know perfectly well, Miss Webster, we ain't
no German plotters. I'm sorry----"

"You're sorry I caught you before you had a chance to drop that bag in my
brook," said Ellen, a twinkle in her eye. "I'll bet you are. Have you
thought that I can have you arrested for trespassing on my land?"

"Oh, Jane!"

The horrified voices of Mary and Jane greeted with concern this new
danger. Ellen was exulting in her triumph.

"You can, of course, have us arrested if you wish to," said Jane.

"Well, I ain't a-goin' to--at least I ain't, on one condition. An' I'll
promise not to give you over to the police as spies, neither, if you do as
I say."

"What do you want us to do?" inquired Mary and Eliza breathlessly.

Jane was silent.

"Mebbe _you'd_ like to know the condition," sneered the old woman,
addressing Jane.

She waited for a reply, but none came. Ellen looked baffled.

"You'd better accept the chance I give you to buy yourself off," she
said.

"That is my affair."

"Do, Jane! Do promise," begged Mary and Eliza. "Please do, for our
sakes."

"Very well," Jane returned. "But I only do it to protect my sisters. What
is the condition?"

With head thrown back she faced Ellen coldly.

"The condition is that you take that bag of gunpowder back home to your
brother Martin an' tell him Ellen Webster sent it to him with her
compliments. He can use it blastin' out stones to fix up his stone wall."

Then, with a taunting laugh, the woman turned and without more adieu
disappeared in the direction of the Webster homestead, leaving a
speechless trio of chagrined Howes behind her.

CHAPTER VIII

WHEN THE CAT'S AWAY

May came and went, and June, rich in days of splendor, made its advent,
and still Lucy caught only fleeting glimpses of the Howes.

Martin, to be sure, was daily abroad, toiling with the zest of an Amazon
in garden and hay-field. Against the homely background of stubble or brown
earth, his sturdy form stood out with the beauty of a Millet painting. But
his sisters held themselves aloof, avoiding all possibility of contact
with their neighbors.

Doubtless the encounter with Ellen had left its scar; for against their
will they had been compelled to take up the sack of powder and tug it
homeward; and then, in compliance with their promise, deliver it over to
Martin who had first ridiculed their adventure; then berated them; and in
the end set the explosive off so near the Webster border line that its