Part 23 (1/2)

He gave a cry of vexation

Bob had seized Frank's trousers in his teeth, and as he was pulled up, he held on tight Consequently the cloth gave way, and there was poor Frank, reduced to rags and tatters, and utterly unpresentable in any decent society

He gave up Bob in despair, and began to investigate the extent of the ruin that had been wrought in his trousers It was a bad rent, an irretrievable one, in fact; and all that he could do was to tie his handkerchief around his leg

Bob now slept heavily, held up by Uncle Moses

The other boys gresier and drowsier Frank was just deciding to get out of the carriage and make them all walk for a tiht a solution to the problee under the over on one side A cry of terror escaped all of thehbor

There was so, that it broke through even the drowsiness and heavy stupor of Bob, and penetrated to his slu faculties, and in an instant roused the his arms round Uncle Moses

Uncle Moses, fell backward, and all the others were flung upon him

They all lay thus heaped upon the side of the coach, a straggling mass of huain his presence of ht,” said he, in a cheerful voice ”We haven't gone over quite The horses have stopped All right”

A groan caet off!” exclai Uncle Moses” Frank, as uppered himself, and helped off the others; and finally Bob scra every indication by this time that he was at last perfectly wide awake

This restored Uncle Moses He was able to take a long breath

By this tie door, and jumped down The others followed

He saw the driver holding the horses The carriage was tilted over

One of the hind wheels lay underneath, a shattered wreck

Now all was bustle and confusion

The driver proceeded to put into execution a plan by which they could go forward, at least far enough to traverse the marshes The boys all helped, and their efforts drove away the last vestige of drowsiness

The plan consisted in taking out the tongue of the wagon, binding it upon the fore axle, and letting its other end drag on the ground

Now, as the tongue sloped down, the hind axle rested upon it, and thus the trailing wood served to keep the coach erect, and to act as a runner, which supplied very well the place of the lost wheel

The horses were then hitched on by the traces, without any tongue, and in this way they pulled along the broken carriage

CHAPTER XXII

_The March ended--A lonely Inn--Evil Faces--Beetling Brows--Sinister Glances--Suspicions of the Party--They put their Head together--Conferences of the Party--A threatening Prospect--Barricades--In Time of Peace prepare for War--The Garrison arements they resumed their journey; but this time they all went on foot, with the exception of Uncle Moses They went on foot for two reasons: first, because it was impossible for the horses to pull theone, since it was aspace even with the e they would be better able to fight off the drowsiness which had menaced them In truth, as far as drowsiness is concerned, there did not now seeer; for the shock of the break-down had been sufficient to rouse even Bob, and the effects of that shock still remained Uncle Moses, however, on account of his years, his infirether with his freedoe, with all due honors, as its sole occupant

Walking on thus, they did not regret, in the slightest degree, the hardshi+ps of their lot, but rather exulted in the them out of their alhest possible relief, since he was now freed from the responsibility that had of late been so heavy In Bob, however, there was the exhibition of the greatest liveliness Bob,to extremes; and as he was the first to fall asleep, so nohen he had awaked, he was the hed, he danced, he ran; he see with animal spirits

Fortunately they were not very far from the end of the marshes when the wheel broke, and in less than two hours they had traversed the relish, and informed them that they could not reach the destination which he had proposed; but he hoped before dark to get as far as an inn, where they could obtain food and lodging He inforood inn; but under the circumstances it was the best that they could hope for To the boys, however, it made very little difference what sort of an inn they ca to eat, and any kind of a bed to lie on, they were content; and so they told the driver

Leaving the an to ascend; and after about a half hour's farther tramp, they came, to a place which the driver infor place It was an old stone edifice, two stories high, which had once been covered with, stucco; but the stucco had fallen off in iving it an air of dilapidation and squalor