"In order to satisfy a senseless grudge against a boy who never did me the least harm in his life, I had broken the law, and rendered myself liable to the severest punishment.
"I did not speak—I could not, so great was my bewilderment and alarm—neither did Luke Redman. He sat down on one of the thwarts, and looked earnestly into the water, while I stared blankly at him, wondering what was to be the end of the matter.
"At length a bright idea struck the man. He brought his clinched hand heavily down upon his knee, and looking up, said, with a chuckle:
"‘Yes, sir; I’ve ketched you in the very act of stealin’ your uncle’s money. Do you know what they do with fellers who commit robbery?’
"‘I have committed no robbery,’ I replied. ‘I am going to take the money back. I only wanted to scare him.’
"‘That story won’t go down—not by no means,’ said Luke Redman, with another laugh. ‘It’s a mighty nice way you have got of doin’ business, hain’t it, now? You steal a carpet-sack full of yellow-boys, an’ when you are ketched at it, say you are goin’ to take it back, an’ that you only wanted to scare your uncle! Who’s fool enough to b’lieve such a tale as that ar’? Thar’s only one way you can get out of this scrape, an’ that is—Halloo! what’s a-goin’ on over thar?’
“I heard loud voices at this moment, and looking through the bushes toward the opposite bank of the bayou, found that my plan for being revenged on Jerry was beginning to work much sooner than I had anticipated. I saw my uncle take him by the collar and walk him into the skiff, heard Jerry beg to know what he had done, and saw the despairing expression his face wore as he picked up the oars in obedience to my uncle’s command, and pulled down the bayou.”
“That’s the time you ought to have bestirred yourself,” said I, worked up to the highest pitch of indignation by Tom’s recital. “Why didn’t you have the moral courage to undo the wrong you had done? Could you sit there and see an innocent boy punished? Why did you not pull out into the bayou and tell your uncle that you had the valise?”
“Oh, yes! It is all very well for those who have never been guilty of any serious offense to prate about moral courage,” sneered Tom. “There isn’t a boy in the world who knows my uncle who would dare face him after doing a deed like that. Would you? I’ll bet you wouldn’t. He would have turned me out of house and home. I don’t know that I should be in any worse situation than I am now,” added Tom, reflectively, "for of course I can’t go back to the settlement after what I have done.
"As I was saying, I sat there in my canoe, and saw Jerry and my uncle go down the bayou toward the village. When they had passed out of sight, Luke Redman said: