"It's an outrage!" exclaimed Nahum Sprague.
"I'd like to shoot them!" returned Oscar. "I'd like to see them flayed within an inch of their lives."
"So would I. They are the most audacious desperadoes I ever encountered."
"Do you know them, dad?"
"Yes; they are Bill Murphy and Joe Hastings. They are always hanging round the drinking saloon."
"We can lick Philip at any rate!" said Oscar, with a furious look at poor Phil. "He brought it on us."
But Nahum Sprague was more prudent. He had heard the threat of Bill and Joe to repeat the punishment if Philip were attacked, and he thought it best to wait.
"Leave it to me," he said. "I'll flog him in due time."
"Ain't you going to do anything to him, dad?" asked Oscar in disappointment.
"Yes. Come here, you, sir!"
Phil approached his stern guardian with an uncomfortable sense of something unpleasant awaiting him.
Nahum Sprague seized him by the collar and said, "Follow me."
He pushed the boy before him and walked him into the house, then up the stairs into an attic room, where he locked him in. Just then the bell rang for dinner.
Poor Phil was hungry, but nothing was said about dinner for him. A dread suspicion came to him that he was to be starved. But half an hour later the door opened, and Oscar appeared with two thin slices of bread without butter.
"Here's your dinner," he said.
It was a poor enough provision for a hungry boy, but Phil ate them with relish, Oscar looking on with an amused smile.
"Is that all I am to have?" asked Phil.
"Yes; it is all you deserve."
"I don't know what I have done."
"You don't, hey? You broke the bottle and spilled the whisky."
"I wouldn't have done it if you hadn't pushed me."
"There you go, laying it off on me. You'd better not."
"But it's true, Oscar."
"No, it isn't. You broke the bottle to spite pa."
"I wouldn't have dared to do it," said Philip.
"You dared a little too much, anyway. Didn't you get those men to follow you and interfere with what was none of their business?"
"No, I didn't."
"Hadn't you spoken with them at the saloon?"
"Yes."
"I thought so."
"They asked me who sent me for the whisky and I told them."
"You didn't need to tell them. If it hadn't been for that they wouldn't have come round to our place and assaulted pa and me. They'll catch it, pa says. Shouldn't wonder if they'd be put in prison for five years."
Young as he was Phil put no faith in this ridiculous statement, but he thought it best not to make any comment.
"How long is your father going to keep me here?" he asked.
"Maybe a month."
This opened a terrible prospect to poor Phil, who thought Mr. Sprague quite capable of inflicting such a severe punishment.
"If he does I won't live through it," he said desperately.
"You don't mean to kill yourself?" said Oscar, startled.
"No, but I shall starve. I am awfully hungry now."
"What, after eating two slices of bread?"
"They were very thin, and I have exercised a good deal."
"Then I advise you to make it up with pa. If you get down on your knees and tell him you are sorry, perhaps he will forgive you, and let you out."
Phil did not feel willing to humiliate himself in that way, and remained silent.
"There ain't any bed for me to sleep on," he said, looking around.
"You will have to sleep on the floor. I guess you'll get enough of it."
Oscar locked the door on the outside and went down-stairs. Disagreeable as he was Phil was sorry to have him go. He was some company, and when left to himself there was nothing for him to do. If there had been any paper or book in the room it would have helped him tide over the time, but the apartment was bare of furniture.
There was one window looking out on the side of the house. Phil posted himself at this, and soon saw Oscar and his father leave the premises and go down the street. Nahum had a bottle in his hand, and Phil concluded he was going to the drinking saloon to get a fresh bottle of whisky.
Phil continued to look out of the window.
Presently he saw a boy pass whom he knew—a boy named Arthur Burks.
He opened the window and called out eagerly, "Arthur!"
Arthur turned round and looking up espied Philip.
"Hello!" he cried. "What are you doing up there?"
"I am locked in."
"What for?"
"I accidentally dropped a bottle of whisky, and spilled it. Mr. Sprague got mad and locked me up here."
"That's a shame. How long have you got to stay?"
"Oscar says he may keep me here a month."
"He's only frightening you. Old Sprague wouldn't dare to do it."
"That isn't all. I am half starved. He only gave me two small slices of bread for dinner."
"He's a mean old hunks. I just wish you could come round to our house. We'd give you enough to eat."
"I wish I were there now," sighed Philip.
"I've got an idea," said Arthur, brightening up. "What time do Mr. Sprague and Oscar go to bed?"
"Very early. About nine o'clock."
"Would you run away if you could?"
"Yes."
"Then I'll tell you what I'll do. At half-past nine Albert Frost and I will come around with a tall ladder—Mr. Frost has got one—and we'll put it up against your window. Will you dare to get out of the window, and come down?"
"Yes, I'll do anything to get away. But can you get the ladder?"
"Yes; Albert will manage it. Do you think the old man will be likely to see or hear us?"
"No; he sleeps on the other side of the house."
"All right! You can expect us. I guess I had better go now, for fear I may be seen, and they might suspect something."
"But where can I go when I leave here?"
"Come to our house. You can sleep with Rob, my little brother."
"Thank you, Arthur. I'll expect you."
Philip felt a good deal more cheerful after Arthur had gone. He knew that in Arthur's house he would be very differently treated from what he had been by Nahum Sprague. He did not feel it wrong to leave the Spragues', as they were constantly complaining that he was a burden.
"If Mr. Burks would only let me live with him," he thought, "I should be happy, and I would be willing to work hard."
At half-past five Oscar came up to the room again, this time accompanied by his father.
"How do you like being locked up here?" asked Nahum.
"Not very well."
"Get down on your knees and beg my pardon for your bad conduct, and I will let you out."
"I would rather not, sir."
"Do you hear that, Oscar? He would rather not."
"I heard it, pa."
"It is only right that he should suffer the penalty of his headstrong conduct. Give him his supper and we will leave him to think of his sinfulness."
Oscar produced two more thin slices of bread and a cup of very weak tea.
"You are not entitled to tea," said Nahum. "It is only because we are kind-hearted that I permitted Mrs. Sprague to send up a cup. I have not put in milk or sugar because I refuse to pamper you."
Philip made no comment, but disposed of the tea and bread in a very short space of time. He felt ready to join in with Oliver, in Dickens's immortal story, when he asked for "more." But he knew it would be of no use.
"Now, we will go down, Oscar."
"All right, pa. I hope the house won't catch fire in the night," he added, with the laudable purpose of terrifying Philip, "for we might not be able to come up and unlock the door."
Philip felt uncomfortable, but he reflected that before many hours, if Arthur Burks kept his promise, he would no longer be an inmate of Mr. Sprague's home.
"He'll have a sweet time sleeping on the floor, pa," said Oscar as they went down-stairs.
"It will serve the little fool right," returned Nahum Sprague grimly.