"Well, if this boy doesn't want to go with you I'm not going to make him," said Mr. Brown. "He came to us, and said you had not treated him well. I'll not send him back to you. Are you the farmer who hired him?"
"Yes, I'm that farmer," said the man, scowling. "Jake Trimble is my name, and when I want a thing I get it! I want that boy!"
"Oh, please don't make me go back to work for him!" begged Tom. "He beat me, and he didn't give me enough to eat!"
"Don't be, afraid," said Mr. Brown. "He shan't have you!"
"I say I will!" cried the cross man. "That boy hired out to work for me, and I want him!"
"You can't have him," said Mr. Brown quietly. "And I want you to go away from here. This is my camp, and it is a private one. Go. You can't have this boy."
"But he ran away from me!" said the cross man.
"Perhaps he did. He said he could not stand the way you treated him. Any boy would have run away," replied Mr. Brown. "I'm looking after this boy now, and I say you can't have him."
"Well, I'll get him, somehow, you see if I don't!" cried the cross man, as he turned to go back to his boat. And he shook his whip at Tom. "I'll get you yet!" he said. "And when I do I'll make you work twice as hard. You'll see!"
"Don't be afraid, Tom," said Mr. Brown, when the unkind man was gone. "I won't let him hurt you."