"An' I've always treated ye right--ain't I? Answer me." "Yes, sir." "Well, folks say you're neglected an' that you don't have decent clothes an' that you might as well have no father at all. Now, old boy, I'm going to tell you the truth; I'm broke--failed in business, an' have had to give up. Understand me; I haven't a cent in the world." The man smote his empty pocket suggestively. The boy was now deeply serious. Not able to comprehend the full purport of his father's words, he saw something in the face before him which began to hurt. His lower lip trembled a little. "Don't worry, old friend," said Gordon, clapping him on the shoulder. Just then Sue came running back. "Say," said she, climbing on a round of her father's chair, "did Uncle Silas ever ketch a panther by the tail?" The children held their breaths waiting for the answer. "Ketch a panther by the tail!" their father exclaimed. "Whatever put that in your head?" Sue answered with some show of excitement. Her words came fast. "Lizzie Cornell's cousin he said that his Uncle Mose had ketched a panther by the tail an' knocked his brains out." Their father smiled again. "That kind o' floored ye, didn't it, old girl?" said he, with a kiss. "Le's see," he continued, drawing the children close on either side of him. "I don' know as he ever ketched a panther by the tail, but I'll tell ye what he did do. One day when he hadn't any gun with him he come acrost a big bear, an' Uncle Sile fetched him a cuff with his fist an' broke the bear's neck, an' then he brought him home on his back an' et him for dinner." "Oh!" the girl exclaimed, her mouth and eyes wide open. Socky whistled a shrill note of surprise and thankfulness. Then he clucked after the manner of one starting his horse. "My stars!" he exclaimed, and so saying he skipped across the floor and brought his fist down heavily upon the lounge. Uncle Silas had been saved--plucked, as it were, from the very jaws of obscurity. When they were ready to get into bed the children knelt as usual before old Aunt Marie, the housekeeper. Sue ventured to add a sentence to her prayer. "God bless Uncle Silas," said she, "and make him very--very----" The girl hesitated, trying to find the right word. "Powerful," her brother suggested, still in the attitude of devotion. "Powerful," repeated Sue, in a trembling voice, and then added: "for Christ's sake. Amen." They lay a long time discussing what they should say and do when at last they were come into the presence of the great man. Suddenly a notion entered the mind of Socky that, in order to keep the favor of fortune, he must rise and clap his hand three times upon the round top of the posts at the foot of the bed. Accordingly he rose and satisfied this truly pagan impulse.