“Hulloo, Preston, where are those boys of yours, Oscar and Jerry?”
“They are somewhere about here,—I heard them a minute ago,” replied Mr. Preston; “why, what do you want of them?”
“I’ve come over here on purpose to give the young whelps a good trimming, or to get you to do it,” said Mr. Upham, making a very significant gesture with his whip, which he had brought with him from the wagon. He then told Mr. Preston the story of the robbery, adding that the fruit was a new and choice species, which he had cultivated with much care, and this was the first crop. He said he would rather have given five dollars than lost it, as he wished to ascertain what the fruit was. “Now,” he added, “I am determined that these rogues shall not go unpunished. If you’ll give them their deserts, well and good; or if you will delegate me to do it, it’s all the same; but if you won’t do either, I’ll lodge a complaint against them with Squire Walcott, before sun-down. I’ve had fruit stolen before, but never could catch the rascals; and I shan’t let this chance go of giving them justice, now that I am sure who they are.”
“I don’t blame you in the least,” said Mr. Preston; “if there’s anything that I’ll punish my children for, it’s for stealing. Jerry shall be whipped for this; but I don’t know about whipping Oscar. He is not a child of mine, but is only here on a visit, and I don’t exactly feel as though I had authority to correct him.”
“Will you give me leave to do it, then?” said Mr. Upham.
“I can’t give you an authority I don’t myself possess,” replied Mr. Preston. “No doubt he is the greatest rogue in this matter, and deserves a good trouncing. You can punish him on your own responsibility, if you choose, and I will not object; only let it be reasonable.”
“That’s enough,” said Mr. Upham; “now let us find the rogues.”
“I think I heard them up in the hay-loft last,” remarked Mr. Preston, and they accordingly directed their steps thither.
The boys, on coming home from their marauding excursion, had gone up into the hay-loft, and were in the act of eating their plunder, when they were startled by Mr. Upham’s well-known voice. Their first impulse was to effect a hasty retreat; but this proved to be a difficult thing to do. They could not go down below without being seen. There were two windows, but they were too far from the ground to afford escape. There was no place where they could conceal themselves, and they finally concluded to keep still, and hear the result of the interview.
“Here they are,” said Mr. Preston, as he reached the top stair.