“'Well,' says Johnny, 'I'll let you sleep on my piller.' “Some time in the night Johnny felt sump'n run across the foot of his bed. He wuz wide awake in a minit, but he kept mighty still, bekaze he wuz skeer'd. Presently he felt sump'n jump up on his bed an' run across it. Then it popped in his head about Ningapie, an' he felt for the acorn tell he found it. “'Now's your time,' says Ningapie. 'Git up an' put on your clozes quick an' foller the little black dog.' “Johnny jumped up, an' was ready in three shakes of a sheep's tail, an' he could hear the little black dog a-caperin' aroun' on the floor. When he started, he took the acorn in his han'. The door opened to let him out, an' shot itse'f when he got out, an' then the little black dog went trottin' down the big road. It wuz dark, but the stars wuz a-shinin', an' Johnny could tell by the ell-an'-yard” (the constellation of Orion) “that it wuz nigh midnight. “They hadn't gone fur before they come to a big white hoss a-standin' in the road, chompin' his bit an' pawin' the groun'. “'Mount the hoss,' says Ningapie. “Johnny jumped on his back, an' the hoss went canterin' down the road. 'Twan't long 'fore Johnny seed a light shinin' in the road, an' when he got a little nigher he seed it was right in the middle of the cross roads. A fire was a-blazin' up thar, an' who should be a-feedin' of it but his stepmammy? Her hair wuz a-hangin' down, an' she looked like ole Nick hisse'f. She wuz a-walkin' 'roun' the blaze, a-mumblin' some kinder talk, an' a-makin' motions wi' her han's, an' thar wuz a great big black cat a-walkin' 'roun' wi' her, an' a-rubbin' up agin her, and the creetur's tail wuz swelled up out'n all reason. “'Watch out, now,' says Ningapie, 'an' hold on to your hoss.' “He hadn't more'n spoke the words before a pack of dogs broke out of the woods an' made right for the ole'oman, an' Johnny's hoss a-fol-lerin' 'em. Thar wuz a monst'us scatteration of chunks an' fire-coals, an' then it looked like 'oman, dogs, an' all riz up in the elements, an' thar wuz sech another yowlin' an' howlin' an' growlin' ez ain't never been heard in them parts before nor sence. “When Johnny got back home he found his pappy a-waitin' for him, an' he looked like a new man. Then they went down into the gyarden, an' thar they foun' a pile of gold packed up in little boxes. Ez for the ole'oman, she never did come back. She wuz a witch, an' Ningapie unwitched her.” “And what become of the acorn?” asked Joe Maxwell. “Ah, Lord!” said Mr. Wall, with a sigh, “you know how boys is. Like ez not, Johnny took an' cracked it open wi' a hammer for to see what kind of a creetur Ningapie wuz.” CHAPTER VI--THE OWL AND THE BIRDS