CHAPTER XXI
SATISFYING THE MORTGAGE
While Darry was gurgling with laughter, still clutching the fragment of coat and the precious pocket-book, he felt a hand seize his arm.
Looking up he saw the puzzled and anxious face of Abner's wife.
"What ails you, boy? Did they injure you more than you told me?" she asked, as if fearful that he were going out of his mind.
To the further astonishment of the good woman the boy climbed to his feet, suddenly threw his arms around her neck and gave her a vigorous hug.
"It's all right, mother, after all; they didn't get it!" he exclaimed.
"What's all right? I don't understand at all," she replied, looking at the dirty strip of cloth he was holding, and the pocket-book as well.
"Why, what do you think, while we were struggling there on the road, with me underneath part of the time, that sneak thief, Sim Clark, managed to steal my pocket-book out of my inner pocket. That was what made me seem so blue, for I had something in it I meant to show you. But when he tried to run away I held on and part of his coat ripped away. I stuck it in my pocket, thinking Hank would like to see it as evidence, and when I took it out here, don't you see I found what I had lost in Sim's pocket! Did you ever hear of such luck in your born days."
Mrs. Peake herself laughed.