Transcriber's note: Unusual and inconsistent spelling is as printed.
SEVERAL BIG BOYS HAD POUNCED UPON THE APPLES
AND MADE OFF WITH THEM.
WHILST FATHER WAS FIGHTING
BY
ELEANORA H. STOOKE
AUTHOR OF "LITTLE MAID MARIGOLD"
LONDON
THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY
MANCHESTER, MADRID, LISBON, BUDAPEST.
MADE IN GREAT BRITAIN
PRINTED BY THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY, LONDON
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
III. BOB AND STRAY MAKE AN ENEMY
WHILST FATHER WAS FIGHTING
CHAPTER I
AFRAID IN THE DARK
"Are you asleep, Jackie?"
Bob Middleton, closed the door of the attic which served as a bedroomfor himself and his little five-year-old brother as he spoke, andstepped softly to the bedside.
No, Jackie was not asleep. He had sprung up in bed at the sound ofBob's voice, and now cried chokingly—
"Oh, Bobbie, Bobbie!"
"Why, what is the matter, old chap?" Bob, inquired. The question wasneedless, for he knew his little brother was crying from fear—fear ofbeing alone in the dark. "I hoped I should find you asleep," he wenton without waiting for a reply; "it was an hour ago that Aunt Marthaput you to bed, and you promised you'd try to go to sleep rightaway."
"I did try," was the plaintive answer, followed by the anxiousinquiry—"Are you coming to bed now?"
"No," said Bob, "I've only come up for a few minutes. Aunt Marthasaid I mustn't stay long, for she's several errands for me to doyet." He went to the window—it was low in the sloping roof—and pulledup the blind. "There, now!" he cried, "isn't that better? The moon'slike a big lamp in the sky, and the stare are shining ever sobrightly."
"I can see them," Jackie said, with a sobbing breath. "I wanted AuntMartha to pull up the blind, but she wouldn't, and—and she said if Igot out of bed she'd give me the stick. I hope she won't whip meagain, Bobbie; she does whip so hard."
Bob set his teeth and was silent for a minute. Mrs. Mead, their AuntMartha, was not always kind to Jackie. She was not always kind to himeither, but that he felt did not matter. He and his little brother—Jackie was five years younger—had been living with Mrs. Mead for tenmonths,