heir lives."

"So would I. They are the most audacious desperadoes I ever
encountered."

"Do you know them, dad?"

"Yes; they are Bill Murphy and Joe Hastings. They are always hanging
round the drinking saloon."

"We can lick Philip at any rate!" said Oscar, with a furious look at
poor Phil. "He brought it on us."

But Nahum Sprague was more prudent. He had heard the threat of Bill and
Joe to repeat the punishment if Philip were attacked, and he thought it
best to wait.

"Leave it to me," he said. "I'll flog him in due time."

"Ain't you going to do anything to him, dad?" asked Oscar in
disappointment.

"Yes. Come here, you, sir!"

Phil approached his stern guardian with an uncomfortable sense of
something unpleasant awaiting him.

Nahum Sprague seized him by the collar and said, "Follow me."

He pushed the boy before him and walked him into the house, then up the
stairs into an attic room, where he locked him in. Just then the bell
rang for dinner.

Poor Phil was hungry, but nothing was said about dinner for him. A dread
suspicion came to him that he was to be starved. But half an hour later
the door opened, and Oscar appeared with two thin slices of bread
without butter.

"Here's your dinner," he said.

It was a poor enough provision for a hungry boy, but Phil ate them with
relish, Oscar looking on with an amused smile.

"Is that all I am to have?" asked Phil.

"Yes; it is all you deserve."

"I don't know what I have done."

"You don't, hey? You broke the bottle and spilled the whisky."

"I wouldn't have done it if you hadn't pushed me."

"There you go, laying it off on me. You'd better not."

"But it's true, Oscar."

"No, it isn't. You broke the bottle to spite pa."

"I wouldn't have dared to do it," said Philip.

"You dared a little too much, anyway. Didn't you get those men to follow
you and interfere with what was none of their business?"

"No, I didn't."

"Hadn't you spoken with them at the saloon?"

"Yes."

"I thought so."

"They asked me who sent me for the whisky and I told them."

"You didn't need to tell them. If it hadn't been for that they wouldn't
have come round to our place and assaulted pa and me. They'll catch it,
pa says. Shouldn't wonder if they'd be put in prison for five years."

Young as he was Phil put no faith in this ridiculous statement, but he
thought it best not to make any comment.

"How long is your father going to keep me here?" he asked.

"M