groaned.

"By fire!" he ejaculated. "All hands have gone loony, young-ones and
all. And," with conviction, "I'm on the road myself."

Zoeth Hamilton stepped forward and held out his hands.

"Come here, dearie," he said, gently; "come here and tell me all about
it. Neither me nor the Cap'n's goin' to hurt you a mite. We like little
girls, both of us do. Now you come and tell me about it."

Mary-'Gusta's sobs ceased. She looked at the speaker doubtfully.

"Come, don't be scared," begged Zoeth. "We're goin' to be good friends
to you. We knew your father and he thought everything of us. You ain't
goin' to be afraid of folks that was your Pa's chums. You come here and
let's talk it over."

Slowly Mary-'Gusta crossed the room. Zoeth sat down upon an empty box
near the door and lifted the girl to his knee.

"Now you ain't afraid of me, be you?" he asked quietly.

Mary-'Gusta shook her head, but her big eyes were fixed upon Captain
Shadrach's face.

"No-o," she faltered. "I--I guess I ain't. But you wasn't the one I did
it to. It was him."

Judging by the Captain's expression his conviction that all hands,
himself included, had lost their reason was momentarily growing firmer.

"ME?" he gasped. "You done somethin' to me and I--well, by Judas, this
is--"

"Hush, Shadrach! What was it you done, Mary, that made you afraid of
Cap'n Gould? Tell me. I won't hurt you and I won't let anybody else."

"YOU won't let--Zoeth Hamilton, I swan, I--"

"Be still, Shadrach, for mercy sakes! Now, what was it, dearie?"

Mary-'Gusta hesitated. Then she buried her face in Mr. Hamilton's jacket
and sobbed a confession.

"I--I made it go," she cried. "I--I broke the--the catch--and it was
wound up and--and it went off. But I didn't know. I didn't mean--"

"There, there, course you didn't. We know you didn't. What was it that
went off?"

"The--the music chair. It was in the corner and Mr. Hallett took it
and--and I couldn't say anything 'cause Mrs. Hobbs said I mustn't speak
a word at the funeral. And--and he set in it and it played and--Oh,
don't let him put me in jail! Please don't."

Another burst of tears. Mary-'Gusta clung tightly to the Hamilton
jacket. Judge Baxter looked as if a light had suddenly broken upon the
darkness of his mind.

"I see," he said. "You were responsible for the 'Campbells.' I see."

Shadrach drew a long breath.

"Whew!" he whistled. "So she was the one. Well, I swan!"

Zoeth stroked the child'