The Adventures of a Country Boy at a Country Fair

"That's what he said," and Sam, fearing lest the half-drunken burglar would begin his pistol practice, seated himself behind the largest tree that might protect him from the bullets.

Now that Phil was awake, he did not lose any further time in talking, but ran out to where he could command a view of the creek, and once more Sam had an opportunity for escape which he did not dare to embrace.

"Come back here, an' don't make a fool of yourself," Jim's partner cried, angrily, as he saw the man pulling leisurely from the bank.

"What's crawlin' on you? Don't I know my business?"

"Not if you count on goin' up there before dark."

"That's jest what I intend to do, so don't screech so much."

"Come back, I tell you, or it'll be all up for both of us!"

"I've been in this business long enough to know it," was the reply, as Jim continued to row, increasing each instant the distance between himself and the shore.

"Now, don't spoil a good thing," Phil said, pleadingly, and, understanding that this conversation might be continued for a short time, Sam plucked up sufficient courage to make an attack upon the provisions.

He took from the general store a large piece of cheese, some crackers and as much meat as he believed would suffice to make a hearty meal, after which he hid the lot near the tree behind which he was hiding.

Then he crept back to his former position, and listened to the conversation between his captors.

Phil alternately coaxed and threatened his partner; but all to no purpose, as could be told by the tones of the latter's voice while he pulled up stream, and the baffled burglar returned to the camping place absolutely furious with rage.

"This comes of my bein' so foolish as to bring that fool liquor," he said half to himself. "It's mighty lucky he didn't know I had more than one bottle."

Then he took from one of his pockets a second flask, refreshing himself with a portion of the contents before asking:

"What did he say to you?"

"Nothin' except that he was goin' up to the fair," Sam replied, timidly.

"But what made him tell you to waken me?"

"I s'pose that was so I couldn't have a chance to run away."

"What else did he say?"

"That I was to tell him jest how you took his leavin'."

"Well, if he's lucky enough to get back, tell him I said he was the biggest fool that ever walked on two legs. Them chums of your'n are sure to spot him, an' it's ten to one he's pinched before sunset."

Sam did not understand what the man meant by the term "pinched," but under the circumstances he hardly thought it safe to inquire, and the angry burglar continued:

"We'll make ready to get out of this if he isn't back by daylight, an' while there's nothin' else to do you'd better put that stuff under ground, for there's no knowin' now when we'll be able to take it away."

The spade was near at hand ready for use, and while Phil alternately smoked and drank from the bottle, Sam set about burying the plunder.

This man was quite as hard a taskmaster as the one who had just departed, and the boy was forced to work as he had probably never done before, until sufficient of an excavation had been made to conceal the goods.

Under the direction of the burglar Sam covered the different packages with earth; did his best to hide all traces of his work, and when it was so dark that he could no longer see to move about was allowed to rest.

During this time Phil had been drinking and smoking, with the result that he could hardly speak plainly when the task was accomplished, and so intoxicated did he appear to be that Sam thought it safe to eat the food he had concealed.

"Keep on talkin' so's I'll know where you are, or on goes the ropes an' gag again," Phil cried, and the boy obeyed, repeating over and over the same words in order to satisfy his suspicious captor.

After eating a hearty meal, Sam succeeded in mustering sufficient courage to admit of his thinking about attempting to escape.

From the manner in which the burglar spoke he knew it could not be very much longer before the man would be so completely under the influence of liquor as to render him helpless, and he said to himself:

"If I could get the rope around his hands an' legs I'd soon be out of this place."

"What's that you are saying?" Phil cried, angrily.

"Nothin'; I was only doin' as you told me, talkin' so's you'd know where I was."

"I'll save all that trouble," and the man lurched to his feet as he picked up the rope.

"Please don't tie me ag'in," Sam pleaded. "I won't try to git away."

"I'll go bail that you don't after I'm through with you. Put out your hands."

Phil was yet capable of mischief, even though his brain was clouded, and Sam did not dare to disobey.

He suffered himself to be tied without making any remonstrance, and as the burglar staggered to his former resting place, the boy tested the bonds.

Previously he had been lashed in such a manner that it was impossible to move hand or foot, but now he soon realized that he could do both, and the happy thought came that he might free himself with but little difficulty if a favorable opportunity for escape should present itself.

"Now you're fixed," Phil said, half to himself, "an' I may as well take things comfortable till we're certain that that fool of a Jim is settled."

"Are you goin' to leave here to-night?" Sam asked, more for the purpose of learning how far the man was on the road to intoxication than for information.

"If he ain't here by twelve o'clock we'll know the jig is up, an' skip so's to be out of the way before any one can come sneakin' around for the stuff."

"Then if Jim isn't back by that time, an' he keeps on drinkin', I'll take all the chances," Sam said to himself, and from that instant he strained every nerve to learn how nearly the burglar had succeeded in making a worse brute of himself than nature intended.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

A FAILURE

Tired though Teddy was, a long time elapsed after the conclusion of the fakirs' feast before he could close his eyes in slumber.

Now that the excitement of the party had died away, the fact that he was a prisoner, suffered to remain outside the prison only because men of wealth were willing to guarantee he would respond to the call of the court, came into his mind even more vividly than at the time of the arrest, and despite all the words of cheer which had been spoken he really began to believe Uncle Nathan could show plausible proof of his guilt.

Under almost any other circumstances he would have speculated upon what should be done with the large amount of money he had already earned, and rejoiced at the thought that he could supply his mother with what she might need for the present, at all events.

The profits of the cane and knife boards were hardly thought of on this night while the one painful fact stood before him so prominently and menacingly.

His companions had been asleep many hours before slumber visited his eyelids, and so heavy was his heart even while in dreamland that he awoke with the first dawn of day, and aroused the others to the last day's work they would be called upon to do at the Peach Bottom fair during the present season.