Mirandy
stayed close to Jonathan, as she had been bidden, and she struggled
bravely with her berry bush, but it was too tall for her; the bushes in
this pasture were very tall. Mirandy tugged the branches down, and
panted for breath. She was eager to fill her basket as soon as anybody.
She heard Harriet and Mary Ann talking near her, although she could not
see them.
"Cap'n Moseby's pasture is right over there. You get over the
stone-wall, and go across one field, and you come to it," remarked
Harriet.
"I s'pose the berries are as thick as spatters," said Mary Ann, with a
sigh.
"Dan'l says the bushes are dragging down with 'em."
"Well," said Mary Ann, "nobody would dare to go there, for he keeps that
great black dog, and I've heard he watches with a gun."
"So've I. No; I shouldn't dare to go. I s'pose it would be stealing,
anyway."
"I don't s'pose 'twould," rejoined Harriet, hotly. "I guess if anything
is free, berry pastures are. Who planted berry bushes, I'd like to
know?"
"I s'pose the Lord did," said Mary Ann. "Mebbe it ain't stealin', but
anyhow I shouldn't dare to go there."
"I shouldn't," agreed Harriet; "an' I know Dan'l and Abijah wouldn't."
Mirandy listened; she thought both Harriet and Mary Ann very wise. She
trusted to their conclusion that it would not be stealing to pick Cap'n
Moseby's berries, but she privately thought she would "dare to.
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