"Oh, yes, there is. Bob paid for them for a whole month."
"A whole month! Then he must have known that he was going away."
"No, I don't reckon he did. Did you want to take the ponies and take care of them? You will have to see Mr. Gibbons about that. He is the man who stands closer to Bob than anybody else. Besides, Bob will be back some day, and I want to turn his horses over to him in just as good condition as when they were received."
"Then I had better get an order for them."
"Exactly. That's the way for you to do."
"It beats the world, but you can't throw a stone in any direction without hitting one of Bob's friends," said Gus, as he turned and left the stable. "Everybody is friendly to him. Mighty clear of my going to Gibbons for that order. The ponies can stay there until they die of old age before I try to get them out. But he says Bob was going to come back some day. That bothers me worse than anything else."
Gus walked briskly away, as if he were going to the lawyer's office, but when he had turned three or four corners and got out of sight of the stable he bent his steps toward home.
CHAPTER XVI.
A SAILOR IN SPITE OF HIMSELF.
And where were Bob Nellis and old Ben Watson all the time that this uproar was being raised in the village? They were on board the J. W. Smart, and two hundred miles at sea. We confess that we do not like to accompany Bob on the water, for there were many interesting things that happened during the next few months to which we had rather devote our attention. We know by experience that it is the meanest and most miserable life that a boy ever entered into. The second mate of the Smart was a brutal fellow, and he more than once hazed the men till they were on the point of jumping over-board.
Bob's blow could not have been so severe as the one which knocked Ben Watson down, for he had no sooner been tumbled into his bunk than he came to himself. All that Joe Lufkin had done, and the sailors working over him to get him aboard, was lost upon him. He was untied, the gag was gone from his mouth, and he was at liberty to throw his arms about as he pleased. He raised himself upon his elbow and looked about him. At first he did not know where he was, but the unsavory smell of bilge-water that saluted his nostrils told him that he was in the forecastle of a ship that was outward bound. He could easily tell that by listening to the hoarse commands and the sounds of hurrying feet over his head. Then he thought of Joe Lufkin, and felt of the lump behind his ear.