"The facts. Ye see, Uncle Josh, I wanted to know whether ye'd forgit ye had my money, an' stray off. So I've been watchin' round, 'thout making no noise, for hours." Josh Owen had no means of knowing whether this statement was the truth or not, but he growled:
"Then ye must know for sure, now, lad, that I'm square with my own nephew.
What'd ye bring back with ye?"
"Something to eat."
"And something to drink, hey? I guess we'll eat first."
Dan retraced his way through the woods a few paces, returning with packages.
"You younkers can see us eat, if you want to," said Josh Owen, with a malicious leer, as he spread a piece of paper on the ground and began to lay out the meal. "When are you two going to eat? I don't know. Maybe not for a few days yet. Ye see, it ain't so easy to make an enemy of a man by sneaky tricks, and then get on his right side again."
This picnic breakfast lasted a long time, it seemed to watchful Jack Benson. But at last it was over. Josh brought out his ill-smelling pipe once more, settling himself, with his back against a tree-trunk, to enjoy himself.
"Bring anything to drink, Danny boy?" inquired Owen, after a few minutes.
"Here's some beer," proposed Jaggers, passing over the bottle.
Josh opened it, took a long drink, then sat with the bottle poised on one of his knees.