We made a start, and after a very hard tramp we finally
reached the old farm, thoroughly tired out, at eight o'clock that
evening.
Theodora and grandmother were so affected at seeing us back that they
actually shed tears. The old Squire said little; but it was plain to see
that he was greatly relieved.
If the day had been a fatiguing one for us, it had been doubly so for
poor Halstead. We carried him up to his room, put him to bed and sent
for a doctor. He did not leave his room again for three weeks and
required no end of care from grandmother and the girls.
Little was ever said among us afterwards of this escapade of Halstead's.
As for Alfred, he came sneaking home about a month later, but had the
decency, or perhaps it was the prudence, to keep away from us for nearly
a year.
CHAPTER XXXVI
UNCLE BILLY MURCH'S HAIR-RAISER
At about this time Tom and I were up at the Murches' one evening to see
Willis, and persuaded old Uncle Billy, Willis' grandfather, to tell us
his panther story again. That panther story was a veritable hair-raiser;
and we were never tired of hearing the old man tell it. Owing to our
severe climate panthers were never very numerous in northern New
England--not nearly so numerous as panther stories, in which the
"panther" is usually a Canadian lynx.
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