ew of his
tobacco in return; and Will did not forget to add that they must each
take as generous a bite as their mouths could accommodate. The man was
glad to accept their help; and together with his own efforts, the work
was soon finished. Then, in fulfillment of his agreement, he handed them
his plug of tobacco that they might each take the "chew" he had promised
them.

According to Will's suggestion the boys did not stop with an ordinary
chew; but each took all that his mouth would contain. When they returned
the plug, it was so small that the boys were all afraid the man would
find fault with them; so they hurried away from the spot as rapidly as
possible. As soon as they were far enough away, they removed the tobacco
from their mouths; and they found that, by taking very small chews at
a time, the amount was sufficient to last them for some time. Several
times they succeeded in securing tobacco in this way, and by economizing
were able to get along pretty well for a while. But the plan did not
always work; for the neighbors' becoming aware of the scheme, prepared
themselves with a small piece of tobacco to offer the greedy boys.

After that, in order to secure their tobacco, they were often forced
to pick up partly-chewed quids, found where they had been thrown away
by the owners. These the boys usually washed; sometimes, however, in
their eagerness they could not wait to attend to even this amount of
cleanliness, but crammed the tobacco into their mouths just as they had
found it. Even cigar stubs; in fact, everything in the form of tobacco,
that had been thrown away, they eagerly gathered and used to satisfy
their ravenous appetites.

With a foundation now laid for both lying and stealing and with their
consciences dulled, the boys were constantly laying plans to gratify
their evil desires. Many a pocket they robbed of its contents if it
happened to contain tobacco in any form. But this was a slow process at
best; even under the most favorable circumstances it yielded them but
very little returns for their efforts. But one day Will informed the
boys that he had made a discovery--that he had found out that there was
a lot of plug tobacco in the big chest in his father's room. "Now, if we
could think up some way to get into that chest when the old folks are
gone away to town," he suggested, "we could get all the chewing tobacco
we would want for a long while. I thought I would watch and see where
Dad put the key