Mrs. Badger, in her flurry, struck her husband with the broom, while her husband, equally panic-stricken, fired the musket. It was overloaded, and, as a natural result, “kicked,” overthrowing Mr. Badger, who in his downward progress carried with him his wife and son.
Astonished and terrified, Bill turned and fled, leaving the house in the same way he entered it. He struck across the fields and in that moment decided that he would never return to Mr. Badger unless he was dragged there. He felt sure that if he did he would be murdered.
He had no plans except to get away. He saw Dick Schmidt, bade him a hurried good-by and took the road toward the next town.
For three days he traveled, indebted to compassionate farmers for food. But excitement and fatigue finally overcame him, and he sank by the roadside, about fifty miles from the town of Dexter, whence he had started on his pilgrimage.
CHAPTER XXXI
BILL BENTON FINDS A FRIEND
Late one afternoon Robert Coverdale reached Columbus on his Western trip. The next day he was to push on to the town of Dexter, where he had information that the boy of whom he was in search lived.
The train, however, did not leave till eleven o’clock in the forenoon, and Robert felt justified in devoting his leisure hours to seeing what he could of the city and its surroundings.
He took an early breakfast and walked out into the suburbs.