"It ain't certain you can get in there, an' it's dead sure you're drivin' the princess an' me away." "I ain't doin' anything of the kind. You're gettin' on your ear 'cause I want to be treated decent, that's the size of it." "You know very well we can't ask that poor little woman to take care of four, an' somebody must go, if you're comin'. Now, of course, I must take the princess with me, an' I don't want to leave the very minute I get there. Will you hang off a couple of days, an' give me a chance to find out how I can fix things?" "I'd starve to death in two days, an' you know it." "That's all foolishness; you've got plenty of money in your pocket that was borrowed from the fellers to help Plums an' me through." "I haven't so much that I can go sportin' 'round the country like a swell, have I?" "You've got enough to keep you from starvin' for a week." "All the same, I'm goin' to live with you an' Plums," Dan replied, doggedly, and Joe remained silent while one might have counted twenty, after which he said, with the air of a boy who has suddenly decided upon a course of action: "Mis' Weber gave me back ninety cents. Now I'll turn over seventy-five of it if you agree not to show up at aunt Dorcas's until three o'clock to-morrow afternoon." "What kind of a game are you tryin' to play on me now?" Master Fernald asked, suspiciously. "It ain't any game. I'm hirin' you to stay away, so I can stop there till that time, an' then I'll leave." "Yes, an' you're goin' to tell her a whole lot of stuff 'bout me, so's she won't let me stop there." "I'll promise never to speak your name except to tell her you come as far's this with us, an' was up behind the barn twice. Now with seventy-five cents you can live a good deal more swell somewhere else than at aunt Dorcas's, an' at three o'clock to-morrow afternoon you may do what you please." "How do I know you'll keep your promise?" "'Cause neither you nor anybody else can say I ever went back on my word, an' fix it any way you're a mind to, it's the best trade you can make. I'm certain she wouldn't take in four of us, an' the only show you've got is for me to leave." "But where'll I find a chance to buy something to eat?" "There are plenty of stores 'round here, an' you can get a lodging most anywhere, for twenty-five cents." "Hand over your money." "Do you 'gree not to show your nose 'round there till three o'clock to-morrow?" "Of course I do." Joe counted out the amount agreed upon, and said, warningly, as he gave it to Master Fernald: "I'm reckonin' on your keepin' your word, same's I will mine; but don't make the mistake of goin' back on me, Dan Fernald, for if you come to aunt Dorcas's before the time we've 'greed on, I'll make it hot. You know I can do it, so be square, or you'll get into worse trouble than if the detectives found you." "That's right; threaten a feller when you think you've got him in a hole!"