Page:Stringer - Lonely O'Malley.djvu/392

 then he tiptoed cautiously over to Miss Arabella, who whispered back to the Captain, and shook her head in unison with him, and then hurried to the wood-shed for the garden-rake.

Mounting perilously on the edge of his chair, the old Captain pushed back the screening boughs, and revealed the unconscious form of the apple-thief, deep in his innocent dreams.

The old Captain chortled wickedly, and rubbed his hands together. He left Miss Arabella on guard, and hobbled houseward for a clothes-line.

"He-he, the young rapscallion! The pirootin' young womper—we 've got him! My cookie-pie, we 've got him now!" he chuckled, as he emerged with the hempen emblem of bondage. But about the sleeping boy the impending knot of bondage was never tied.

The old Captain was suddenly startled by the shrill and terrified voice of Miss Arabella. His first thought was that Lonely had made good his escape.

"Silas! Silas! Quick! On them logs, there—there, above the landing! It's Pauline Augusta! Be careful, child! Oh, be careful!"

Miss Arabella was already hurrying toward