Page:Cornelia Meigs-The Pirate of Jasper Peak.djvu/186

 give way to a certain lingering doubt. Had he really been wise in returning to the Pirate’s  house, was the value of the rifle greater than the  value of the help he could give the two exhausted  Edmonds, help that they would have lost had his  venture ended in his being shot? It was an unwelcome thought, yet he was forced to conclude that this was another of those errors in judgment  of which his father had accused him, a rash failing to count the cost at the critical moment.

“Oh, dear,” he sighed, quite out loud, “when will I ever get sense enough to qualify for a soldier?”

Nicholas, hearing his voice, raised his head to look at him inquiringly. He seemed to hear something else also, for he got up, went to the  door and stood listening intently. Then he turned to Hugh and whined to be let out. Hugh listened, but heard nothing save the rushing of  the stream and the sighing of the wind in the  trees.

“There isn’t anything,” he said to Nicholas, but