“We’ll have to pay him up for this,” said Tom.
At this moment Henry Burns appeared at the doorway.
“I have some cheap second-hand clothes here,” he said. “They’re pretty well worn out, and you can have them for a small consideration, seeing that you need them so bad. I want the money for my poor mother, who’s sick at home with the smallpox.”
“Scoundrel!” yelled Tom.
“Pirate!” muttered Bob.
They rushed fiercely at Henry Burns, who, however, smiling serenely, still held on tightly to the bundle of clothing.
“Pay me my price for them, and you can have them all,” he said.
“How much?” asked Tom.
“Wait till we try them on and see if they still fit,” said Bob.
“My price,” answered Henry Burns, depositing the bundle on a chair and seating himself upon an end of one of the bunks, “is that you tell me how you came so near to blowing up Jack Harvey’s camp last night.”