“Isn’t it time we started?” asked Butler, after the others had disappeared.
“Yis,” replied Mike standing up, “but I can’t depart widout me buckthorn cane. Bide here till I go into the house and git the same.”
“I know where you left it leaning against the wall; I’ll fetch it.”
And before he could be anticipated, Butler darted through the open door and brought out the heavy stick.
“Always ready to do what I can for you, Mike; anything else?”
“Yis; I’ll be obleeged if ye’ll chase after thim spalpeens and ask Alvin Landon to send me that five dollars he borrered yesterday.”
“Of course; they haven’t got far and I’ll be back in a jiffy.”
“Don’t let him sneak out of it, but hang on till he coughs up.”
“You bet I will!”
The obliging youth scooted off the porch and after the couple who had disappeared only a few moments before. Mike waited only until he was beyond sight, when he hurried in the opposite direction and dived among the trees, as if he were a criminal fleeing from an officer of the law.