Page:Saxe Holm's Stories, Series Two.djvu/229

Rh yesterday ransacking the bushes and sand where we tipped over, and questioning everybody, but it 's no use; the thing 's gone, and I 'll have to push on to-morrow. I hate to leave this woman with her boy worse than I ever hated to do anything. The child can't be stirred for three months, and they 're as poor as the dogs. You can tell Ally about this little boy and his broken leg, and that 'll divert her from Stonie. Don't blame me any more than you can help, boys; I 'm cut up enough about it, anyhow. I expect you thought I was old enough to be trusted.

"P. S. I 'm ashamed of myself for thinking such a thing, but I can't get it out of my head that Caleb Bunker has got the tourmalines. He sat next me in the stage, and he has been like a man possessed about them from the very first; but, of course, I can't ever say a word to him, and I 've no business to you. He was terribly officious in helping me look after them yesterday morning, and all of a sudden he disappeared. If he got them I shall find it out some day, for he 's such a fool.

To our great relief Ally took the news of the loss of "Stonie" very quietly. She was prepared for it.

"I knew something had happened," she said, "but it is no matter. Stonie will be king, you know, wherever he is. I dare say he did not want to be shut up in that box you told me about."