"
"Then that wasn't you over in the orchard?" asked Tom, in some
uneasiness.
"No, sah, I ain't been in de orchard. I were sleepin' in mah
shack, till jest a few minutes ago, when I got up, an' went in t'
see Boomerang. I had a dream dat some coon were tryin t' steal
him, an' it sort ob 'sturbed me, laik."
"If it wasn't your man, it was some one else," said Mr. Jenks,
decidedly.
"We'll have a look!" exclaimed Tom. "Here, Rad, come over and
scurry among those trees. We just saw some one sneaking around."
"I'll sure do dat!" cried the colored man. "Mebby it were
somebody arter Boomerang! I'll find 'em."
"I don't believe it was any one after the mule," murmured Mr.
Jenks, "but it certainly was some one--more likely some one after
me."
The three made a hasty search among the trees, but the intruder
had vanished, leaving no trace. They went out into the road,
which the moon threw into bold relief along its white stretch,
but there was no figure scurrying away.
"Whoever it was, is gone," spoke Tom. "You can go back to bed,
Rad," for the colored man, of late, had been sleeping in a shack
on the Swift premises.
"And I guess it's time for me to go, too," added Mr. Jenks.
"I'll be here to-morrow night, Tom, and I hope your answer will
be favorable."
Tom did not sleep well the remainder of the night, for his
fitful slumbers were disturbed by dreams of enormous caves,
filled with diamonds, with dark, shadowy figures trying to put
him into a red-hot steel box.
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