“I can’t help it—he’s gone,” declared Mr. Tucker. “He tied a clothesline to the bedstead and let himself down from the window. Now, I want to know who left a clothesline in the room?”
“There wasn’t any,” said Mrs. Tucker.
“Maybe he had one in his pocket,” suggested Zeke.
But this suggestion was not considered worthy of notice by his parents.
“Now I know who hit me in the nose!” exclaimed Mr. Tucker, light flashing upon him. “There was two of ’em—the ones I took for burglars.”
“Then the other one must have been Frank Dunbar,” said Mrs. Tucker.
“Zeke,” said his father, “go right off and tell Squire Pope that Philip Gray has escaped. Ask him if I can’t have him arrested for assault and battery. It’s likely he’s at Frank Dunbar’s now. We’ll have him back before the day is out, and then I’ll see he don’t get out!”
“All right, dad! As soon as I’ve had breakfast I’ll go.”
The result of Zeke’s message was that Squire Pope hurried over to the poorhouse and held a conference with Mr. and Mrs. Tucker.
The next step was that he and Joe rode over to Mr. Dunbar’s, to demand the return of the fugitive.