completely glad I didn't know it. I should have yelled all the skin off
my throat, if I'd have known he was after me with a gun."

After Harry had been home an hour or two, and Kate had somewhat
recovered from her transports of joy, and everybody in the village had
heard all about everything that had happened, and Captain Caseby had
declared, in the bosom of his family, that he would never go out into
the woods again at night without keeping up a steady "holler," Harry
remembered that he had left his sumac-bag somewhere in the woods. Hard
work for a whole day and a night, and nothing to show for it! Rather a
poor prospect for Aunt Matilda.




CHAPTER VII.

AUNT MATILDA'S CHRISTMAS.


When Harry and Kate held council that afternoon, their affairs looked a
little discouraging. Kate's sumac was weighed, and it was only seven
pounds! Seven whole cents, if they took it out in trade, or five and a
quarter cents, as Kate calculated, if they took cash. A woman as large
as Aunt Matilda could not be supported on that kind of an income, it was
plain enough.

But our brave boy and girl were not discouraged. Harry went after his
bag the next day, and found it with about ten pounds of leaves in it.
Then, for a week or two, he and his sister worked hard and sometimes