the shutters, so there might be no tell-tale gleam, and the other
Letitia drew bolts and bars, then slammed the door to again, and the
bolts and bars shot back into place.

When Letitia turned around she saw a little boy of about her own age
who looked strangely familiar to her. He was clad in homespun of a
bright copperas color, and his hair was red, cut in a perfectly round
rim over his forehead. He had big blue eyes, which were bulging with
terror. He drew a sigh of relief as he looked at the two girls.

"If," said he, "I had only had a musket I would not have run, but Mr.
Holbrook and Caleb and Benjamin went hunting this morning, and they
carried all the muskets, and I had nothing except this knife."

With that the boy brandished a wicked-looking knife.

"You might have done something with that," remarked
Great-great-grandmother Letitia, and her voice was somewhat scornful.

"Yes, something," agreed the boy. "It is a good knife. My father
killed a big Injun and took it only last week. It is a scalping
knife."

"Do you mean to say," asked the great-great-grandmother Letitia,
"that you don't know enough to use that knife, great boy that you
are?"

The boy straightened himself. He saw the other Letitia and his blue
eyes were full of admiration and bravery. "Of course I know how,"
said he. "Haven't I killed ten wolves and aren't their heads nailed