Chris! I told you not to do that. That is going to complicate matters." "What?" "You are going to complicate matters." "Am not." "Yes you are. You cannot have the boy here. The fact that I agreed to the outing has not been generally known. The boy would be questioned." "You said you would not tell anybody." "You did not say that I would tell anybody. I have been saying from the start that the boy must be taken into our confidence. Do you realize what this means? Do you realize what it would mean if this got out?" "I am sorry." "But you did not think." "I know now." "But where is he?" "What?" "The boy. I left him at the ferry, and I have not seen him since." "He must be about somewhere. Don't you think he is around, or down at the lake?" "Why should he be around or down at the lake?" "Don't be so literal, Chris. How do we know but what the child may have taken a notion to have himself a boat trip and gone down for that purpose. It is a good distance down there." "I didn't think of that. You must take him with you." "Me?" "Yes. Why not?" "Because the boy--" "The boy will not know that we are not all gentlemen. He will think that we are out after him. He will want to see us when he meets us. He will think we are a committee of one. I tell you, Chris, we must have a man or woman with us. He can stay at the cabin, and be taken to the city tomorrow. You can manage that much better than I." "All right. Then what?" "Then you take the boy to that cabin, and wait for me there. I will find him in time. I will explain all." "But suppose the police are in the cabin?" "We must not worry about that, Chris. If the police should come to our rescue, it is still less reason that we should let the world know of your adventures in the woods. I think that we should try to manage this the best way we can, until the boy is claimed. Then we shall hear from the police and from other parties who are looking for him. I don't want to make a mistake. You see, it is like this, Chris: The boy knows nothing. He may be wandering about, and unable to tell where he came from, as well as us." "That's so." "I tell you I am going to take him with me, and you take him home and get some rest. You won't be able to sleep anyhow, after what has happened. I will see you at the meeting, and tell you what to do. Come on. You will have to take the boy with you. They won't let him alone. They are all after him. You can't help it." They returned to the cottage. It was in shambles. All the furniture, excepting the bed, had been taken to the storehouse, and piled in promiscuous confusion. Bessie was making the bed; and the old woman was sitting on a trunk, which happened to be in its position, with her elbows on her knees, looking dreamily in the fire. Mrs. Mumpson came out of the storehouse, and shook her head. "It's too bad, Chris. It's just too bad. But what can you expect, when people are in a hurry to get out of the house? They ain't ashamed, is they?" "They ain't ashamed, 'Mums," said the young man, sullenly. "Of course they ain't. They're nothing of the kind. They are just in a hurry. They'll never be in a hurry enough. There's plenty of firewood here, Chris, if you and Bessie need a fire. And there's a good fire in the storehouse; but you can put a lamp in one of the windows, or--" "I know, 'Mums, I know. Don't you bother. I'll make out. Give Bessie her breakfast. It's right about here that she must eat." "There's the plates in the sink, Bessie. Now don't forget them." "I won't, 'Mums." "Come, dear," said Mrs. Mumpson, with tender encouragement. She followed her to the cottage. Chris turned to a bench in the yard, and went to sleep. XI. Chris went to the lake to fetch up the boy. There was a young man sitting in front of the cabin. "What did you come down here for?" he demanded, irritably. "The boy," said the young man, wearily. "I have seen you before. It was you that stole them flowers." "Strange how one could forget such a trivial thing. Yes, that was me. I have only a small account to settle with you, so you needn't be nervous. It's pretty easy to clear up." "Where are the flowers?" "Where are the flowers? I do not know. They were on the other side of the lake. And I don't know how I happened to go there." "What were you doing here?" "Well, if you don't object, I will walk over to that tree, and smoke a pipe. You don't mind?" "No, I don't mind. But it ain't so pleasant standing here, with everybody's eyes a-winking at me, as they are doing just at this minute." "I know. But if you know where the boy is, I don't see why you should come all the way over here to bring him. You have got what you want." "I don't know where the boy is." "He's been up to the house, asking for a glass of milk." "The boy asked for a glass of milk?" "Yup. This fellow came out of the door just as he was saying it, and he went off in another direction. I thought I could hear the boy's voice yelling for the milk. But if you'll excuse me, I would rather you would let me get my pipe to going before I go to look for him." "Let's look in the house. Where's the dog?" "You know," said the man, sarcastically, "I don't exactly keep a dog. The family keeps it. I am not going to run off the young family just to please the dog." "You haven't the dog?" "I have not." "You got him, didn't you? What did you take that stick for?" "That's all right. I want a stick. I am out of practice in whittling, and if I don't have something to whittle on, I get my hands black. I would like to buy a little stick from you, if you have any time to spare. But what's the use of asking for one?" "But that's a little stick." "I think that's a big one." "I'd rather have it. But how did you come to break off your stick, anyway? I don't know what you're driving at." "Me? I didn't break the stick. The dog got it." "You didn't break the stick. The dog broke the stick." "It is so. We may as well admit that it is so. No man can be expected to do a dog's work, so I took another stick." "You took another stick." "I am not inclined to take any more of your advice. If you can't see through the game, I might just as well get home." "Well, we can go to the store-house," said the boy. "Maybe he has got in." They searched the storehouse. The stranger did not know what to make of the proceedings. He tried to get the young man's advice about his broken stick, and about whether the boy had been in. The young man did not know the stick. He said that he was sorry, but he could not understand how the accident had occurred, and he could not see how the broken stick could be accounted for. They came back to the tree, and did not get their confidences finished, until their pipes were well under way. Then the man's story was told. "Yes, I did know the boy," said the young man. "What did you know about him?" "Well, to tell the truth, I never had seen him before. I hadn't thought that the boy