mother, followed by Nimrod, came in, and, what with the dog barking,
the children screaming explanations to the Captain, and their own
astonished exclamations, there was such a babel of noise that at last
Zeb woke up, too, and stared about him like one dazed. Nimrod jumped
on him and licked his face, and Zeb put his arms around the dog as if
glad to find so cordial a welcome. The Captain stared from one face to
another, quite unable to make head or tail of the situation.

[Illustration]

"Well, by jolly!" he shouted at last, "what ails ye all? Ye act like a
parcel of lunatics!"

The Goodman commanded silence, and briefly told the whole story to the
Captain.

"Where did you find the lad?" he asked, when he had finished.

"He was here when I came," said the Captain. "Settin' on the
hearth-stone eatin' them eggs as if he had n't seen food fer a
se'nnight and never expected to see any again. The dog busted out of
the house when I came in, and as I could n't get any word out of the
lad, I just set down by the fire and took forty winks. It was too late
for meeting, and besides I reckoned I could sleep better here." He
finished with his jolly laugh.

Zeb, meanwhile, sat hugging the dog and rolling his eyes from one face
to another as if in utter bewilderment. Perhaps he wondered if the
Captain meant to capture him, too, for life must have seemed to the
poor black boy just a series of efforts to escape being carried off to