Besides which there was the black mouth of the open trapdoor overhead yawning fearfully--a standing terror and temptation; for there was a legend of a pair of pistols thrown up there out of the way--a treasure-trove tempting enough to make us face anything.

But Orion must have the credit of the courage; I call him Orion because he was a hunter and had a famous dog.

The last I heard of him he had just ridden through a prairie fire, and says the people out there think nothing of it.
We dragged an ancient linen-press under the trapdoor, and put some boxes on that, and finally a straight-backed oaken chair.

One or two of those chairs were split up and helped to do the roasting on the kitchen hearth.

So, climbing the pile, we emerged under the rafters, and could see daylight faintly in several places coming through the starlings' holes.