CHAPTER XIX.
PHIL AND CHAP START ON AN EXPEDITION.
When Phil left the house, after receiving the note from his uncle, he ran down past the barn, climbed two fences, and hurried over the fields to a little stream, which ran through the Hyson Hall property and then crossed the public road.
There was a bridge here, which was a favorite resting-place for foot-travellers in summer-time. The spot was shaded by a large tree, and there were some grassy banks, which were very pleasant to sit upon.
Here it was that the person who sent the note to Hyson Hall was to wait for Old Bruden to be brought to him; but when Philip reached the spot he could see no one. He looked on both sides of the bridge and even under it; he looked up the road, he looked down the road; he stood up on the fence, and gazed far over the fields in every direction, but no person could he see. He shouted at the top of his voice, calling out his uncle’s name, uttering whoops and yells that could be heard for a considerable distance. He ran down the road for a quarter of a mile, then climbed a fence again, but not a human being was in sight. In about half an hour he hastily returned.
“Chap,” said he, “is that boy gone?”
“Yes,” answered Chap. “I let him go after I had given you plenty of time to get to the bridge. He said he came from town, and was in an awful hurry to get back. I made him go by the path along the river, so that I’d be sure he wouldn’t interfere with you. Did you see your uncle?”
“No,” replied Phil. “Did the boy say anything about the person who sent him with the note,—what kind of man he was?”
“No,” said Chap, “he didn’t say anything about him.”
“I’m sorry for that. I thought you’d ask him a lot of questions, and find out if it really was uncle who sent him.”
“It’s a pity,” said Chap, “but I never thought of it. I was giving the boy a lecture about the folly of being in a hurry when he ought to keep quiet, and getting himself into a stew when there was no occasion for it.”