He wondered why his mother had not already been over for her things.  The chickens were clustered expectantly at the corner of the house, the calf was bawling at the corner of the fence, and the old cow was waiting patiently at the gate.  He turned quickly to the kitchen and to a breakfast on the scraps of his last night’s supper.  He did not know how to make coffee, and for the first time in his life he went without it.  Within an hour the cow was milked and fed, bread crumbs were scattered to the chickens, and alone in the lonely cabin he faced the new conditions of his life.  He started toward the gate, not knowing where he should go.  He drifted aimlessly down the creek and he began to wonder about Mavis, whether she had got home and now knew what had happened and what she thought about it all, and about his grandfather and who it was that had shot him.  There were many things that he wanted to know, and his steps quickened with a definite purpose.  At the mouth of the creek he hailed the old circuit rider’s house, and the old man and his wife both appeared in the doorway.

“I reckon you couldn’t help doin’ it?”

“No,” said the old man.  “Thar wasn’t no reason fer me to deny ’em.”

He looked confused and the old woman gulped, for both were wondering how much the lad knew.

“How’s grandpap?”

“Right porely I heerd,” said the old woman.  “The doctor’s thar, an’ he said that if the bullet had ‘a’ gone a leetle furder down hit would ‘a’ killed him.”

“Whar’s Mavis?”

Again the two old people looked confused, for it was plain that Jason did not know all that had happened.

“I hain’t seed her, but somebody said she went by hyeh on her way home about an hour ago.  I was thinkin’ about goin’ up thar right now.”

The boy’s eyes were shifting now from one to the other and he broke in abruptly: 

“Whut’s the matter?”

The old man’s lips tightened.

“Jason, she’s up thar alone.  Yo’ mammy an’ Steve have run away.”

The lad looked at the old man with unblinking eyes.

“Don’t ye understand, boy?” repeated the old man kindly.  “They’ve run away!”

Jason turned his head quickly and started for the gate.

“Now, don’t, Jason,” called the old woman in a broken voice.  “Don’t take on that way.  I want ye both to come an’ live with us,” she pleaded.  “Come on back now.”

The little fellow neither made answer nor looked back, and the old people watched him turn up the creek, trudging toward Mavis’s home.

The boy’s tears once more started when he caught sight of Steve Hawn’s cabin, but he forced them back.  A helpless little figure was sitting in the open doorway with head buried in her arms.  She did not hear him coming even when he was quite near, for the lad stepped softly and gently put one hand on her shoulder.  She looked up with a frightened start, and at sight of his face she quit her sobbing and with one hand over her quivering mouth turned her head away.