“What made you run away from home, Fred?”
“Me and Dick started out to kill Injins and grizzly bears.”
“How did you make out,” asked Herbert, who recalled that it was not so long since he had indulged in similar ambitious ideas.
“We haven’t killed any yet,” replied Fred, in such a doleful voice that the others could not help smiling.
“How did you get the money to come to Texas?”
“Dick and me stole it from our folks; we bought rifles and pistols, but when we got to Texarkana we was took up and the guns took away from us; we managed to sneak off, and had enough money left to come to Santone; here it give out, and we’ve had it hard since.”
“Had you pleasant homes?” asked Nick.
This question set Fred to crying. His fingers were in his eyes, and he stumbled along for several paces before he could answer:
“Nobody ever had better homes, but we got it into our heads that it would be nice to shoot grizzly bears and Injins, and here we are. If we only had enough money to keep us from starvin’ we could walk home like reg’lar tramps.”
“You are a good many miles from Philadelphia,” said Nick. “If you could get there, would you go straight home, or would you start off on some other wild-goose chase like this?”