his convictions.

"Yes, sir-ree," he went on, "them hosses is vallyble, and I don't
kalkilate to be done out of my rights by nobody, just becos some fool
boy didn't have sense enough to keep from scarin' 'em. Somebody's father
has got to pay, and pay good, or I'll have the law on 'em, by ginger!
Come along now. Who done it?"

"Jed is right, as far as that goes," said Mr. Aaron Rushton. "Of course,
it was an accident, but it was a mighty careless one and somebody will
have to make good the damage. Now, I'm going to ask you boys, one by
one----"

Teddy stepped forward. His heart was in his boots. The game was up and
he would have to face the consequences. He knew that none of the other
boys would tell on him, and he would be safe enough in denying it, when
the question came to him. But the thought of doing this never even
occurred to him. The Rushton boys had been brought up to tell the truth.

"I'm sorry, Uncle Aaron," he said, "but I'm the one that hit the ball."

CHAPTER IV

FACING THE MUSIC

There was a stir of anticipation among the boys, and they crowded
closer, as Teddy faced his angry relative.

"Jiminy, but he's going to catch it!" whispered Jim.

"You bet he will. I wouldn't like to be him," agreed Jack, more
fervently than grammatically.

His uncle looked at Teddy sourly.

"I'm not a bit surprised," he growled. "From the minute I saw you on the
bank I felt sure you were mixed up in this some way or other. You'd feel
nice now, if you'd killed your uncle, wouldn't you?"

Poor Teddy, who did not look the least like a murderer and had never
longed to taste the delights of killing, stammered a feeble negative.

"Why did you do it?" went on his merciless cross-examiner. "Didn't you
see the stage coming? Why didn't you bat the other way?"

The culprit was silent.

"Come," said his uncle sharply, "speak up now! What's the matter with
you? Are you tongue-tied?"

"You see, it was this way," Teddy began, and stopped.

"No," said his uncle, "I don't see at all."

"Well," Teddy broke out, desperately, goaded by the sarcasm to full
confession, "I was batting flies to the fellows, and one of them said I
couldn't hit anything, and I wanted to show him that he was wrong, and
just then I saw the coach coming, and I took aim at the gray horse. I
didn't think anything about his running away--I'd never seen him run
hard, anyway--and--and--I guess that's all," he ended, miserably.

"No, it ain't all,