"Sit down there," said the woman. "I must go down now."
She buttoned the door, and our hero found himself a close prisoner in the dark. It certainly gave him a peculiar sensation. Only a week before he had been at his Eastern home. Now he was more than a thousand miles away, penniless, and a prisoner. But though he was peculiarly situated, he was not discouraged. In fact, with a brave boy's love of adventure, he felt a certain exhilaration and wondered what was coming next. His courage and enterprise rose with the occasion, and he began to consider what course he should take after he got out.
While he is sitting in the closet in dark captivity, we will go below and make acquaintance with the man whose arrival had produced so great a sensation.
Before going down, the woman said to the child:
"Don't tell anybody about the boy in the closet."
"No, I won't," said the child, obediently.
The woman hurried down stairs, but her husband was already waiting for her.
He was a black-browed ruffian, with a rough beard of a week's growth. He threw himself sullenly into a chair and growled:
"Where were you? You're always out of the way when I come home."
"I just went up stairs a minute, Dick," she answered.