out from the bag, and as the two boys began
to eat Fred's hunger returned with such a force that he could not resist
the impulse to ask for food.

"Say, if you'll give me some of that bread I'll carry all the load when
we start again. I haven't had a mouthful since I left Blacktown."

"An' you'll go without two or three days longer," Gus replied with
malicious pleasure. "You'll have the whole load, an' no trade about it
either, so hold your tongue or I'll use the stick again."

Tim laughed as if he thought it great sport to hear the prisoner begging
for food, and Fred threw himself upon the ground, resolving not to give
them another opportunity for mirth.

"If there's a chance to get hold of the bag to-night I'll help myself,"
he thought. "It can't be stealing, for I'm surely entitled to a share
when they force me to stay with them."

Gus amused himself for a while by thrusting food close to the prisoner's
face and then withdrawing it, but he tired of this when Fred made no
effort to take what he knew was not intended for him.

The halt continued about an hour, and then, as Gus had threatened, both
packages were placed on Fred's shoulders.

"Now step out livelier than you did before, for we don't want to make
another halt until we are ready to build a camp," Tim said, as he began
the advance.

"Treat me decent an' I'll travel as fast as you can."

"You ain't gettin' it half as bad as you deserve, an' it'd be a good
idea to keep your mouth shut."

As during the first portion of the journey, Gus amused himself by
prodding the prisoner with a stick, but as the day lengthened and Tim
refused to halt, the boy grew too weary to indulge in such pleasantries.

In order that Fred might carry all the burden, it was necessary to
unloosen both his hands, and, without being observed by his companions,
he contrived to transfer several crackers from the bag to his pocket.

The second stage of the journey lasted nearly two hours, and then Tim
decided the camp should be erected on the bank of a small stream.

They were now, according to Fred's belief, not more than twenty miles
from Blacktown, and a trifle less than that distance from Farley's.

As far away as the eye could reach was a town, but no one knew its name.

"We might have stayed nearer home if the camp is to be made so close to
a settlement," Gus said fretfully.

"While we keep out of sight nobody'll know we're here, an' in case we
want to leave suddenly on