Tom was not to be found.
They waited in camp all the rest of that day, only going out a little
way for a row on the lake. Night came, and there was no Tom. It grew
very dark, and still he had not come.
"Oh, dear!" cried Sue. "Will he have to sleep out alone all night?"
"Perhaps he'll come back before you are awake in the morning," said
Mother Brown. "Anyhow, Tom isn't afraid of the dark, and it is now so
warm that anyone could sleep out of doors and not get cold. I think Tom
will be here in the morning."
But morning came, and there was no sign of Tom. A lantern had been left
burning outside the tent all night, in case he should come. But he did
not.
"Well," said Mr. Brown, after breakfast, "there's only one thing to do,
and I'm going to do it."
"What is that?" asked his wife.
"I'm going over to Farmer Trimble's, to see if Tom is there."
"Oh, Trimble is the name of the man who wanted to take Tom away; isn't
it?"
"Yes, that's the man who came here, and tried to get Tom. It may be that
Mr. Trimble saw Tom at the spring, getting water, and made him go away.
So I'm going over to the Trimble farm, and see.
Pages:
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136