s sick and went up-stairs. Gram followed him
up there with the Vermifuge bottle. She found him in bed. He wouldn't
say what ailed him. After she went down-stairs, he got out on the ell
roof and ran away, over to Batchelder's. Alf and he then put their heads
together and started for the old slave's farm, intending to play they
were Cannucks and frighten us nearly to death. That was old Hewey's
moose-horn that they were _booing_ through; they borrowed it of the old
man, on their way up, pretending they were going moose-hunting."

"Then Halse wasn't hit after all," said Kate.

"No; it was Alf. We were all wrong about that voice. One of Tom's little
partridge shot struck Alf on his wrist. It did not injure him much, but
drew blood and frightened him.

"They then cut sticks for home; and Halse tried to get into his room
over the ell roof at about three o'clock this morning. But our folks had
already discovered that he had run away. The Old Squire heard him on the
roof and nabbed him just as he was crawling in at the window.

"He was quite a subdued, tearful-eyed, peaceable-looking boy, when I saw
him an hour ago," Addison concluded, with a curl of his lip.

"But let's not say a word to plague him any further," said Theodora.

"Oh, I shall not speak of it," replied Addison.

"Nor I," said Willis. "But I would like to have had hold of the Old
Squire's whip a spell."

And thus, in this miserable way, our first camping trip terminated. It
was raining the following morning and continued very wet for several
days; we were not able to return to "the old slave's farm" that fall.

CHAPTER XXVIII

THE OLD SQUIRE'S PANTHER STORY

It seemed good, even after only three days' camping out, to sit down in
the house again and see the supper table nicely set and Gram at the head
of it. She welcomed us home as warmly as if we had been absent for
weeks; the Old Squire was still a little disturbed, from his recent
"interview" with Halstead.

Halse, himself, did not come to supper; and nobody mentioned his name
during the entire evening.

Little Wealthy was plainly overjoyed to see us back and, despite the
pout which she had worn when we went off without her, talked very fast
to us and told us of all the occurrences during our absence.

"Aunt Olive" was with us for a week; she and Gram and Wealthy had begun
to dry apples; and after supper, Aunt Olive brought in three bushel
basketfuls of bruised Baldwins and Greenings, alo