"Did you want me, father?" asked James.
"James," said his father, abruptly, "Deacon Miller tells me that some one has shot his cow, old Whitey, this afternoon, and injured her so seriously that she will have to be killed."
"I am sorry to hear it," said James, nervously.
"Do you know who did it?"
"How should I?" asked James, after a pause.
"Wer'n't you out in the pastur' this afternoon?" asked the deacon, pointedly.
"Yes," answered James, "Tom Wyman and I crossed the pasture."
"With guns on your shoulders?"
"Ye—es," admitted James.
"Did you see anything of old Whitey?" continued the deacon, persevering in his pointed interrogations.