Page:Harvey O'Higgins--Silent Sam and other stories.djvu/214

202 window 'Arry called to me to get all Cousin William's clothes, too. An' I did n't know why 'e wanted them, but I crep' to 'is room an' got them. An' I was shakin' so my teeth chattered in the dark."

"You—"

"I 'ad but the one thought—that 'Arry 'd be 'anged for murder, an' I 'd 'ave to 'elp 'im get away. 'E told me what to do, an' I did it. I 've often wondered since, miss, where I found the strength. But I was like a mad woman with fear, an' I breathed so 'oarse that 'Arry put 'is 'and over my mouth for fear I 'd be 'eard indoors." "Good Heavens!"

"'E shut my window. An' took down the ladder. An' smoothed over the marks in the loam with 'is 'and. An' laid Cousin William on the ladder, covered up with the clothes I 'd brought. An' then 'e took one end, an' bade me take the other. An' we stumbled down the paths to the back door o' the kitchen, an' out into the paddock, an' so over the fields to the peat bog. I fell once, miss. An' after it was all over, my teeth were sore to the roots with the way I 'd clenched them. But it 'ad to be done.

"'Arry said: 'We must 'ide 'im somewhere, till we get away.' An' so we come to the place where they 'd been diggin' peats, an' left their spades for the morrow. An' there was a pile o' the peats already stacked to dry, an' 'Arry went at them with 'is 'ands to shift them, an' I 'elped. I was cryin', miss—whimperin' with fright. An' we 'ad to wait every now an' then for the moon to