Part 42 (1/2)
”Why it would be ht Tom
”Perhaps he was thirsty, and asked so”
It was not a good solution of the problen of the chair near the ford But there were traces again in the sand which had been washed to the side, and here the chair had made a curve and run close to the bank for a few yards; then out into the hard road, and he saw no more for a couple of hundred yards, and then they were on the left-hand side, and Toan to turn cold, as they say, for the tracks bore off to the side road leading down into the sand-pit
”Why the chair ran aith his ran aith him down into the thick sandy road, where the wheel- that the chair had been that way
Now he had never been down into the pit, and only once as far as the edge, into which he had peered from the road above, whence he had looked down upon a colony ofin and out of their holes in the sand-cliff He had deter he was compelled to hurry back to breakfast Now he had to explore the depths of the pit in a very different mood; and he was not half-way down the slope when he found that the wheels had suddenly curved off, and then, from the marks on the smooth sand, it had evidently turned over
And there, sixty or seventy yards away, and fully a hundred feet below hiht sat its late occupant, o on down the roadhich , scraave way at every step, and took him with it, till at last, hot and breathless, he reached the invalid's side
”Hurt, uncle?” he panted
”Hurt, sir?” cried Uncle Jarily ”I'm nearly killed I don't think I've a whole bone left in ! You scoundrel! You did it on purpose You kneas not safe to leave that e, and you wanted to killin astonishour his uncle had displayed For there was noof shortness of breath, but an undue display of excitelisten
”I' scoundrel's fault”
”I don't believe it, sir It was a trick Disgraceful!”
”Wait a et it here, and then help you up to the top before I take it up”
”Fetch the chair!” stormed James Brandon ”It's a wreck, sir; one wheel's off, and the front one's all bent sidewise Here, give ht hold of the extended wrist, and with that and the stick, toiled up the steep slope, to the boy's astonishment; and when they had reached the road, jerked the wrist froht of the house, when Toe to speak
”Really, uncle, I did not think of anything but running after that lad”
”I want no excuses, sir,” cried Uncle James fiercely ”I knohat itthe chair It was all a planned thing But mind, I shall take a note of it, and you will find out that you've reat mistake of your life Here, you sir!”
This was to David, as in the garden; and he hurried up
”Go and order me a fly to come here directly”
”From the station, sir? It's over there all day now”
”From anywhere, only ave Toood thing to go over there twice” Then he fetched his coat and went off
”Hallo! Walking?” cried Uncle Richard, co out of the observatory
”Where's the chair?”
”Broken, s scoundrel; and it's a mercy I'm alive But I'll have no more of this”
Uncle James strode into the house, and his brother turned to Tom for an explanation, and had it
”But he did not walk back all the way?”