.
"Don't get excited! Don't get excited," urged Lieutenant Wingate, when it became plain that the mountaineers were determined to make further trouble.
"Gentlemen, Lieutenant Wingate has given you good advice. That colored boy is not to be blamed for what has occurred here," declared Miss Briggs, getting to her feet. "It is not necessary for you to take my word for that, nor the boy's. You can prove it for yourselves."
"How?" demanded several voices.
"Go outside and examine the bushes that grow by the window through which the shot was fired, and look at the ground carefully for foot-tracks. I am amazed that you didn't think of it yourselves. You see when one is angry he does not reason and—"
The men did not give her opportunity to finish. They again bolted from the schoolroom. Their voices and their exclamations were heard under the window a moment later.
"That was fine, J. Elfreda," glowed Grace.