Dan had to wear second-hand clothes, or garments made over from those cast aside by his employer, for Mrs. Savage was determined not to spend any money on the lad.
“I think my best plan will be to get into the house quietly,” thought Dan, “for if Mr. Savage sees me he’ll not let me go.”
He knew a way he could get to his room without being seen by any one in the house. This was to go up through the back orchard, and climb an old apple tree, one branch of which was opposite the window of his garret room.
Once in his apartment he could change his clothes and leave his room the same way, slipping off to the village. He did not feel it would be wrong to do so, as he had worked considerable over-time of late, and was entitled to a few hours off. Besides, he was doing the doctor a service.
Dan managed to reach his room without attracting any attention from Mrs. Savage, who was doing her baking. Once in his sleeping apartment Dan gathered up his clothes.
“Guess I’ll not change here,” he said to himself. “It might take too long, and she might come up and find me. I’ll make a bundle, and do my changing in the barn.”
Accordingly he did up his other suit, shoes and a clean collar in a little package, tied it to his back, and prepared to descend by means of the old apple tree.
“I certainly hope I can put the constables on the right track,” he mused. “If I could, and the robbers were arrested, maybe I would get a reward. That would be fine. I’d have some money of my own, then, and perhaps I could get a better place, where I could go to school, or, at least, do some studying.” Which showed that Dan was an ambitious lad, and wanted to rise in life.
Making sure that his bundle would not slip out of the cord, he stepped from his window sill, and out on the big limb. He was about to descend when he heard some one talking, and looking down, he saw four men close to the tree.
The men were the two constables, one of Mr. Savage’s hired men and Silas Martin, who had accompanied the officers back to the farm. They had arrived a little while before, and had sought out Mr. Savage to tell him their errand, but learned that the old farmer had gone to a distant meadow, to repair a fence.