Conduct of life -- Juvenile fiction; Heroes -- Juvenile fiction; Orphans -- Juvenile fiction; Shipwrecks -- Juvenile fiction
“I may not offer you as favorable terms a week from now,” said Fox,
who wanted to get his ward to work at once.
“I will take my chance of it, sir. I prefer to have a few days of
freedom.”
“By the way, Harry, don’t you think you had better give me your money
to keep? You might lose it.”
“You are very kind, Mr. Fox; but I am not afraid of losing it.”
After breakfast Harry went to walk. His steps naturally tended to the
place where he had left the greater part of his treasure. It was
possible that he had been seen hiding it, and he thought on the whole
it would be better to find another place of concealment.
“Joel,” said his mother, “follow Harry, and see where he goes. He may
be goin’ to hide his money. But don’t let him see you.”
“All right, mam; I’ll do it. I wish I had followed him yesterday.”
A position as detective would have suited Joel. Whatever was secret or
stealthy had a charm for him.
In the present instance he managed to shadow Harry very successfully.
The task was made easier, because our hero had no idea that anyone was
following him.
“So he’s goin’ to the railroad,” said Joel, to himself
Arrived at the railroad track, Harry’s course diverged to the hillock,
at the top of which he had concealed his treasure.
Joel posted himself at a point where he had a good view of the
elevation, and could see what Harry was doing. He saw our hero digging
at a particular spot, and concluded that he was going to hide the
fifteen dollars there. What was his surprise and delight when he saw
him dig up and expose to view a large roll of bills.
“Oh, cracky!” ejaculated Joel, “there must be a hundred dollars in
that roll of bills. Wouldn’t dad open his eyes if he saw it?”
Unconscious of observation, Harry held the money in his hand and
deliberated. Then he put it in his pocket, resolved to think over at
his leisure its ultimate place of deposit.
Now, unfortunately for Joel, just at this moment he slipped from his
perch on the branch of a small tree, and for about half a minute what
Harry did was concealed from him. He clambered into the tree again,
but only to see Harry filling up the hole again.
He didn’t want Harry to catch sight of him when he descended from the
hill, and accordingly scuttled away sufficiently far to escape
suspicion, yet not too far to entirely lose sight of Harry’s
movements.
Five minutes later Harry descended from the hill, and bent his steps
toward that part of the railway where the accident had occurred. Joel,
who had hastened away in a different direction, went back to the hill
as soon as he thought it would be safe, and eagerly ascended it. He
found without difficulty the spot where Harry had been digging. With
the help of a fragment of wood which he had picked up below, he in
turn began to dig--his eyes glistening with expectation and cupidity.
He kept digging, but gradually became anxious, as the expected
treasure did not show itself.
“I’m sure I have dug deep enough,” he said to himself.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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