"S'posin' we are?" and Master Plummer spoke boldly. "S'posin' the road was full of perlicemen, how could they see us while we're behind this barn?"
"It don't make any difference whether they could or not. You've got to mind your eye, if you want to keep out of jail, an' yellin' to me ain't the way to do it. If the folks 'round here should know I was on this case, jest as likely as not some of 'em would send word to the city, an' then your game would be up."
Plums had lost faith in Dan's detective ability, because of the fact that the latter had failed to take advantage of the opportunity to spend the night in aunt Dorcas's home, therefore he replied, boldly, to his friend's reproof:
"We're jest as safe here as we could be anywhere, an' I tell you what it is, Dan, you ought'er seen the layout we had last night an' this mornin'! Why, we slept in a bed that would make the tears come into your eyes, it was so soft; an' talk 'bout spreads! You couldn't get a breakfast down to McGinnis's restaurant, no matter how much you paid, that would come up to what we had!"
"Yes, you fellers are takin' all the chances, an' I'm pretty nigh starved to death. I haven't had so much as a smell of anything since yesterday noon."
"You ought'er seen the custard pie aunt Dorcas put out before us last night; thick as that!" and Plums measured on his finger the length of three inches or more. "An' a crust that went to pieces in your mouth like ice-cream."
"If I had a cold boiled potato I'd be mighty glad."
"We had a slat of hot roasted ones with nice butter on 'em, this mornin'," Plums continued, as if it were his purpose to increase the detective's hunger.
"I'd give a dime for a sandwich," Dan wailed, and Master Plummer described the fresh bread and sweet boiled ham with which aunt Dorcas had regaled them.
"Say, what's the use of tellin' 'bout what you've had, when I've been fillin' up on wind? It only makes a feller feel worse. Why can't you sneak in an' get something for me?"