“Dodge down, you little white top, nobody wants to hear you!�
But burly Ethan Allen shouldered up to the little fellow. “Go ahead, Eph,� he said, “tell it to ’em just as you told it to me. Don’t be scared.�
“I wa’n’t scared last night, and I ain’t likely to be now,� said Eph with a grin up at Ethan’s broad face.
“That’s so. Shake hands. After all there is nothing little about you, Eph—except yourself.�
The little fellow looked bigger after this grip of good fellowship and he piped up and began his story.
“I was out last night,� he said. “It was near midnight I reckon. Most all the lights was out in the village and everything was quiet. I was out—out looking for something——�
“He was out looking for his drunken old father,� whispered one of the boys, nudging his neighbor. “That’s Eph’s regular beat nights. He is afraid the old man will get run over, or get sunstruck by moonlight.�
“Hush up, you,� said the boy addressed. “Eph isn’t to blame.�
“I had been down by the cross-roads,� Eph went on. “You know where that is.�
“I think it’s likely we do—there is where General Stark buried a traitor and staked him down with a crowbar,� said one.