If any robber should come," added the kind-hearted spinster, "perhaps you had better only shoot him in the arm, and not kill him." "Just as you say, ma'am." "I believe that is all I have to say.

Sophia, shall we go to our own room ?" "Just so." So the two maidens withdrew, and Andy was left to his own reflections.
He undressed himself quickly, and deposited himself in the bed, which proved to be very comfortable.
He went to bed, but there was one thing that prevented his going to sleep.

This was the gun.

He had never even had one in his hand, and now there was one at his absolute disposal.

It made him feel a sense of his importance to feel that, upon him, young as he was, devolved the duty of defending the house and its occupants from burglary.
"And why not?
Shure, I'm 'most a man," reflected Andy.