"Ted, bring a rope."
Partly stunned, or realizing that resistance was useless, the stranger
lay still with one arm over his face. Presently Ted came back with the
rope and a lantern.
"If it isn't Will Hen Baizley back again!" exclaimed Hutchings.
"Thought you'd get even with me before the ship sailed, eh?" inquired
Will, amiably.
"Well," said Mr. Hand, "I'll see that he is taken care of for a good
while in the penitentiary. Tie him up so he can't make trouble, and
we'll drive him right over to the jail now."
Baizley could not be induced to utter a word, so he was put into the
wagon, where Hutchings held him while Mr. Hand took the reins. As he
bid good night, Mr. Hand said to Will:
"By the way, William, if you decide to sell your mother out, you had
better see the sheriff pretty soon. There'll be some costs, and fees,
and so forth, that you'll have to pay, you know."
"All right," laughed Will, happily. "I guess I can manage. I'm pretty
rich now, you know."
The boys stood at the garden gate with their arms linked to their
mother's and listened to the wagon as it clattered away. Then the
rushing of the flood tide, washing up to their dikes, attracted
their attention.
"The tide's coming in for us, dear boys," said Mrs. Carter. "How
lovely the creek sounds to-night! Surely God has been very good
to us, and the prospect, that was so dark a while ago, has become
very bright and happy."
"Fifteen hundred dollars' worth of new marsh at least," said Will,
joyously, "and no debt on the farm, no foreclosure, no sheriff's sale!
You, muz and Ted, I verily believe I'll have to sell you out after all,
to keep you from getting too big!"
"Say, old man, let's yell!" exclaimed Ted.
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