We then suggested putting the whole rig, horse and all, into the cellar, which we did; and then remained there three days, eating spring chickens and new potatoes. We paid our friend's wife three dollars per day for keeping us and our horse, besides fifty cents apiece for young chickens which were about one-third grown. This was twenty-five cents more than she could have gotten for them had she kept them till they were full grown. Yet she worried a great deal about killing off her young chickens. Every time she cooked one for us she would declare that she didn't believe it paid, and she wouldn't kill any more till they grew to full size. We undertook to argue her out of the idea, by showing how many bushels of corn each chicken would eat before fall, and the low price it would bring at that time. She said: "It didn't make any difference. Common sense taught her that a chicken wasn't worth as much when it was one-third grown as when full grown, and she didn't care to sell us any more." [Illustration] CHAPTER XVII. VISITING MY FAMILY AT ELMORE--HOW WE FOOLED A DETECTIVE--A FRIEND IN NEED--ARRIVING AT SWANTON, OHIO, BROKE--HOW I MADE A RAISE--DISGUISING MY HORSE WITH A COAT OF PAINT--CAPTURED AT TOLEDO--SELLING MY HORSE--ARRIVED HOME BROKE. Three days later I borrowed a saddle and started on horseback toward the west, leaving Frank to dispose of the buggy and harness. I returned to Elmore the second night out, about nine o'clock. After putting my horse out, called at the hotel to visit my wife and see the boy. The next day, while we were sitting in our room, the landlord, Mr. Hineline, came up, saying that a detective was down in the office, or at least a man claiming to be one, making all sort of inquiries about us. I instructed the landlord, who was a sharp, shrewd little gentleman, how to act and what to say, and instructed my wife to enclose a letter in an envelope, and, after addressing it "J. P. Johnston, Mt. Vernon, O. If not called for in 5 days forward to Columbus; if not called for in 5 days forward to Dayton," she slipped down to the office and asked the landlord to please mail it for her. He carelessly laid it down on the desk near the detective, who lost no time in jotting down the full directions. The last we saw of him he had bought a ticket and was taking the first train for Mt. Vernon. In a couple of days I started towards the west. I came very near making two or three horse-trades, and no doubt would have succeeded, if I hadn't felt every minute that some one was going to swoop down upon me, and capture me and my horse. I didn't feel as if I ought to stop a minute anywhere. I could look ahead to certain places where I thought no detective on earth could discover me till I could make a deal; but when I would reach there I invariably felt the same as at all other places, and was constantly on the alert watching the corners, which alone was enough for any one man to busy himself at.