is father when he appeared.

Billy dropped his manure-fork as soon as Cully had moved on again, and
dodging behind the fence, followed him toward the post-office, hoping to
hit the singer with a stone.

When the slinking body of McGaw's eldest son became visible to Mr.
Crimmins, his face broke into creases so nearly imitative of a smile
that his best friend would not have known him. He slapped the patched
knees of his overalls gayly, bent over in a subdued chuckle, and
disported himself in a merry and much satisfied way. His rum-and-watery
eyes gleamed with delight, and even his chin-whisker took on a new
vibration. Next he laid one finger along his nose, looked about him
cautiously, and said to himself, in an undertone:--

"The very boy! It'll fix McGaw dead to rights, an' ther' won't be no
squealin' after it's done."

Here he peered around the edge of one of O'Leary's drawn window-shades,
and waited until Cully had passed the barroom, secured his mail, and
started for home, his uninterrupted song filling the air. Then he opened
the blind very cautiously, and beckoned to Billy.

Cully's eye caught the new movement as he turned the corner. His song
ceased. When Mr. Finnegan had anything very serious on his mind he never
sang.

When, some time after, Billy emerged from O'Leary's door, he had a
two-dollar bill tightly squeezed in his right hand. Part of this he
spent on his way home for a box of cigarettes; the balance he invested
in a mysterious-looking tin can. The can was narrow and long and had a
screw nozzle at one end. This can Cully saw him hide in a corner of his
father's stable.

XII. CULLY'S NIGHT OUT

Ever since the night Cully, with the news of the hair-breadth escape of
the bid, had dashed back to Tom, waiting around the corner, he had been
the hero of the hour. As she listened to his description of McGaw when
her bid dropped on the table--"Lookin' like he'd eat sumpin' he couldn't
swaller--see?" her face was radiant, and her sides shook with laughter.
She had counted upon McGaw falling into her trap, and she was delighted
over the success of her experiment. Tom had once before caught him
raising a bid when he discovered that but one had been offered.

In recognition of these valuable services Tom had given Cully two
tickets for a circus which was then charming the inhabitants of New
Brighton, a mile or more away, and he and Carl were going the following
night. Mr. Finnegan was to wear a blac