CHAPTER XIV.
OUR SAILOR BOY DISLIKES MR. OSBORNE.
“Oh, how dreadful!” exclaimed Camilla, as she listened to the recital of what had taken place.
“I am thinking of his mother,” said Mrs. Arthur, “and I am so thankful—so thankful—that he is safe!”
Mr. Osborne took a very practical view of the matter.
“You could have kept the negro, I suppose,” he said, “as you had your gun; but then it might not have been very easy to get him anywhere, you being a boy.”
“I didn’t wish to get him anywhere,” replied Ralph. “I wished him to go where he liked.”
“Of course; it wasn’t your business to catch runaway negroes,” said the overseer, “and you did perfectly right. Only I wish I could have been there. Did he seem to be afraid of you?”
“No, sir; I laid down my gun.”
“Suppose he had taken it up?”
“I never thought of such a thing, sir; I was trying to help him, and he knew it.”