Would he do it?
It was a question upon which much depended at the crisis the boys' affairs had reached.
[CHAPTER XXVIII.]
—AND A FRIEND IN NEED.
There were several reasons that inclined Tom to look for aid from this quarter. In the first place Rufus, although seemingly bound to his masters by bonds of affection, had no direct interest in their crazy schemes. In the second place, he had distinctly shown a friendly interest in the boys as had been evidenced when he winked his eye enjoining silence on them. And in the third place, persons of African descent are notoriously less liable, on account of their lower intelligence, to seizures of insanity than persons gifted with higher intellect.
But whether they could count upon the black to aid them was quite another matter. They did not for some time find an opportunity to put the matter to a test. Supper was eaten and the boys, despite their anxiety, made a hearty meal. During its progress they conversed with their hosts, who talked quite rationally on all subjects but their fabulous gold mine.
Anyone coming across the party and not knowing the facts of the case would have taken them to be a jolly band of explorers or miners rather than what they were, two lunatics and two boys who were in their power. When he got an opportunity to do so, Tom stole a look at Rufus' face. It was a round, good-natured countenance, but for any expression that would give him a clew as to how Rufus was inclined toward them, the boy might as well have regarded a graven image of ebony.
After supper the two miners got out their pipes, but Seth had not puffed his long when he suddenly sprang to his feet, dashed the pipe to the ground and burst out in an irritated tone: