right. Lay still."

"How'd you git acquainted with her?" nodding toward the wife of the
proprietor of the scorched saloon.

"Oh, I see the poor thing settin' there with all them children and
nobody paying much attention to her, so I went over and asked if I
couldn't help out. I haven't got any children of my own, but I was
number three in a fam'ly of fourteen, so I know how it's done. Oh! that
husband of hers! He's a nice one, he is! Would you b'lieve it, he come
along and she spoke to him, and he swore at her somethin' dreadful.
That's why she's cryin'. Poor critter, I guess by the looks she's used
to it. Well, I give HIM a piece of my mind. He went away with a flea in
his ear. I do despise a profane man above all things. Yes, the baby's
all right, Mrs. Saunders. I'm a-comin'. Good-night, Cap'n Hedge. I
s'pose I shall see you all in the mornin'. You ought to be careful and
not stand still much this damp night. It's bad when you're het up so."

She went back, still singing to the baby, to where Mrs. Saunders sat,
and the Captain looked after her in a kind of amazed fashion.

"By mighty!" he muttered, and then repeated it. Then he resumed his
search.

He remembered that there had been a number of people on the side of
the burning shed opposite that on which he had been employed, and he
determined to have one look there before going to the Baxter homestead.
Almost the first man he saw as he approached the dying fire was Ralph
Hazeltine. The electrician's hands and face were blackened by soot, and
the perspiration sparkled on his forehead.