should have yelled all the skin off
my throat, if I'd have known he was after me with a gun."

After Harry had been home an hour or two, and Kate had somewhat
recovered from her transports of joy, and everybody in the village had
heard all about everything that had happened, and Captain Caseby had
declared, in the bosom of his family, that he would never go out into
the woods again at night without keeping up a steady "holler," Harry
remembered that he had left his sumac-bag somewhere in the woods. Hard
work for a whole day and a night, and nothing to show for it! Rather a
poor prospect for Aunt Matilda.

CHAPTER VII.

AUNT MATILDA'S CHRISTMAS.

When Harry and Kate held council that afternoon, their affairs looked a
little discouraging. Kate's sumac was weighed, and it was only seven
pounds! Seven whole cents, if they took it out in trade, or five and a
quarter cents, as Kate calculated, if they took cash. A woman as large
as Aunt Matilda could not be supported on that kind of an income, it was
plain enough.

But our brave boy and girl were not discouraged. Harry went after his
bag the next day, and found it with about ten pounds of leaves in it.
Then, for a week or two, he and his sister worked hard and sometimes
gathered as much as twenty-five pounds of leaves in a day. But they had
their bad days, when there was a great deal of walking and very little
picking.

And then, in due course of time, school began and the sumac season was
at an end, for the leaves are not merchantable after they begin to turn
red, although they are then a great deal prettier to look at.

But then Harry went out early in the morning, and on Saturdays, and shot
hares and partridges, and Kate began to sell her chickens, of which she
had twenty-seven (eighteen died natural deaths, or were killed by
weasels during the summer), they found that they made more money than
they could have made by sumac gathering.

"It's a good deal for you two to do for that old woman," said Captain
Caseby, one day.

"But, didn't we promise to do it?" said Miss Kate, bravely. "We'd do
twice as much, if there were two of her."

It was very fortunate, however, that there were not two of her.

Sometimes they had extraordinary luck. Early one November morning Harry
was out in the woods and caught sight of a fat wild-turkey.

Bang!--one dollar.

That was enough to keep Aunt Matilda for a week.

At least it ought to have kept her. But there was som