"Why, you ought to know, Mr. Andrews. He's the one who bribed you to put him next to your boss, isn't he?"
"He is! Well, I'll be jiggered! I've never seen him since."
"Neither has he seen you, though he's told that story very often, so I hear."
"He has, eh? An' did anyone put him wise?"
"Not that I know of. He's not liked in town, so people let him tell the story and then laughed at him behind his back. He thinks yet that you're the hired man, so I believe."
"Say, s'pose we let him think so?" Abner suggested in a low voice, for Billy was now quite near. "You jist call me Bob, an' we'll have some fun."
Royden agreed and turned toward Billy.
"Hello, you here!" the latter accosted. "Didn't know you had turned farmer. Where are the girls?"
"What girls?"
"Why, the ones we met at the party, of course."