Dan suddenly paused, and took his seat on the opposite side of the fire. If it had been daylight, so that his father could see his compressed lips and the glitter in his eye, he might have been more cautious, for he would have known that Dan had determined on some desperate course of action.
“What was ye goin’ to say, sonny?” asked Godfrey, with the most exasperating coolness.
“I was goin’ to say jest this yere, pap,” replied Dan, who was hardly able to control himself, “I’ll give ye a week to think on it, an’ then, if ye don’t give me my share of them hundred and sixty dollars, thar’ll be the biggest furse in this settlement that thar’s been since the wah!”
“What’ll ye do, Dannie?”
“I’ll do something ye won’t like. Ye hear me?”
“Wal, I’ll think about it,” answered Godfrey, who knew very well that his hopeful son meant all he said, “an’ if I find that yer an’ amazin’ good boy, an’ know how to take keer of money, I’ll give ye yer share to keep for yerself.”
“That’ll be when the sky falls an’ we ketch blackbirds,” said Dan, to himself. “I know ye, pap, an’ ye think ye know me, too; but ye’ll find out afore mornin’ that ye don’t.”
But Dan said nothing aloud. In sullen silence he arranged a few withered bows for a bed, threw himself down upon them, and with his cap for a pillow, prepared to go to sleep. Godfrey remained by the fire for an hour or two longer, smoking and meditating, and when he became sleepy he stretched himself out where he sat and almost immediately sank into a heavy slumber.
Toward midnight the fire began to burn low, and Dan, with a snort and a start, sat up on his bed of boughs and looked about him. He stretched his arms and yawned loudly, and with a great deal more noise than seemed to be necessary, got up and mended the fire, furtively watching his father out of the corner of his eye as he did so. “He’s all right,” muttered Dan, with great satisfaction. “I reckoned mebbe he was ‘possumin’, but when he puffs his under lip in and out that thar way, he’s fast asleep.”
As these thoughts passed through Dan’s mind he suddenly ceased his operations at the fire, and approaching the sleeper with a stealthy step, kneeled down beside him and pulled out his jack-knife. He had noticed that it was only after a good deal of hard work that his father was able to push the box containing David’s money into his pocket, and that after he got it in, it was equally hard to get it out again. Dan had determined to possess that box and its contents, and knowing that he would run a great risk if he attempted to force it out of his father’s pocket, he hit upon the easier and safer plan of cutting it out. This he did with one swift, careful stroke with his knife, and Godfrey was none the wiser for it. The box fell out into Dan’s hand, and he lost no time in transferring it to his own pocket.