“Busted!” replied Jacob, grimly.

Tom turned pale.

“I ain’t feeling none too well,” he murmured, placing a band on his lower deck. “Do you think a cove ’ud bust like—like a cow?”

“I dunno,” replied the farmer. “If ’e’d et too much he might.”

“Ob, Lord!” groaned Tom.

“How do you feel?” asked Mrs. Cayley.

“I got a pain,” he said, “’ere, an’ ’ere—all over me stummick.”

“’E’s over-et ’imself, Maria,” remarked Cayley. “’E’d better go to bed.”

“I’ll put him in the spare room,” said Maria, regarding Tom with a motherly eye.

“Yes,” replied Jacob, “an’ I’ll lock the door an’ padlock the winder on the outside till we find out whether his yarn is true or not.”