“Yes, sir.”

“Well, I swan to man!  Did you forget what I told you would happen if you went into that parlor again?  And especially if you lugged that cat in?  Did you forget that?”

“N-no, sir.  I didn’t forget it.  You—­you said I couldn’t go to the picnic.”

Shadrach shook his head.  “Well,” he groaned, “if this don’t beat the nation!  What under the sun did you do it for?”

“’Cause—­’cause we wanted to play pirates with—­with the swords and things,” faltered Mary-’Gusta.  “And we took David ‘cause he was goin’ to be one of the passengers on the ship we took.  But,” with a sudden return to the main point at issue, “that proves David wasn’t the cat he saw, the one that stole his chicken.”

The Captain looked at her.  “By fire, it does, that’s right,” he muttered.  Abner Bacheldor roared in indignation.

“It don’t prove nothin’,” he cried.  “All it proves is that the kid’s a liar.  She’s lyin’ so’s to save that dummed thief of a cat.  All kids’ll lie when they think they can make somethin’ out of it.”

Shadrach grunted.  “Maybe so,” he said, “but I ain’t caught this one in a lie so far.  And I doubt if she’s lyin’ now.  Now, Mary-’Gusta, is there any way you can prove you was in that parlor, and—­what’s his name—­David was there at the time you say?  Is there?”

Again Mary-’Gusta hesitated.  Her eyes wandered about the faces in the room, until their gaze rested upon the face of Jimmie Bacheldor.  And Jimmie looked white and scared.

“N-no, sir, I—­I guess not,” she faltered.

“I guess not, too,” declared Con, with a sarcastic laugh.

But the Captain was suspicious.  He had seen the child’s look.

“Hold on,” he commanded.  “There’s more to this than a blind man could see through a board fence.  Mary-’Gusta, was there anybody else except David in that parlor along with you?  Was there?”

Mary-’Gusta looked at the floor.

“Yes, sir,” she faltered.

“So?  I kind of had an idea there might be.  Who was it?”

Again the look and then:  “I—­I ain’t goin’ to tell.”

Con laughed once more.  “You bet she ain’t,” he exclaimed.  “She can’t. 
The whole yarn’s a lie.  Don’t pay no attention to it, Pop.”

Shadrach turned sharply in his direction.  “I’m payin’ attention to it,” he snapped, “and that’s enough.  So you ain’t goin’ to tell, Mary-’Gusta, eh?  Remember now, if you do tell it’ll prove your story’s true and David’ll come out on top.  Think it over.”

Evidently Mary-’Gusta was thinking it over.  Her eyes filled with tears, but she shook her head.

The Captain looked down at her.  “Keepin’ mum, eh?” he said.  “Well, that’s all right.  I cal’late we’re pretty good guessers, some of us, anyway.  Jim,” with a sudden look straight at the youngest member of his neighbor’s family, who was fidgeting with his spoon and acting remarkably nervous, “what have you got to say?  Have a good time in that parlor playin’ pirates, did you?”