"Me and the ole woman kind o' spekilated that Jule might hev been over
with Aunt Marthy; but don't you worry, Mr. Schoolmaster. They're limbs,
every one o' them, but they'll fetch up somewhere, all square! Just
you put two fingers o' that corn juice inside ye, and let 'em slide. Ye
didn't hear what the 'lekshun news was when ye was at Smith's, did ye?"

The master had not inquired. He confessed he had been worried about the
boys. He had even thought that Julian might have met with an accident.

Mr. Fleming wiped his mouth, with a humorous affectation of concern.
"Met with an ACCIDENT? Yes, I reckon not ONE accident, but TWO of 'em.
These yer accidents Jule's met with had two legs, and were mighty lively
accidents, you bet, and took him off with 'em; or mebbe they had four
legs, and he's huntin' 'em yet. Accidents! Now I never thought o' that!
Well, when you come across him and THEM ACCIDENTS, you just whale 'em,
all three! And ye won't take another drink? Well, so long, then! Gee
up!" He rolled away, with a laugh, in the heavy dust kicked up by his
plunging mules, and the master made his way back to the schoolhouse. His
quest for that day was ended.

But the next morning he was both astounded and relieved, at the
assembling of school, to find the three truants back in their places.
His urgent questioning of them brought only the one and same response
from each: "Got lost on the ridge." He further gathered that they had
slept out for two nights, and were together all the time, but nothing
further, and no details were given. The master was puzzled. They
evidently expected punishment; that was no doubt also the wish of their
parents; but if their story was true, it was a serious question if he
ought to inflict it. There was no means of testing their statement;
there was equally none by which he could controvert it. It was evident
that the whole school accepted it without doubt; whether they were in
possession of details gained from the truants themselves which they
had withheld from him, or whether from some larger complicity with the
culprits, he could not say. He told them gravely that he should withhold
equally their punishment and their pardon until he could satisfy himself
of their veracity, and that there had been no premeditation in their
act. They seemed relieved, but here, again, he could not tell whether
it sprang from confidence in their own integrity or merely from youthful
hopefulness that delayed retribut