“Dick, I must go back.”
“Why do you go back at all?” said Dick impulsively.
“I must. It is the only home I have.”
“I wish you could stay with me.”
“So do I, but Mr. Badger would come after me.”
“I suppose he would. Do you think he will flog you?”
“I am sure he will.”
“I’d like to flog him—the brute! Don’t take it too hard, Bill. You’ll be a man some time, and then no one can punish you.”
Poor Bill! As he took his lonely way back to the house of his tyrannical employer in the early morning he could not help wishing that he was already a man and his days of thraldom were over. He was barely sixteen. Five long, weary years lay before him.
“I’ll try to stand it, though it’s hard,” murmured Bill. “I suppose he’s very mad because I wasn’t home last night. But I’m glad I went. I had two good meals and a quiet night’s sleep.”