So they thought it out, and Curnock remembered that in his barn there was a trapdoor which opened on to a kind of cellar in the ground. So he went to the barn, and opened the trap, and got in, and they strewed things about over the top, so that the trap would be hidden. It was agreed that Tom Gabbitas was to take him food and drink there twice a day, which he could do, because he could go into the barn about his work without suspicion.
The other young man went home quietly, saying he was safe, as nobody but Gabbitas and Curnock knew he was in it, and they wouldn’t blab.
The people and the police came to the farm that night, but Tom said his master had gone out and hadn’t come in. The farm was searched and watched all night and all the next day, and then everybody said that Ned Curnock had got clear away. Rewards were offered, and the description of Curnock was sent all over England; but, of course, he was never found, and at last he was forgotten.
But something awful had happened in the meantime. Tom took his master food all right the first day, going cautiously into the barn, and, when nobody was about, lifting the trap. His master would put his head up then, and take the food, and ask, “What news?” The third night, when everybody was sure Curnock had gone, the other young fellow came to see about some things of his Curnock had bought, he said, and hadn’t settled for; but, of course, it was to get into the barn and see Curnock.
He went, and Tom took the dark lantern and went first, and when they were in they lifted the trap. Curnock was tired of being there, and he said escape was hopeless, and he should go and give himself up and make a clean breast of it.
“No,” said the other fellow, “don’t do that; you shall escape, and get clean away this very night. I’ll come to you at midnight and tell you how.”
Then Tom and this young fellow went back into the house, where there was only an old female servant—Curnock being a bachelor—and the young fellow gave Tom money, and told him he’d better rise early in the morning and walk to the nearest town, and take the stage-coach and go to London, and wait for his master at a place he was told of.
Tom went, and three days after, instead of his master, the young fellow came. “It’s all right, Tom,” he said; “Mr Curnock’s got clear away and gone to America. I’m going to buy his farm and send the money out to him.”
“What am I going to do?” said Tom.
“Oh, you can come back, and work on my farm. There’s always a job for you there, and I’ll give you and your wife a cottage on my place.”