hastily from the saddle as soon as his threatening gaze was
withdrawn. She tangled her feet in the stirrups and her hands in
the reins, and lost more time in scrambling off the floor of the
passage and down upon the ground; but at last she was fairly on her
way to the spring to convey an account to her mother of the outlaw
in the chest. In fact, she was not far from the scene of the soap-
boiling when she heard her name shouted in stentorian tones, and
pausing to look back, she saw Rufe gleefully capering about in the
passage, the headstall on his own head, the bit hanging on his
breast, and the reins dangling at his heels.

Now this beguilement the little girl could never withstand, and
indeed few people ever had the opportunity to drive so frisky and
high-spirited a horse as Rufe was when he consented to assume the
bit and bridle. He was rarely so accommodating, as he preferred the
role of driver, with what he called "a pop-lashEE!" at command. She
forgot her tell-tale mission. She turned with a gurgle of delight
and began to toddle up the hill again. And presently Mrs. Dicey,
glancing toward the house, saw them playing together in great amity,
and rejoiced that they gave her so little trouble.

They were still at it when Birt came home, but then Tennessee was
tired of driving, and he let her go with him to the wood-pile and
sit on a log while he swung the axe. No one took special notice of
Rufe's movements in the interval before supper. He disappeared for
a time, but when the circle gathered around the table he was in his
place and by no means a non-combatant in the general onslaught on
the corn-dodgers. Afterward he came out in the passage and sat
quietly among the others.