“Good land! How is that?” exclaimed the woman.
In spite of the fact that he had promised Smith that he would not say a word about it, it did not take Coleman long to go over his interview with him, and when he told of the amount of money that had been offered him his wife fairly gasped for breath.
“I know that is a big sum,” continued Coleman, “but just think of the danger there will be. If Leon gets off in the woods and don’t come back they will hunt high and low for him, and it won’t take them long to determine who it was that had a hand in his taking off. If they make-believe they were going to hang him, why, of course,[course,] he will know who it was and he’ll tell of it when he comes back. I think I was pretty smart in keeping out of it. There goes Smith off toward the boats. Now I believe I’ll go and see Leon.”
Smith had evidently missed his guess by a long ways when he selected Coleman to assist him. He had never known anything against this man’s honesty. He supposed, of course, that a fellow who hated to work as bad as he did, and who was content to lay around home all the time in company with the dogs and the children in preference to handling an axe, ought to be willing to engage in anything that he thought would bring him money; but as it happened, there were some honest men in that party, although they did wear ragged jackets. Without further thought Coleman arose and sauntered off toward Mr. Sprague’s end of the street, and when he came opposite their lean-to he found the boy he wanted to see, talking with his mother.
“Well, Caleb, what can I do for you to-day?” asked Mr. Sprague, who still occupied his old position in the door of the lean-to.
“Not a thing,” replied Coleman. “But I want to see Leon for about five minutes.”
“Do you want him to go out in the woods with you?” said Mr. Sprague, with a wink that spoke volumes.
“Eh? No; but I want to tell him to keep away from the woods,” replied Coleman, who wondered if Mr. Sprague knew all about it.
“Well, you might just as well come in here and tell it,” said Mr. Sprague, taking Coleman by the arm. “There are no secrets between us.”
Coleman went, and in a few minutes was seated on a trunk revealing the scheme that had been proposed to him. Leon and his father exchanged significant glances, and the boy thought how wise Mr. Sprague had been when he advised him to stick closely by his side and to let nothing draw him away.