"Well, what am I to do now?" he cried. His head shot toward me and his
hands were held out in appeal. "Davy, can't you suggest something?"

In my pride at being asked for advice by one so old, I sat up very
straight as I had seen my father do and allowed a proper interval of
silence before I spoke.

"Yes," I replied slowly. "If you were me I'd run away before Mr.
Lukens got back."

This excellent suggestion was met by a frown so fierce that I pushed
back from the table in alarm.

"Run away?" he exclaimed. "Why, that's just what they want me to do.
What have I done that I should run away? And if I did, what would
become of Penelope?"

He drew his little daughter close to his side, while he looked out of
the door into the patch of blue sky, seeking there some inspiration.
His lips moved, and I knew that he was asking again and again of that
little patch of sky what he should do. Then suddenly he rose, as
though the answer had been given, for he clapped on his hat, stood
erect with shoulders squared and hands clasped behind him, facing the
open door with the demeanor of a man whose mind was made up, who was
ready to meet the world and defy it. This, to me, was the hero who had
knocked down the constable, and I imagined him confronting a dozen like
Byron Lukens and piling them one on top of the other, for surely things
had come to pass that the man would have to hold the clearing against
an army. But as suddenly the shoulders drooped, the back bowed, the
head sank, and he turned to me.

"Davy, Davy, what shall I do?" he asked in a hoarse whisper.

As I was silent, he addressed the same appeal to Penelope, and she, in
answer, ran to the door and pointed across the clearing.

"Look, father," she shouted; "he has come back."

Byron Lukens had indeed returned and with a heavy reinforcement. Five
men climbed out of the wagon which had appeared from the road, and now
they began a careful reconnoissance of the house. As they stood on the
edge of the woods looking toward us I marked each one of them, and the
problem uppermost in my mind concerned what I should do myself, for I
was fairly cornered. I could not run away, for they were watching
every exit from the cabin, and there was not one of them who would not
recognize me did I flee over the open. The presence of James alone
meant my undoing, and there he was, standing by the constable, eying
the place with a lowering glare which threatened a storm, for