in the shed, an' I guess he'll be good enough to-morrow,"
said Toby, cheerfully; and then, after fastening the flag in the front
of the tent in such a way that the wind would be kept out, if nothing
more, he and Joe walked towards the house, discussing the question of
the kind of tickets they should use at the show.
While they were yet some distance from the wood-shed in which Mr.
Stubbs's brother was lodged, Aunt Olive called Toby to come quickly to
the house.
"You put him in the wood-shed, an' fasten him in snug," said Toby, as he
handed the monkey to Joe, and started for the house at full speed.
Now Joe knew perfectly well where Mr. Stubbs's brother was kept; but, as
he had never seen him put away for the night, he was uncertain whether
he should be tied there, or simply shut in. It hardly seemed to him that
Toby would leave the monkey tied up by the neck all night, so he set him
up comfortably on a bench, and carefully shut the door.
Toby had been called to go to the druggist's for some medicine, and he
came out of the house in such haste, calling to Joe to follow him, that
nothing more was thought of the insecurely prisoned monkey.
When Toby returned, it was so late that Uncle Daniel advised him to go
to bed if he had any desire to be "healthy, wealthy, and wise," and he
obeyed at once.
Positive that Abner was on the road to recovery, sure that all his work
had been done, and with nothing to trouble him, it was not very long
that Toby lay awake after he was once in bed.
It seemed to him that he had been sleeping a long while, when he was
awakened by the sound as of some one hunting around in his room; and,
before he had time to call out, the candle was lighted, showing that the
intruder was Uncle Daniel, only partially dressed and in a high state of
excitement.
"What is it? What's the matter?" asked Toby, in alarm, thinking at once
of Abner, and fearing that something had happened to him.
"Hush!" said Uncle Daniel, warningly; "don't make a noise, for some one
is trying to get into the hen-house, an' I am going to make an example
of him. I suppose it's one of the tramps who went by here to-day, an' I
want to find that gun I saw in here yesterday."
There was such a weapon in Toby's room, or, at least, what had once been
a gun was there, for a hired man whom Uncle Daniel had employed left it
there. It had been an army musket, and appeared to have been used as a
collection of materials to repair o
|