n fellow you are, Philip! You ought to be satisfied with
keeping him there all night."

"I wish you wouldn't call me names," said Philip, pettishly.

"Don't deserve them, then. Well, are you coming with me?'

"I don't know; it's a good ways," said Philip, hesitating.

"Just as you like. I am going. I told the boy I would, and I mean to
keep my promise."

And James Congreve stepped off the piazza and started.

"Oh, well, I'll go, too. I want to see how he looks," said Philip, and
began to laugh.

"Take care how you laugh at him there, Phil, or he may pitch into you."

"You won't let him, will you, James?" said Philip, apprehensively.

"I thought you were a match for him," said Congreve, with an amused
smile.

"So I am, but he might take me unawares. He'll be so mad, you know."

"I'll protect you," said Congreve. "Come along."

Both boys would have liked to learn whether Harry had been missed at
home, and what was thought of his disappearance; but there seemed to be
no one to ask, and, for obvious reasons, they did not care to show any
curiosity on the subject.

"I'd like to meet Mr. Wilkins," said Philip. "He boards there, you know,
and he might say something about it."

"Mr. Wilkins is your uncle, isn't he?"

"He's a distant relation of ma's," said Philip, reluctantly. "We don't
know much about him."

"I suppose he's poor?" suggested Congreve, drily.

"Oh, dear, yes! He was a farmer or something out in Illinois. He probably
pays a dollar or two a week board at Gilberts'. They're dreadfully poor,
you know. I shouldn't be surprised if all hands were in the poorhouse
before the year is out."

"Your uncle and all?"

"He isn't my uncle!" said Philip, snappishly.

"Relative, then. You wouldn't want a relative in the poorhouse?"

"Pa offered to pay his expenses back to Illinois, but the old fellow was
obstinate and wouldn't go. I expect he's hanging round here in hopes of
getting something out of pa and ma; but it's no use, as he'll find out
sooner or later."

"Strange he went to board with the Gilberts, isn't it?"

"Oh, it's a good enough place for a rusty old chap like him. He ain't
used to living in any style. Ma says he's half crazy."

By this time they had reached the borders of the wood, and soon they
came to the place where Harry had been left bound.

"Why, he isn't here!" exclaimed Philip, in surprise and disappointment.

"So it appears."

"How could he have got away?"

James Congrev