CHAPTER XXXVI
TOM AND THE ROBBERS.
TOM HAD an easy way of adapting himself to the company he was in. Moreover, being a boy, he was regarded with less distrust than if he had been older. He sat down with the robbers and took part in their conversation, carefully abstaining, however, from disclosing the mission he had revealed to the captain. He had the luck to please his entertainers, if we may give them that name.
After supper the men lit their pipes, and lay down lazily under the trees.
“I’ve got an extra pipe, my lad, if you’d like to smoke,” said Alonzo, who ranked next to the captain. He was, in fact, the lieutenant of the band.
“Thank you,” said Tom, “but I don’t smoke.”
“I smoked before I was of your age, boy.”
“Do you think it did you any good?”
“I can’t say it did, but it’s a comfort, and a merry life is my motto, even if it’s a shorter one.”