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I'm mighty nigh crazed ter know what Alf Coggin kin want o' me; goin' coon-huntin', mebbe," he speculated, as he drew within sight of an old lightning-scathed tree which stood beside the sulphur spring and stretched up, stark and white, in the dim light.
"Not ef I knows what's good fur me!" protested Tom, with a great horse-laugh. "What ails ye, boy? Ye talk like ye war teched in the head!" "I went ter say ez Alf Coggin air thar waitin' fur ye," Jim began again, nodding his slandered head with great solemnity, "an' tole me ter tell ye ter kem thar quick."
"He'll tell sech a crooked tale ter-morrer that Alf Coggin an' his dad will see sights along o' that traveler's money!" said Brierwood, gloating over his sharp management as he and his accomplice mounted their horses and rode off in opposite directions. When Jim reached Tom Brent's house, and knocked at the door, he was so absorbed in his terrors that, as it opened, he said nothing for a moment.
"It air Jeemes Coggin," quavered the little boy. "Coggin, hey?" exclaimed Brierwood, with a new idea bringing back the malicious twinkle to his eyes. He laughed as though mightily relieved, and threw up his left hand and shook it exultingly. The shadow on the dark wall of that maimed hand with only the stump of a thumb was a weird, a horrible thing to the child.
He experienced a terrible shock of surprise when a sudden voice a voice he had never heard before cried out sharply, "Hello there! Help! help!" As he pressed tremulously forward, he beheld a sight which made him ask himself if it were possible that Alf Coggin had sent for him to join in some nefarious work which had ended in leaving a man a stranger bound to the old lightning-scathed tree.
"Whar be ye a-takin' of us now?" cried the elder, gaunt and haggard, and with his long hair blowing in the breeze. "Ter the church-house, whar yer boy says ye hev hid the traveler's money-purse," said the officer. "My boy!" exclaimed John Coggin, casting an astounded glance upon his son. Poor Alf was almost stunned.
The moment that she stooped and picked it up, the strange gentleman stepped upon the porch, and through the open door he saw it dangling from her hands. He tapped the constable on the shoulder. "That's my property!" he said tersely. The officer stepped in instantly. "Good-mornin', Mrs. Coggin," he said politely. "'T would pleasure me some ter git a glimpse o' that handkercher."
This he stuffed into his own pocket as he talked on about two witches, whom he said he had met that afternoon under an oak-tree feeding on acorns. "An' now, I kem ter remind myself that them witches war inquirin' round 'bout'n a boy war his name Jeemes Coggin? Le''s see! That boy's name war Jeemes Coggin!"
Thus it was that as Jim Coggin sat within the church, the end of his plaid comforter had slipped through the chinking and was waving in the wind outside.
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