e done without an axe, some nails, and other articles which I
intended to procure.

I left Sim with the promise to see him again in the afternoon, and
returned to the house. I was not attending school at all at this time,
as the winter term had closed, and the summer one had not commenced, and
I had nothing to do but work about the place. I went into the house, and
talked with Flora. I told her what had happened--how I had been whipped
by both father and son. She cried, and begged me not to disobey them any
more.

"If they treat me decently, I will do all they tell me, Flora," I
replied; "but I will not be trodden upon."

The conversation was interrupted by the arrival of the wagon, and I went
out, in order that I might not be "tackled" before my sister. Captain
Fishley gave me an ugly look; but I knew he would not say anything
before his brother, and he did not. He told me I _might_ put the horse
up, and I did so. But I felt that the day of settlement would come as
soon as the squire departed.

At dinner-time I was sometimes required to stay in the store, and I was
directed to do so on this day. I selected a couple of stout
clothes-lines, a shingling hatchet, and put up two pounds of ten-penny
nails. I wrote down the articles on a piece of paper, and carried it,
with the five-dollar bill taken from my roll, to the captain. He gave me
the change, without knowing who the customer was, and I concealed the
articles in the barn. When I had eaten my dinner, and taken care of
Darky and the pigs, I started for the swamp again, with the goods I had
bought.

CHAPTER XI.

BUILDING THE RAFT.

I found Sim Gwynn at our landing-place on the verge of the swamp, which
was a safe spot for him, as he could retreat, at the approach of a
pursuer, where no one could follow him without a boat. On the raft lay a
sharp axe, which assured me he had not remained in the swamp all the
time during my absence.

"Where did you get that axe, Sim?" I asked, disturbed by an unpleasant
fear that he had been disregarding the rights of property.

"I got it up to Barkspear's," replied he, laughing, as though he had
done a clever thing.

"Then you must carry it back again, Sim. I won't have any stealing
done!" I added, sharply.

"Hookie! You don't think I'd steal--do you, Buck Bradford?"

"Didn't you take that axe from Barkspear's?"

"Yes, I did; but that's my axe, you see; and that makes all the
difference in the world. That axe wa