"I couldn't be in any worse fix if I had committed some big crime," he said, bitterly, "and it is tough to feel like a criminal when a fellow is only trying to earn honest money."
"It isn't the rule that honest people fare the best," the stranger replied, with a laugh; "but I hope you'll come out on the top of the heap. At all events, my business here is finished and I'll go."
The folds of canvas dropped behind him, and Mr. Sweet said, musingly:
"It beats all how you boys have succeeded in getting yourselves mixed up in this affair. If I didn't know all the circumstances I'd say there must be some fire where there is so much smoke."
"The smoke isn't of our makin', an' Teddy's uncle can be blamed for the most of it," Dan said, angrily. "I only wish he was here to know my opinion of him."
"Are you talkin' about me?" Uncle Nathan asked, as he pushed aside the canvas and entered without so much as asking permission.
"That's exactly what I was doing," Dan replied, without any show of fear, "an' if you've been sneakin' 'round to listen, there's no need of my tellin' over ag'in jest what I think of a man who tries to frighten an honest boy into givin' up half of what he has made."
"An honest boy?" the old man repeated, with a sneer, and Teddy whispered to his friend:
"Don't say anything to make him angry, for I'll only get the worst of it."
"Of course you will," Uncle Nathan replied, having overheard the words. "When an ungrateful wretch like you conspires to rob the hand that has fed him he must expect to get the worst of it."