"
The two entered the tilt and Ed threw off his adikey while Dick put
the kettle over.
"Well," asked Dick, when Ed was finally seated, "how'd th' mother take
un?"
"Rare hard on th' start off," said Ed. "'Twere th' hardest thing I
ever done, tellin' she, an' 'twere all I could do t' keep from
breakin' down myself. I 'most cried, I were feelin so bad for un.
"Douglas were there an' Bessie were visitin' th' sick maid, which were
a blessin', fer Richard were away on his trail.
"I goes in an' finds un happy an' thinkin' maybe Bob'd be comin'. I
finds th' bones gettin' weak in my legs, soon's I sees un, an' th'
mother, soon's she sees me up an' says she's knowin' somethin'
happened t' Bob, an' I has t' tell she wi'out waitin' t' try t' make
un easy's I'd been plannin' t' do. She 'most faints, but after a while
she asks me t' tell she how Bob were killed, an' I tells.
"Then she's wantin' t' see a bit o' the clothes we found, an' when she
looks un over she raises her head an' says, '_Them_ weren't Bob's. I
knows Bob's clothes, an' them weren't _his_! When I tells 'bout
findin' _two_ axes she says Bob were havin' only one axe, an' then
she's believin' Bob wasn't got by th' wolves, an' is livin'
somewheres.
"Douglas goes for Richard, an' when Richard comes he says th'
clothes's Bob's an' th' gun _ain't_, an' Bob were havin' only one axe.
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