e in the house."

"Oh, no, Mrs. Badger, you can manage him just as easy!"

"Shut up, Mr. Badger! How did I know he had a pistol? I tell you it's a
serious thing! Before morning, you, and Andrew Jackson, and me may be
dead corpses!"

At this awful statement Andrew Jackson burst into a terrified howl.

"I'll tell you what we'd better do, Mr. Badger. We'll go into our room
and lock ourselves in."

"Let me come in, too," said Andrew. "He'll kill me! He hates me!"

"Yes, my darling, you may come, too!" said his mother.

So the valiant three locked themselves up in a chamber and listened
nervously.

But Tom Tapley was already out of the house. He made his escape over the
roof, fearing that the neighborhood would be roused and his safety
endangered.

So passed a night of unparalleled excitement in the Badger homestead.

CHAPTER XXX

ATTACKED IN THE REAR

Early the next morning the three Badgers held a council of war.

It was unanimously decided that something must be done, but what that
something should be it was not easy to determine.

Mr. Badger suggested that the town constable should be summoned.

"The boy has committed assault and battery upon our persons, Mrs.
Badger," he said, "and it is proper that he should be arrested."

"Shall I go for the constable?" asked Andrew Jackson. "I should like to
have him put in jail. Then we should be safe."

"The constable would not be up so early, Andrew."

"Besides," said Mrs. Badger, "we shall be laughed at for not being able
to take care of a single small-sized boy."

"You know what he is capable of, Mrs. Badger. At least you did when you
came flyin' down the attic stairs into my arms!"

"Shut up, Mr. Badger," said his wife, who was ashamed when she
remembered her panic. "You'd better not say anything. He got you on the
floor and pounded you--you a full-grown man!"

"I'd like to pound him!" said Badger, setting his teeth hard.

"It's a pity if three of us can't manage him without calling in a
constable," continued Mrs. Badger, who, on the whole, had more courage
than her husband.

"What do you propose, wife?" asked Nathan.

"I propose that we all go up and seize him. He is probably asleep and
can't give any trouble. We can tie him hand and foot before he wakes
up."

"Capital!" said Mr. Badger, who was wonderfully assured by the thought
that his young enemy might be asleep. "We'll go right up."

"He may be awake!" suggested Andrew Jackson.

"T