"Well, it ain't; but you don't s'pose I'm goin' to starve to death, do you?"
"Starve! Didn't you have somethin' to eat, this forenoon?"
"How long do you think I can stand it on four doughnuts? Here are you fellers livin' high, an' I'm goin' 'round jest about ready to die."
"Well, that ain't our fault. I don't want to have a row with you, Dan, 'cause I s'pose you think you're helpin' us out. But I tell you you ain't, an' carryin' on in this way only makes matters worse. Why can't you go back to town an' leave us alone?"
"Why can't I? 'Cause I promised the fellers I'd see you through, an' I'm goin' to do it. Besides, by this time folks know I'm on the case, an' would arrest me 'bout as quick as they would you."
"Do you count on three of us livin' on one poor little old woman like aunt Dorcas? Ain't you ashamed to hang 'round here when there's no need of it, tryin' to make us steal something for you to eat?"
"There's no reason for your stealin'. I've been thinkin' over what Plums said 'bout that bed, an' the custard pie, an' I don't see why I shouldn't get my share. You could tell her I am your pardner, an' in hard luck."
Now Joe was positively alarmed. If Master Fernald had made up his mind that he desired to become an inmate of aunt Dorcas's family, he would most likely do everything in his power to bring about such a result; and the happiness which had been Joe's because the little woman had decided to give the princess a temporary home, suddenly vanished.
Rather than ask aunt Dorcas to support three boys, as well as a child, he would go his way alone, after telling her exactly the truth of the matter.
"I'll loaf 'round here till 'long towards night, an' then I'll start up to the house through the lane," Dan said, believing Joe did not dare oppose him. "That'll give you a chance to tell her what hard luck I'm in; an' lay it on as thick as you know how, so's she'll be willin' to take me. Plum says this is about the softest snap he ever struck, an' I want my share of it."