an'
twenty dollars. You shall take the odd money, an' the balance I'll
plank down as a first payment on the land."

"Do you know who owns it?"

"A farmer who lived five or six miles the other side of Blacktown."

"That's correct, an' the sooner you see him the better."

"Will you agree to keep away from Farley's?"

"Yes," Bill said slowly, as if angry with himself for making the
promise. "Fred an' me'll sneak 'round 'till the trade's made for this
side the mountain, an' then figger up what it's best to do."

"Where can I see you to-morrow?"

"Right here. We'll stay in the woods a night or two."

"Have you got anything to eat?"

"No; but it's an easy matter to buy all we want."

"Take this money in case it is necessary to leave on the jump, an' I'll
go on."

Handing his mate the twenty dollars, Joe went at a sharp gait toward
Blacktown, and Bill said, with a shrug of the shoulders:

"So we're both thieves 'cordin' to the cashier's ideas; but wait 'till
we get the land secured, an' I'll give that young man a lesson such as
won't be very pleasant."

"Do you really mean to sleep in the woods?"

"Why not? It's warm weather, an' we'll be pretty nigh as well off there
as at home."

"Then we'd better be looking for a good place. If mother hadn't sent
word that I was to stay away, I'd go to Farley's this minute an' let
them arrest me, for it seems as if we act guilty by running off."

"That's jest my idee, lad; but we'll obey orders a day or two."

A short distance to the right was a thickly-wooded grove, and here the
two soon found what would serve very well as a camp.

A small cleared space, almost entirely screened from view by bushes,
afforded all the protection which might be needed, and Bill threw
himself on the ground.

"I reckon we can go without supper," he said, with forced cheerfulness,
"an' there'll be no bother about lockin' the doors."

"It won't be long before I'm asleep. Walking around so much has tired me
more than a full day's work in the breaker."

"Don't keep awake on my account. The sooner your eyes are closed the
sooner you'll forget that there's a chance of bein' sent to jail."

With his head pillowed on some dry leaves Fred had no difficulty in
summoning slumber; but Bill tossed to and fro on the hard bed without
the slightest desire for sleep.

The boy was dreaming of the frightful hours spent in the short slope
after the explosion, when he was awakened by the pressure of a h