When Tom had disappeared, I settled back on my elbow, and listened to the approaching footsteps, which slowly mounted the creaking stairs and stopped at my door. A key turned in the lock, the light of a lantern streamed into the room, and Barney and Jake Redman entered, one carrying a plate filled with corn-bread and bacon, and the other holding a bundle of blankets under his arm.

“Wal, my young feller,” said Barney, with an awkward attempt to appear good-natured and patronizing, “how do you feel about this time? Tired, hungry an’ sleepy, I reckon. We’ve brought you a bite of somethin’, an’ a blanket to lay down on. You’d best do some good eatin’ an’ sleepin’ while you are about it, ’cause we’ve got a long ways to ride to-night.”

“Where are we going?” I asked.

205“That’s somethin’ fur you to find out. You’ll know soon enough.”

With this assurance, the Dragoons deposited the lantern, blankets and plate on the floor, and went out, locking the door after them.

In a few minutes the sound of voices coming from the adjoining room told me that they had gone in to pay Tom a visit.

I had been very sleepy previous to my interview with my fellow-prisoner, but that had worn off now, although I was as hungry as ever. I did ample justice to the bountiful dinner with which Barney had provided me, and when he came in after the lantern, I had emptied the plate, and lay stretched out on the blankets, which I had spread upon the floor.

The leader of the Dragoons showed a disposition to linger and enter into conversation—a proceeding to which I was strongly opposed. I was impatient to be rid of his presence, in order that I might see Tom Mason again, and, as I gave only short, crusty answers to his questions, and pretended to be very sleepy, Barney finally gave it up in disgust, and took his leave.

206The sound of his footsteps had scarcely died away on the stairs, when the board which concealed the opening in the wall was cautiously pushed aside, and Tom once more appeared, his jaws working rapidly, and his hands filled with corn-bread and bacon.

I looked at him closely, and could easily see that something had made a great change in him. The impudent, defiant expression his face usually wore had disappeared, and he looked melancholy and down-hearted, as though he had lost the last friend he had in the world.

He did not wait for me to speak, but began the conversation himself.

“When Barney came up I was relating how I obtained possession of the money, wasn’t I?” said he. "I told you that I crossed the bayou with it without being seen by either my uncle or Mr. Lamar. I was seen by somebody else, however, and by the very one, of all others, I had the most reason to fear; for as I sat looking at the valise, after I had pushed my canoe out of sight among the bushes, and wondering what I should do with it now that I had got it, 207I happened to raise my eyes, and, to my utter amazement, discovered a skiff not more than ten feet from me. In the skiff was Luke Redman, who stood leaning on his gun, and looking at me with an exultant smile on his face.

"I was certain that he had been watching me, that he had seen me take the money, and the very first words he uttered confirmed the suspicion.

"‘Wal, my young chap, I’ve ketched you,’ said he—‘ketched you in the very act, too. This will be a nice story for me to tell in the settlement, won’t it?’

"When I heard this last remark, I for the first time began to realize what I had done. It flashed upon me in an instant that my plan for ruining Jerry Lamar was likely to ruin me, also.

"In order to satisfy a senseless grudge against a boy who never did me the least harm in his life, I had broken the law, and rendered myself liable to the severest punishment.

"I did not speak—I could not, so great was my bewilderment and alarm—neither did Luke Redman. He sat down on one of the thwarts, 208and looked earnestly into the water, while I stared blankly at him, wondering what was to be the end of the matter.

"At length a bright idea struck the man. He brought his clinched hand heavily down upon his knee, and looking up, said, with a chuckle:

"‘Yes, sir; I’ve ketched you in the very act of stealin’ your uncle’s money. Do you know what they do with fellers who commit robbery?’

"‘I have committed no robbery,’ I replied. ‘I am going to take the money back. I only wanted to scare him.’

"‘That story won’t go down—not by no means,’ said Luke Redman, with another laugh. ‘It’s a mighty nice way you have got of doin’ business, hain’t it, now? You steal a carpet-sack full of yellow-boys, an’ when you are ketched at it, say you are goin’ to take it back, an’ that you only wanted to scare your uncle! Who’s fool enough to b’lieve such a tale as that ar’? Thar’s only one way you can get out of this scrape, an’ that is—Halloo! what’s a-goin’ on over thar?’

209“I heard loud voices at this moment, and looking through the bushes toward the opposite bank of the bayou, found that my plan for being revenged on Jerry was beginning to work much sooner than I had anticipated. I saw my uncle take him by the collar and walk him into the skiff, heard Jerry beg to know what he had done, and saw the despairing expression his face wore as he picked up the oars in obedience to my uncle’s command, and pulled down the bayou.”

“That’s the time you ought to have bestirred yourself,” said I, worked up to the highest pitch of indignation by Tom’s recital. “Why didn’t you have the moral courage to undo the wrong you had done? Could you sit there and see an innocent boy punished? Why did you not pull out into the bayou and tell your uncle that you had the valise?”

“Oh, yes! It is all very well for those who have never been guilty of any serious offense to prate about moral courage,” sneered Tom. “There isn’t a boy in the world who knows my uncle who would dare face him after doing a deed like that. Would you? I’ll bet you 210wouldn’t. He would have turned me out of house and home. I don’t know that I should be in any worse situation than I am now,” added Tom, reflectively, "for of course I can’t go back to the settlement after what I have done.

"As I was saying, I sat there in my canoe, and saw Jerry and my uncle go down the bayou toward the village. When they had passed out of sight, Luke Redman said:

"‘It’s too late to give the money back now, ev............