Stewart Edward White

“ At first some doubt was expressed as to the wisdom of that Flobert rifle. To turn two small boys loose with a deadly weapon seemed to Mrs. Orde a rather strong temptation of Providence. Mr. Kincaid spoke for them. In the end it was decided, though with many misgivings and more admonitions.
"Keep the muzzle pointed up; never get excited; never shoot at anything unless you know what it is, " was Mr. Kincaid's summing up. These three precepts were so constantly impressed that to the boys their practice ended by becoming second nature. ”

“ Kincaid, quite unruffled. "I never shoot on a man's land when he doesn't want me to."
He turned, and at once the man became abusive, just as a dog gains courage as his enemy passes. Bobby listened, his eyes wide with dismay and shock. Never had he heard quite that sort of language. Finally Mr. Kincaid happened to glance down at his small companion. He slipped the shells from his gun and leaned it against a stump. ”

“ He saw again plainly the yellow sand-hills under his feet, and the village lying below, its roofs half hidden in the lilac and mauve of bared branches, its columns of smoke rising straight up in the frosty air. He saw the sturdy, round-shouldered form in the old shooting-coat, the lined, brown, lean face, the white mustache and eyebrows, the kindly twinkling eyes squinted against the western light. ”

“ Mr. Kincaid had at once been released. Under cover of the congratulations, the boys made their escape.
"I don't see how you ever figured it out!" cried Johnny for the dozenth time.
"I knew it must have hit his head, unless it just grazed his cap," said Bobby, "and when I saw that scar——"
"Gee! it was great," gloated Johnny, "just like a book! It'll be in all the papers to-morrow. You saved Mr. Kincaid's life, didn't you?"
"I suppose I did," said Bobby complacently, At this moment the open hot-air register began to speak, carrying up the voices from the rooms below. ”

“ The sheriff elbowed his way back down the aisle.
"How do you know all this?" began the prosecuting attorney.
"If Mr. Kincaid wore the cap, why isn't his head hurt?" demanded Bobby.
"If the shot was fired by Pritchard when lying on the ground," explained the attorney, "it would not have scraped."
"But it wasn't," persisted Bobby. "It was fired from downhill, and about thirty feet away. That would hit the man, wouldn't it?" he appealed. ”

“ The cap had a 22-caliber bullet-hole through the crown; and Pritchard was armed with a 22-caliber rifle."
"What does Mr. Kincaid say to it?"
"That's just the trouble!" cried Orde in despairing tones. "If he'd plead self-defense any jury in Michigan would acquit him without leaving the box. But when we asked him how that bullet-hole got in that cap, he says simply that he doesn't know; it wasn't there when he lost the cap. Could anything be more absurd?"
Bobby reached out and softly closed the register.
Then he turned to grip Johnny fiercely by the arm. His eyes blazed. ”

“ You have learned your lesson. And you told the truth. That is a great thing. It is easy to cover up a mistake, but very hard to show it when you don't have to. I was a little disappointed that you forgot about shooting at things; but I am more than proud that you remembered to be a sportsman. With your father's permission, I'm going to get you that shotgun, just the same. We'll go down together in the morning to get it."
At the end of ten minutes more Bobby returned to his room. ”

“ Kincaid, "but it's a sure sign of a greenhorn. A man ought to be deadly ashamed to confess himself such an all-around dub."
Toward the end of the fall, and nearing Thanksgiving, the boys drove Bobby Junior out the old east road. After a time they turned off into a byway, deep with sand. It ended. They hitched the placid Bobby Junior to the top rail of a "snake fence," climbed it, and headed toward a scrub-oak and popple thicket, thrown like a blanket over the long slope of a hill. ”

“ That's the trouble. He offers no explanation of the facts, and the facts are—queer."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, this: the men who saw Kincaid coming out of the thicket say he was bare-headed. When Pritchard's body was found, Kincaid's cap was discovered about fifty feet distant."
"What does he say to that?"
"His story is so ridiculous that I wouldn't blame anybody who did not know Kincaid for not believing it. He says he was playing with his dog, Curly, when Curly grabbed the cap and made off with it. The dog came back without the cap, and Kincaid could not find it. ”

“ Kincaid emerge from the thicket without a hat. This witness likewise, on being excused, crossed the room and took his seat near the window.
This point established, the prosecution called upon the man who had found the body. He stated that he was in the employ of the deceased; had gone out afoot to look up a strayed cow; had come across the body late in the afternoon. Pritchard had been killed by a knife thrust in the throat. He lay on his back. He had carried a 22-caliber rifle, with which he was accustomed to shoot hawks and crows. The rifle had been discharged. ”

“ Curly was with him. The man was trying to send the water spaniel into the copse. Curly pretended that he wanted to play, and did not in the least understand what it was all about. He capered joyously around Mr. Kincaid's outstretched arm; he pressed his chest to the earth and uttered short barks; he chased madly around in circles—but he did not enter the copse, which was plainly his master's desire. Finally Mr. ”