Now I'll
throw down a little more hay for good measure and we'll go on in.
Mustn't rouse suspicions by staying out too long. Peabody will
probably sit up for me to come in to-night."
Betty waited till the hay was pitched down, then followed Bob to the
main floor of the barn.
"Couldn't I walk just a little way with you?" she asked wistfully.
"How soon are you going to start? I could go as far as the end of the
lane."
"I'd rather you went to bed and to sleep," said Bob kindly. "You
couldn't very well traipse around at night, Betty, and I'm not going
till it is good and dark. There's no moon to-night, and you might
have trouble getting back to the house."
"Well--all right," conceded Betty forlornly. "There doesn't seem to
be anything I can do. Whistle under my window, please do, Bob. I'll
be awake. And I could say good-by. I won't make a fuss, I promise."
The boy's packing was of the simplest, for he owned neither suitcase
nor trunk, and his few belongings easily went into a square of old
wrapping paper. He had earned them, few as they were, and felt no
compunctions about taking them with him.
After the bundle was tied up he waited a half hour or so, purely as
a precaution, for the Peabody household went to bed with the chickens
and, with the possible exception of Mrs.
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