here for whisky. We know you've got some;
so jest draw your weasel, if you want to save unpleasant feelin's; an'
be in a hurry about it, too, for we're mighty thirsty."

"'"Tom," said my father, "how often have I told you that I haven't got
a drop of liquor in the shanty? I never had. I don't use it myself,
an' I don't keep it for--"

"'"That's a lie!" yelled three or four of the band.

"'"You a trader among the Injuns, an' not keep whisky?"

"'"We know a thing or two more than that."

"'"We have heard that story often enough," said Tom. "We know you have
got the liquor, an' we are goin' to get it afore we leave this shanty.
If you won't bring it out an' treat, like white man had ought to do,
we'll have to look for it ourselves--that's all. Here, boys," he said,
turning to his men, "jest jump down into the cellar an' hunt it up,
'cause we know he's got some. An' you, Jake," he added, catching hold
of a big, ugly-lookin' feller, "you stand here, an shoot the first one
that tries to get away."

"'The men ran down into the cellar, and we could hear them cussin' an'
swearin', as they overturned every thing in the useless search. My
mother, a'most frightened to death, gathered us children around her,
an' sank back into the furthest corner. I thought my father had gone
crazy; he strode up an' down the floor of the cabin like some caged
wild animal, clenchin' his hands an' grindin' his teeth in a way that
showed that there was plenty of fight in him, if he only had a chance
to let it out. Once in awhile he would look at his rifle, that hung
against the wall, then at the man that stood at the top of the
cellar-stairs, guardin' us, as if he had a'most made up his mind to
begin a knock-down an' drag-out fight with the rascals. But then he
would look at my mother an' us children, back in the corner, an' go to
pacin' the floor again. If we had been out of the way, I know that he
would not have let them rummage about as he did; he would have had a
fight with them that would do your eyes good to look at. But, as it
was, I guess he kinder thought that if he was peaceable they would go
off an' leave us, arter they found that no whisky was to be had. After
searchin' around the cellar for more 'n ten minutes, one of 'em called
out,

"'"Wal, boys, it's easy enough to see that the cuss has fooled
us. Thar's no liquor here. He's hid it in the woods, somewhere 'bout
the shantee."

"'"That's so," said another. "I'll bet he has got p