Part 9 (1/2)
”Now's our chance, fellows!” he shouted. ”Sam'll never catch them, and he'll be back here in a minute. Let's beat it while the going's good.”
He set the pace, and they needed no urging to follow close on his heels.
All reached the fence and leaped over it. And not till they found themselves on the other side, did they dare to breathe.
”Jiminy!” gasped Bob, ”that was a narrow squeak!”
”A miss is as good as a mile,” panted Jim.
”We didn't get here a minute too soon, either,” said Teddy. ”See, there's Sam coming back, now.”
”He's not much of a sprinter,” commented Jack, as the heavily built farmer came lumbering back, muttering angrily to himself.
”No,” a.s.sented Jim, ”and it's lucky for those tramps that he isn't. But Tige had a little better luck,” he added, as the dog came trotting beside his master, holding in his mouth a patch of cloth that he had torn from one of his enemies.
”Chewing the rag, as usual,” chuckled Bob. ”They make a sweet pair, don't they?”
Sam caught sight of them and came over, scowling.
”What are you boys hanging round here for?” he asked suspiciously.
”We were watching you chase the tramps,” answered Fred. ”Did you catch them?”
”None o' yer business,” snarled Sam.
”You certainly ran fine,” said Bob admiringly. ”I love to see you run, Mr. Perkins.”
”I'm goin' to see _you_ run in a minute,” growled the farmer.
”Here, Tige.”
But as the boys were not anxious to pursue the conversation, they made a more or less dignified retreat, and Sam, with a parting malediction on all tramps and all boys, went off towards his house.
CHAPTER X
BUNK GOES CRAZY
”Hang it all!” exclaimed Teddy, as the Rushton boys and their chums came near their homes. ”I hate to own up that we didn't find those papers.”
”It is too bad,” admitted Bob. ”But you did the best you could, and if they're not there, you can't help it.”
”I can see the look on Uncle Aaron's face,” said Teddy. ”That sort of I-told-you-so look that makes you wish you were big enough to lick him.”
”You sure do stand well with that uncle of yours,” laughed Jim.
”Yes,” a.s.sented Teddy gloomily, ”I stand like a man with a broken leg.”
”Oh, brace up,” chirped Jack. ”We had the peaches anyway.”
”Bother the peaches!” exclaimed Fred. ”I'd give all the peaches in the world just to lay my eyes on those papers.”