sked the landlady.

"I don't think so," answered Nat. It made him feel a foot taller to be
addressed as Mr. Nason. "If I want it, I'll let you know by supper
time."

"Very well."

With his bundle under his arm, Nat left the house, and walked down the
street toward one of the main thoroughfares of Cleveland. Then he
stopped at a restaurant for breakfast.

"Now, I've got to make up my mind what to do," he told himself. "Maybe I
had better go back to the depot and see about a train and the fare to
New York."

After making several false turns, the boy found his way to the depot,
and there hunted up the ticket office, and procured a time-table. He was
just looking into the time-table when he felt a heavy hand placed on his
shoulder.

"So I've found you, have I?" came harshly from Abner Balberry. "You
young rascal, what do you mean by runnin' away?"

CHAPTER VI

NAT ON LAKE ERIE

Nat was so completely astonished by the unexpected appearance of his
uncle and guardian, that for the moment he did not know what to say or
do.

"Thought you was goin' to run away, didn't you?" continued Abner
Balberry, with a gleam of triumph in his small eyes.

"Let go of me," answered Nat, trying to pull away.

"I ain't a-goin' to, Nat Nason. You're a-goin' back with me, an' on the
next train."

"I'm not going back, Uncle Abner."

"What!"

"I said I'm not going back, so there," repeated Nat, desperately. "You
don't treat me half decently, and I'm going to strike out for myself."

"Jest to hear the boy! You are a-goin' back. Nice doin's, I must say!
What did you mean by trying to burn down the barn?"

"Burn down the barn?"

"That's wot I said."

"I never burned down any barn. Is the barn burned down?"

"No; because I put out the fire."

"When was this?"

"You know well enough."

"I don't know a word about it, Uncle Abner."

"You set the barn afire."

"Never!"

"You did! An' you've got to go back."

"Uncle Abner, I never set fire to a thing," gasped Nat. "I left because
you worked me to death, and because you wouldn't let me have my supper.
After this, I'm going to earn my own living in my own way."

"You're goin' back," snarled the farmer.

For answer, Nat gave a sudden jerk and pulled himself from his uncle's
grasp. Then he started to run from the depot at his best speed.

"Hi! stop!" yelled the farmer. "Stop thet boy. I'm his guardian, and he
is runnin' away from me."

The cry was taken up on a