You would only spoil the boy, and make a very poor girl."

Mrs. Loudon made no reply. She thought her husband was a very wise man;
but she took up her key basket and went off to the pantry with an air
that indicated that she had ideas of her own upon the subject in
question.

Kate had no fears for Harry. She had unbounded faith in his good sense
and his bravery, if he should happen to get into danger.

The fact is, she was quite a brave girl herself; and brave people are
very apt to think their friends as courageous as themselves.

When Harry and Uncle Braddock reached the village they found several of
the older inhabitants on the store porch, and they met with an
enthusiastic reception.

And when, later in the afternoon, most of the men who had gone out after
George Mason, returned from their unsuccessful expedition, the
discussion in regard to Mason's strange proceeding grew very animated.
Some thought he had only intended to play a trick; others that he had
been unable to get away with the horses, as he had hoped to do when he
had taken them.

But nobody knew anything about the matter excepting George Mason
himself, and he was not there to give the village any information.

As for Harry, he did not stay long to hear the discussions at the store.

His mind was full of a much more important matter and he ran off to find