y body ef that's so.
And I guess that's about all his complaints of hevin' turkeys stole
amounts to; for ef he can make a mistake so easy in my case, he may in
others. Though mabby he means I stole the _gobble_ of one of his
turkeys. I own it's a gobble I picked up somewheres, but I didn't know
'twas his." And Tucket drew down his face with an expression of
incorruptible innocence.

"Well, boys," said the captain, silencing the laughter, "we have had fun
enough for the occasion, though it _is_ a merry Christmas. No more
buffoonery. Tucket. Were you aware, Frank, that it was Tucket, and not a
turkey, in the bushes, when you took this man to the woods?"

"I rather thought it was Tucket," said Frank, "though the man stuck to it
so stoutly that 'twas his gobbler, I didn't know but----"

"Never mind about that." The captain saw that it was Frank's object to
lead the inquiry back to the ludicrous part of the business, and promptly
checked him. "What was your motive in deceiving him?"

"To have a little fun, sir."

"Did you not know that there was a design to rob his poultry pen?"

Frank recollected his momentary doubts as to the good faith of his
companions, when the dog assailed him, and thought he could make that
uncertainty the base of a strong "No, sir."

"But you know his pen was robbed?"

"No, sir, I do not know it----," Frank reflecting as he spoke, that a
man cannot really _know_ any thing of which he has not been an
eye-witness, and comforting his conscience with the fact that he had not
_seen_ the turkeys stolen.

"Now,"--Captain Edney did not betray by look or word whether he believed
or doubted the boy's assertion,--"tell me who was with you in the woods."

"Seth Tucket, sir."

"Who else?"

"O, ever so many fellows had been with me."

"Name them."

And Frank proceeded to name several who had really been with him that
morning, but not on the forage after poultry. On being called up and
questioned, they were able to give the most positive testimony, to the
effect that they had neither stolen any fowls themselves nor been with
any party that had. In the mean time the sergeant and second lieutenant
instituted a search through the company's tents, and succeeded in finding
a solitary turkey, which nobody could give any account of, and which
nobody claimed. This the secessionist identified; averring that there
were also a dozen more, besides several chickens, for which redress was
due. But not one of th