“Go on, and I’ll give you my opinion of it afterward.”
“Just before we got to the well, a branch took off his hat and wig, and I saw that he was no Quaker, but my enemy, Rudolph Rugg.”
“Rudolph Rugg! A very good name for a romance.”
Tony proceeded:
“Then I tried to get away, but it was too late. The man seized me and threw me down the well. But first he told me that he knew who I was, and that I was heir to a large fortune.”
“Indeed! How happens it that you are not at the bottom of the well still?”
“I got out.”
“So I see. But how?”
“I climbed up by the stones till I reached the rope, and then I found it easy. I hurried to where I had left the horse, but he was gone. I supposed that the Quaker had taken him, but James tells me Sam Payson found him and brought him back.”
“Look here, boy,” said the landlord, sternly, “do you expect me to believe this romance of yours?”