A BRAVE WOMAN. 
261 
She seemed doubtful whether she should 
not attack the stranger. At last, seeing 
that her enemy did not move, she ventured 
to approach a little nearer, and finally com¬ 
menced a very minute and interested exami¬ 
nation of the body. 
“ She’s a pretty cat, and a smart one, too,” 
said Erastus,—“ though she can’t compare to 
my Dick for size. But talking about know¬ 
ing how to shoot, Annie; I heard not long 
ago of a case in which it turned out a very 
good thing even for a woman to be able to 
handle a gun. There was a man living up 
in the Black Biver country, quite away from 
any neighbours, who had occasion to go 
away for two or three days and leave his 
wife alone with her children, the oldest of 
whom was a boy about eight years old. 
They lived in a new frame house, which was 
not finished: it was not closed up at the 
bottom; the floor w T as only loose planks, 
and there was a hollow under it, where he 
meant to have a cellar some day. Well, it 
was just about nightfall: the woman had 
got her chores done up, and was thinking 
of putting the young ones to bed, when her 
eldest boy, who had been at the door for 
