"Why didn't you wait till they appeared at the window, Andrew?" "Because, ma'am, they would fire at me first. I wanted to scare 'em away." "Perhaps you were right. You don't see any traces of them outside, do you?" "You can look for yourself, ma'am." The two ladies went to the window, which as already explained, had suffered from the discharge, and peered out timidly, but, of course, saw no burglars. "Are you sure there were any burglars, Andrew?" asked Priscilla. "No, ma'am, I couldn't swear to it." "Well, no harm has been done." "Except breakin' the winder, ma'am." "Never mind; we will have that mended to-morrow." "Were you afraid, Andrew?" asked Miss Sophia. "Not a bit," answered Andy, valiantly. "I ain't afraid of burglars, as long as I have a gun. I'm a match for 'em." "How brave he is!" exclaimed the timid lady. "We might have been killed in our beds. I'm glad we hired him, Priscilla." "As there is nothing more to do, we had better go to bed." "Just so." "That's a bully way to get out of a scrape," said Andy to himself, as the ladies filed out of his chamber. "I expected they'd scold me. Plague take the old gun--it kicks as bad as a mule. Oh, Andy, you're a lucky boy to get off so well." The next day Andy obtained permission to take out the gun in the afternoon when his chores were done. "I want to get used to it, ma'am," he said. "It kicked last night." "Dear me, did it?" asked Sophia. "I didn't know guns kicked. What do they kick with? They haven't got any legs." Andy explained as well as he could what he meant by the gun's kicking, and said it was because it had not been used for a good while, and needed to be taken out. "It needs exercise, just like horses, ma'am," he said. "That is singular, Andrew," said Priscilla. "Just so," observed her sister. "It's a fact, ma'am," said Andy. "It gets skittish, just like horses--but if I take it out sometimes, it'll be all right." "Very well, you may take it, only be careful." "Oh, I'll be careful, ma'am," said Andy, with alacrity. "Now, I'll have some fun," he said to himself. He found a supply of powder and some shot in the closet, and proceeded to appropriate them. "Come back in time for supper, Andrew," said Miss Priscilla. "Yes, ma'am, I'm always on hand at meal times," answered our hero. "That's because he's hungry," said Sophia, brilliantly. "You're right, ma'am," said Andy; "my stomach always tells me when it's supper time." "It's as good as a watch," said Priscilla, smiling. "And a good deal cheaper," observed Sophia, with another brilliant idea. Andy started up the road with his gun over his shoulder. It was his intention after going a little distance to strike into the fields, and make for some woods not far away, where he thought there would be a good chance for birds or squirrels. He hadn't gone many steps before he encountered Godfrey Preston, his antagonist of three days previous.