n and tried to drive the goat into a little shed in the corner of
the field. This was a much easier feat to accomplish, and in ten
minutes more Jack was safely imprisoned and the door shut. Then the
gray-bearded man, evidently much exhausted by his exertions, walked off
to the garden, fanning himself with his black felt hat as he went.
Lewis lingered behind his companion for one moment, and rapidly made a
mysterious series of signs. First he pointed at the door of the shed
where Jack was inclosed, then drew his hand across his own throat
several times. Lastly he shook his fist violently at the back of the
gray-bearded man as he followed him out of the field.

"What did Lewis mean by making all those funny faces?" asked John,
when, the enemy being quite out of sight, the children dared once more
speak and move.

"I don't know," said Madge. "It looked as if he were angry with that
man--"

"No!" interrupted Betty. "It's worse than that! Lewis was trying to
show us that the gray-bearded man is going to hurt poor Jack. I
believe he has gone for a knife to cut his throat!"

There was a horrified silence after these words, for the more the
children thought over them the more likely did it appear that Lewis's
signs had really contained some such terrible meaning. Madge as usual
was the first to come out with a heroic resolution.

"If that terrible man comes back with a knife to murder Jack," she
said, "I shall jump off the wall and attack him with a stick. Very
likely I shall break both my legs, but I don't care. I can't leave
Jack to his fate."

Betty and John listened with uneasy admiration. They were just as
sorry about Jack as Madge was; almost in tears at the idea of his
possible death. But they did not feel brave enough to jump off the
wall and risk breaking their legs. If it had been one leg between them
perhaps they might have faced it, but four legs were too many for even
brave twins to sacrifice.

"Why do you think you will break them both if you jump?" asked Betty
anxiously, hoping against hope that there might be some miscalculation.

"Because I know you can break one leg if you only fall five or six
feet, and this is double that height," replied Madge promptly.

Such logical reasoning did not admit of a single ray of hope.

"I don't think we are big enough to jump, then," said Betty modestly.
And for once John did not contradict her.

However, for the second time that afternoon Madge was