traight ahead. He
heard a splash in the water below, after which everything was still.

CHAPTER IX.

WEARY WAITING.

The days seemed very long to Tom and Joe and little Judie after Sam left
on his journey. They had nothing to do but to sit still in their corners
among the roots all day, and time always drags very slowly when people
are doing nothing. Their provisions, as we know, were already
cooked,--enough of them at least, to last a week, and before Sam left he
had made them bring more than a bushel of sweet potatoes and all the
corn they could find which was still soft enough to eat, and store it
away for use if his return should be delayed in any way. The result was
that their legs got no stretching, and they became moody, dispirited and
unhappy before the second day of Sam's absence had come to an end. They
found doing nothing the hardest and the dullest work they ever had done
in their lives. Joe managed to sleep most of the time, but Tom was
nervous, and poor little Judie, without Sam to depend upon, grew
low-spirited and began to fear all sorts of evil things. Finally Sam's
week was up and Sam had not appeared. The little people were now fairly
frightened. What had become of him? they wondered. Had he fallen into
the hands of the Indians? And if so, what were they to do now? They had
never before known how dependent they were upon him. Even during his
absence they had been regulating their lives by his minute instructions,
and depending upon him for guidance after he should return. But what if
he should never return? And why hadn't he come already? These thoughts
were too much for them. Judie sat in her corner brooding over her
trouble, and crying a little now and then. Joe was simply frightened,
and his eyes grew bigger and rounder than ever. Tom was sustained in
part by the thought that the burden of responsibility was now on him,
and so he suppressed all manifestations of uneasiness, as well as he
could, and gave himself up to the duty of studying the situation,
calculating his resources and trying to decide what was the best thing
to be done if Sam should not come back at all. He hit upon several
excellent ideas, but made up his mind that before trying to put any of
them into practice he would wait at least a fortnight longer for Sam's
return. Their stock of provisions, eaten raw, would last much longer
than that, and the fields were full of sweet potatoes, wherefore he
wisely thought it best not