"Yes, sir."
"Now, Mirandy Thayer, I'm going to ask you a question." Cap'n Moseby's eyes looked into hers, and she looked back into his. "If you hadn't been a little gal, Mirandy Thayer, what would you have been?"
Mirandy hesitated.
"Hey?" said Cap'n Moseby.
"One of my brothers," said Mirandy, doubtfully.
"'EAT 'EM!' ORDERED CAP'N MOSEBY"
"No, you wouldn't. I'll tell you what you would have been. You would have been a soldier, and you would have gone right up to the redcoats' guns. Well, you must tend to your knittin'-work and your spinnin'. Now what did you steal my berries for, hey?"
"To earn my shoes," faltered Mirandy; she felt a little bewildered.