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Harry's father was so delighted to find his boy again, that he did not care to explain anything, and he and Harry walked off together. But Captain Caseby told Tony all about it. How he, Mr. Loudon, and old Mr. Wagner, had set out to look for Harry; how Mr. Wagner soon became so tired that he had to give up, and go home, and how Mr.
Ef it hadn't been for that, the ole rifle would ha' been at the bottom of the creek." "But what was Captain Caseby doing here in the woods at night?" asked Harry. "Dunno," said Tony; "I jist follered him till I made sure he wasn't a-huntin for my turkey-blind, and then I let him go long. His business wasn't no consarn o' mine."
But they had their bad days, when there was a great deal of walking and very little picking. And then, in due course of time, school began and the sumac season was at an end, for the leaves are not merchantable after they begin to turn red, although they are then a great deal prettier to look at. "It's a good deal for you two to do for that old woman," said Captain Caseby, one day.
When Tony and Harry had nearly reached the village, who should they meet, at a cross-road in the woods, but Mr. Loudon and Captain Caseby! "Ho, ho!" cried the captain "where on earth have you been? Here I've been a-hunting you all night." "You have, have you?" said Tony, with a chuckle; "and Harry and I've been a-huntin' you all night, too." Everybody now began to talk at once.
"Captain Caseby?" cried Harry. "Yes; jist him, and nuthin' else. It was his head we seen agin the sky, as he was a-walkin' on the other side of that little ridge." "Captain Caseby!" again ejaculated Harry in his amazement. "Yes, sir!" said Tony; "an' I'm glad I found it out before I crossed the creek, for my gun wasn't no further use, an' it was only in my way, so I left it in the bushes up here.
Tony asked. 'Oh, I never exercise my voice in the night air, said the captain. "It's against my rules." "Well, you'd better break your rules next time you go out in the woods where Harry is," said the turkey-hunter, "or he'll pop you over for a turkey or a musk-rat. He's a sharp shot, I kin tell ye." "You don't really mean he was after me last night with a gun!" exclaimed Captain Caseby.
After Harry had been home an hour or two, and Kate had somewhat recovered from her transports of joy, and everybody in the village had heard all about everything that had happened, and Captain Caseby had declared, in the bosom of his family, that he would never go out into the woods again at night without keeping up a steady "holler," Harry remembered that he had left his sumac-bag somewhere in the woods.
"But there is nothing to shoot, now in the summer-time," said Kate. "No, there isn't much yet, to be sure," said her brother, "but before very long there will be partridges and hares, plenty of them; and father and Captain Caseby will buy all I shoot. And you see, until it is time for game I'm going to gather sumac." "Oh! I can help you in that," cried Kate.
"I don't wonder you think so," said Harry, laughing; "but if I were you, I'd go home as soon as I could, and get some dry clothes." "That's so," said Tony, rising; "these feel like the inside of an eelskin." "Oh, Tony!" said Harry as they walked along up the creek, "did you find out what that thing was?" "Yes, I did," answered Tony. "And what was it?" "It was Captain Caseby."
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