CHAPTER XXIX
THE BATTLE IN THE ATTIC
About ten minutes after Bill Benton left his little chamber an ill-looking man, whose garb and general appearance made it clear that he was a tramp, came strolling across the fields. He had made some inquiries about the farmers in the neighborhood, and his attention was drawn to Nathan Badger as a man who was likely to keep money in the house.
Some tramps are honest men, the victims of misfortune, not of vice, but Tom Tapley belonged to a less creditable class. He had served two terms in a State penitentiary without deriving any particular moral benefit from his retired life therein. His ideas on the subject of honesty were decidedly loose, and none who knew him well would have trusted him with the value of a dollar.
Such was the man who approached the Badger homestead.
Now it happened that Mrs. Badger and Andrew Jackson had gone to make a call. Both intended to be back by nine o’clock, as neither wished to lose the gratification of being near by when Bill Benton received his flogging. As for Mr. Badger, he was at the village as usual in the evening.
Thus it will be seen that as Bill also had left the house, no one was left in charge.
Tom Tapley made a careful examination of the house from the outside, and his experienced eyes discovered that it was unprotected.
“Here’s luck!” he said to himself. “Now what’s to prevent my explorin’ this here shanty and makin’ off with any valuables I come across?”