That was unfortunate, for it turned the boys loose to run about in
company. Usually they quarreled by the time they had been together half
a day; but this time there seemed to be a special bond between them, and
they hatched a secret project to go off trapping up in the great woods.
They intended to stay until spring, when they would reappear with five
hundred dollar's worth of fur!
Addison and I guessed that something of the sort was in the wind, for we
noticed that Halstead was collecting old traps and that he was oiling a
gun he called his. We also missed two thick horse blankets from the
stable and a large hand sled. A frozen quarter of beef also disappeared
from the wagon-house chamber.
"Let him go, and good riddance," Addison said, and we decided not to
tell grandmother or the girls what we suspected. In fact, I fear that we
hoped Halstead would go.
The following Friday afternoon while the rest of us were at school both
boys disappeared. That evening Mrs. Batchelder sent over to inquire
whether Alfred was at our house. Halstead, to his credit, had shown that
he did not wish grandmother to worry about him. Shortly before two
o'clock that afternoon, he had come hastily to the sitting-room door,
and said, "Good-by, gram.
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