"It can holler good and loud," grinned Tess.
"And you're some religious, I bet, according to the hymn you've been singin'," went on the warden. "Now ain't you?"
Tess sobered instantly. She was always very careful not to be irreverent about sacred things.
"You can bet your boots, I air some awful religious," she acquisced earnestly. "I've knowed about God and Jesus ever so long."
"That's nice," responded Burnett, becoming grave in his turn.
Oh, would he never go! Would he never finish?
When Burnett walked toward the ladder, she sighed dolefully.
"Does your foot hurt you, kid?" he asked, glancing over his shoulder.
"Nope," faltered Tess. "I guess I were a thinkin' what'd happen to the little man when ye get 'im."
The warden was trying the strength of the ladder.
"Oh, I'll hike him back up state quicker'n scat when I get my fingers on 'im," said he, his head disappearing in the hole in the ceiling.
In less than thirty seconds he was down again and had taken a squint under the bed.
"There isn't any dwarf under there either," he said, amusement in his tones. He stretched forth his hand, reaching down to the girl on the cot.
"Now, don't hold nothing against me, kiddie, for comin' here, will ye? Just shake hands with a feller and say it's all right, eh?"
Tessibel lifted the owl high in the air and opened her fingers. There was a small ghostly flutter and in another instant Deacon had disappeared into the garret.
She gave the warden both her hands, and for the little minute Burnett stood by the bed holding them in his and assuring her of his good will. Tessibel sent up a prayer of thanksgiving. Her little Andy, Daddy Skinner's friend, was saved!
When Burnett reached the door, he looked back at her. The girl's lips were parted in a brilliant, farewell smile. He whirled about and came toward her again.
"Kid," he said huskily, "I'm a hard-headed old cuss, harder'n brass tacks. I been made so by just such men as Andy Bishop--" He paused, and during his short hesitation, pregnant with meaning, Tessibel kept her eyes on him. "I was wonderin', little one," he finished, shame-faced, "when you say your prayers, if you'd pipe one for me. I need it, so help me God, I do."
In another moment he was at the door, and in response to the hasty glance he sent her, Tess flung him a misty, loving smile.
"Sure, sir, sure I will," she called, "an' thank ye for bein' so kind."
Burnett strode out; Tessibel rolled off the dwarf's body to one side of the cot, and Andy gave an audible grunt.