detailed to watch the horses through the remainder of the services,
and the meeting proceeded.

Phineas sent the whisper along the pew, that John had got out in time
to save Red Robin; but the robber had escaped. Somehow, he had taken
alarm before John got there. Red Robin was standing in the stable
untied; but the robber had disappeared.

After meeting the people all came and questioned Ann. "He was a very
tall man, in a gray cloak," said she. "He turned his face, or I saw
it, just for one second, when I looked. He had black eyes and a dark
curling beard."

It seemed very extraordinary. If it had not been for Red Robin's
being untied, they would almost have doubted if Ann had seen rightly.
The thief had disappeared so suddenly and utterly, it almost seemed
impossible that he could have been there at all.

There was much talk over it after meeting. "Are you _sure_ you saw
him, Ann?" Mrs. Polly asked.

"Yes; I am _sure_," Ann would reply. She began to feel rather
uncomfortable over it. She feared people would think she had been
napping and dreaming although Red Robin _was_ untied.

That night the family were all in bed at nine o'clock, as usual; but
Ann up in her snug feather-bed in her little western chamber, could
not sleep. She kept thinking about the horse-thief, and grew more and
more nervous. Finally she thought of some fine linen cloth she and
Mrs. Polly had left out in the snowy field south of the house to