o him they made known
their errand, requesting him to call Philip out.

"He isn't here," answered Frank.

"Isn't here? I don't believe it!" said the squire hastily.

"Sorry you doubt my word, Squire Pope, but it's just as I say."

"Where is he, then?" demanded the squire suspiciously.

"He has left town."

"Left town?" repeated the squire and Joe Tucker, in dismay. "Where is he
gone!"

"He's probably ten miles away by this time," answered Frank, enjoying
their perplexity. "I guess you'd better wait till he comes back."

Joe and the squire conferred together, but no satisfactory result
was arrived at, except it wouldn't pay to pursue Philip, for two
reasons--one, because they were quite uncertain in what direction he had
gone; another, because, even if overtaken, they would have no authority
to apprehend him, since he had been guilty of no crime.

Finally a bright idea came to the squire.

"Bring me out his fiddle," he said to Frank. "I'm his guardian, and I
will take care of it for him."

"He carried it away with him," said Frank. The squire's lower jaw fell.
He was defeated at all points. "I guess we can't do nothing, under the
circumstances, squire," said Joe Tucker, scratching his head.

"I shall have to reflect upon it," said Squire Pope, in a crestfallen
tone.

"That's as good as a circus," thought Frank, as his roguish glance
followed the two baffled conspirators as they rode out of the yard.
"It's a pity Phil was not here to enjoy it."

At the end of the second day, Philip was some forty miles distant from
Norton. He had not walked all the way, but had got a lift for a few
miles from a tin-peddler, with whom he had a social chat.

It cannot be said that he was depressed, or that he regretted having
left Norton, but he certainly did feel uncomfortable, and his discomfort
sprang from a very homely cause.

To tell the plain truth, he was hungry. He had not had anything to eat
for six hours except an apple, which he had picked up by the roadside,
and during those six hours he had walked not far from fifteen miles.

"I believe I never was so hungry before," thought Philip. "The question
is, where is my supper to come from?"

Although he knew pretty well the state of his finances, he began to
search his pockets to see if he could not somewhere find a stray dime,
or, better still, a quarter, with which to purchase the meal of which he
stood so much in need. But his search was unproductive, or, rath