“Abner Wade, eh?” growled Mr. Hooper. “Abner Wade sent ye, did he? I might have known it was him! Now you make tracks, the whole parcel of ye! If you ain’t outside my grounds in two minutes I’ll set the dog on ye! Here, Brutus! Here, Brutus!”
“Et tu, Brute!” muttered Dan as he fled down the path.
At the gate they brought up, laughing, and looked warily back for the dog. Much to their relief he wasn’t in sight.
“Don’t believe he’s got any dog,” said Tommy.
“Don’t see why he should have,” said Dan. “He’s ugly enough himself to scare anyone away.”
“I’d like to see that Abner Wade just about two minutes,” said Nelson. “Nice game he put up on us!”
“Yes. Old Bill hates him like poison, evidently,” answered Bob. “He’s an awful joker, Abe is!”
“What’ll we do?” asked Tom.
“Foot it to Jericho, I guess,” said Bob. “It’s only about a mile.”