"How did Mr. Benton seem to feel when he came to the conclusion that I and the cart had been swept out to sea?"

"Well, to tell you the truth," replied Mr. Wright, bluntly, "he seemed to care a good deal more for the loss of the cart than he did for you.

He danced around there on the beach, cursing what he called your folly, and telling how much the cart had cost him only last fall. I at last got tired of his talking, and told him you were of more account than all the carts that had been made since the world began, and that if he had a spark of decency about him he would shut his mouth. I suggested, also, that you would never have been lost if he hadn't set you to drawing sea-weed on a day that he was old enough and experienced enough to know it wasn't a safe thing to do in that particular locality, and that I wasn't sure but he could be held accountable to the law for your death.

That scared him, so he came right off home, and was as dumb as a beast all the way."

"What do you think he'll do when he finds I'm alive, but the cart is lost?" asked Budd, a little anxiously, it must be confessed.

"Well, he ought not to say or do anything," answered Mr. Wright, with a little show of indignation in his tones. "The body of the cart can be towed back to 'The Hummocks,' and it is possible that the wheels and under-gear may yet turn up. But even if they are not recovered, what does the loss amount to compared with your safety? Still I have already learned that you can never know what John Benton may do, and I guess I had better be somewhere around when you tell him your story. You go on over and face the music, and I'll follow along in time to interfere if there is any serious trouble between you."

Thanking Mr. Wright for his kind offer, Budd, with a much lighter heart than he had had for twenty-four hours, went on toward home. He went directly into the house, on arriving there, and almost frightened Mrs.

Benton to death by his sudden and unexpected appearance. He succeeded in convincing her, however, that it was really he, and that he had providentially been saved. Nor could he help noticing that she seemed greatly relieved in mind to find that he was really alive and unharmed; and taking encouragement from that fact, he went off to the barn, where he had learned Mr. Benton was.

The farmer was down upon his knees on the threshing-floor mending a horse-cultivator when the lad entered and said:

"Well, Mr. Benton, I'm back at last, and ready to report for my prolonged absence."

At his words Mr. Benton leaped to his feet, and for a moment seemed not to know what to say. It was very evident that he had never expected to see the boy again. Taking advantage of his embarra.s.sment, Budd went on:

"I'm glad, too, to learn that the oxen reached home unharmed. I did my best to save them, though I nearly lost my own life doing so."

Before he could say more Mr. Benton broke angrily in upon him:

"But ye lost the cart, ye little rascal, an' I gin twenty-five dollers fer it at auction only las' fall; an' I'd like to know who's goin' to pay me fer that?"

"I can, if it is necessary," replied Budd, swelling with indignation; "but before I do it I shall want some one else's opinion about it other than your own. Though I may have been a little rash in undertaking to cross the roadbed while the tide was so high, I am in no other sense to blame, and I would like to see anyone else do better than I did under the circ.u.mstances;" and Budd rapidly described the trying ordeal through which he had pa.s.sed.

"Hum!" remarked Mr. Benton, sneeringly, as the lad finished his story.

"Ye were sca't to death at a little runnin' water. If ye'd stayed in the cart an' let the oxen alone, they'd have fetched ye an' the cart out all rite. 'Twas all yer own fault."

Budd's cheeks burned with resentment.

"It was not," he emphatically declared.

"Don't ye tell me I lie!" said Mr. Benton, savagely, picking up one of the handles of the cultivator that had been detached from the machine and lay upon the barn-floor near him.

"I am sure the oxen would have drowned had I not freed them from the cart," answered Budd, firmly, "and any reasonable person would tell you the same thing."

"Take that, ye young whelp!" cried Mr. Benton, raising the cultivator-handle and bringing it down with a force sufficient to have killed the boy had it hit him.

Fortunately for Budd he saw the stick coming, and jumped quickly to one side. The force of the blow fell upon the barn-floor; but Mr. Benton immediately recovered himself and rushed down upon the lad. Seeing that there was no alternative, Budd grappled with him, and then began a terrible struggle for the mastery. Had the lad possessed his usual strength he might have come off victor, for he had caught his antagonist directly under the armpits with a powerful hug, and thus had decidedly the advantage in his hold. But he was still weak from his trying experience of the night before, and that more than counterbalanced the advantage he had secured in position.

