He was not afraid of anything in the lonely night, and he was not afraid of his mother at home.

He thought to himself exultantly that Ezra Ray had been no more courageous than he, although, to be sure, he had not a whipping to fear like Ezra.
His heart was full of joyful triumph that he was not wholly guilty, since it was the outcome of an innocent desire.
As he walked along he tipped up his face and stared with his stupid boyish eyes at the stars paling in the full moonlight, and the great moon herself overriding the clouds and the stars.

It made him think of the catechism and the Commandments, and then a little pang of terror shot through him, but even that did not daunt him.

He did not look up at the stars again, but bent his head and trudged on, with the sled-rope pulling at his weak chest.
When he reached his own yard he stepped as carefully as he could; still he was not afraid.

He put the sled back in the shed; then he stole into the house.