Page:Caroline Lockhart--The full of the Moon.djvu/235

 peaceable," advised the officer, "because we've come to git you."

Ben's face blanched. It was useless to protest bis innocence or to resist. He knew he might as well go.

"Wait till I get my coat."

"Somebody's come to offer you a job, honey-dump"

"A steady one," Ben answered laconically, "I'm arrested."

The sound which voiced Mrs. Blakely's surprise and grief resembled the siren whistle on a factory.

"Looks like we're breakin' up a nest of somethin'," observed the deputy when the little Blakelys took up the wail in different keys.

"Ben!" Edith laid her trembling hand upon his arm.

"Rustlin'," he exclaimed scornfully. "Spiser's ribbed it up on me."

"What can we do?" she asked, white to the lips.

He shook his head.

"I ain't got much show in a deal like this." He hesitated an instant: "I wish you'd ride