Up and down the threshing-floor the contestants went; against stanchion and post and door were they hurled; over and upon the heterogeneous articles scattered about the floor they stumbled; finally Budd's foot struck upon some unseen object that rolled under it, and he fell heavily upon the floor, with Mr. Benton on top of him. With a shout of triumph the angry man sat down upon the lad's breast, and with his clinched fist began to pound him. He had struck but two blows, however, when he was caught by the collar, dragged unceremoniously off from the prostrate boy, and thrown with no gentle hand back against the nearest stanchion.

Then the voice of Mr. Wright was heard sternly saying:

"Stand there, you miserable coward; and let me tell you, if you lay the weight of your finger on that lad again I'll give you the worst thrashing you ever had in your life!"

At those words, Mr. Benton cowered back against the nearest mow and remained motionless. Experience had already taught him that he could not trifle with Peter Wright.

Helping Budd to his feet, Mr. Wright asked:

"Are you hurt? I was delayed longer at the house than I expected, or this miserable wretch would not have had a chance to lay his hand upon you. Tell me just what he has done?"

Budd gave a fair account of the contest from beginning to end, and declared that he was not seriously hurt, though he did not know what might have happened but for Mr. Wright's opportune arrival.

Mr. Benton sullenly admitted the truth of the boy's story, but whiningly declared he had not meant to hurt him, but only to give him a wholesome lesson, so that he wouldn't destroy any more property for him in such a reckless manner.

"I might believe your statement had I not caught you in the very act of pounding him," said Mr. Wright, with emphasis; "and surely striking at him with one of the handles of that cultivator looks almost as though you meant to kill him. This, too, when he is not your boy, nor bound out to you, and you had no more right to chastise him than you have to strike me. I don't know whether the boy has any friends or not, but as long as I am a member of the Town Council he shall be regarded as a ward of the town, and over him we shall throw our protection and care. I suspect you have imposed upon him ever since he has been with you. What kind of a bargain have you made with him, anyway?"

"I give him ten dollers a munth an' bord for six munths, which, as he knowed nuthin' 'bout farm in' when he come, is fair pay," explained Mr.

Benton.

"No it is not, and you know it as well as anyone. He has done a man's work ever since he has been with you; and admitting his ignorance on some things, fifteen dollars a month is little enough. Does he pay you?"

This last question was addressed to Budd.

"No, sir," he said. "You see, the night I hired out to him he drew up a paper for me to sign, and in that, though I did not so understand it at the time, he is to pay me only at the end of the six months. At least that is his interpretation of the paper."

"Benton, let me see it," demanded Mr. Wright.

With evident reluctance Mr. Benton took the paper from his pocket-book and handed it to his neighbor.

Mr. Wright read it over carefully; then he deliberately tore it up, saying:

"The paper is worthless, for there are no witnesses; but even if there were, it could be set aside, as you have taken an unfair advantage of the lad. You meant to get rid of paying him anything, and I suspected it, for it is an old trick of yours."

Budd here explained how Mr. Benton had used the paper at the time he had asked for his first month's pay.

"Exactly," said Mr. Wright; "it served his purpose then, and would every time you asked for money until he had got ready to get rid of you. Then he would have seen to it that you quitted the farm before the six months were up, and so refused to pay you your wages. Now admit, Benton, that that was your game."

Mr. Benton, thus appealed to, looked sheepish enough, but would not admit that it had been his purpose to defraud the lad. He was afraid that Budd might demand the amount due him and leave at once. This he did not want the boy to do, for he preferred to have him remain, even though he should have to pay him full wages. He was hardly prepared, however, for Mr. Wright's next demand.

"Here, Benton," he said, as the man was about to return his wallet to his pocket, "before you put that away I want you to pay Budd twenty dollars."

"But his two months are not up yet," objected Benton.

"Never mind, he has earned it," said Mr. Wright; and as the man, to Budd's great astonishment, meekly handed over two ten-dollar bills, Mr.

Wright with a twinkle in his eyes added:

"Now put another ten along with the others, Benton, for the a.s.sault you have made upon the lad. If you don't, I'll have you arrested before morning for a.s.sault and battery, and it will cost you twice that amount at least."

Mr. Benton refused; begged off; offered half the amount; but Mr. Wright was inexorable, and the miserable man finally handed Budd another ten-dollar bill.

"Now," said Mr. Wright to Budd, "go to the house and pack up your things, and get ready to go with me. I don't propose to leave you in Benton's clutches any longer; there is no knowing what he might do to you."

And notwithstanding the pleadings and promises of Mr. Benton, Mr. Wright fifteen minutes later departed, with Budd by his side.