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The Voyage of the Hoppergrass by Edmund Lester Pearson
page 149 of 212 (70%)
"Dear me!" said he again, "this bolt had slipped over, and locked
the door. It does that sometimes. An old house, you know, all out
of repair. You must have thought we were trying to keep you
inside. It DID look that way."

What a clumsy liar he was! I said nothing at all to him, but
hurried down stairs as fast as I could without running. I felt
much safer with the Professor,--perhaps he was as big a rascal as
the other,--but he wasn't as slimy in his manner.

It was half past seven, and they had eaten their breakfast. They
had saved some for me, and I ate it, keeping an eye out for
Snider. He did not reappear, however, and after I had finished
eating, I got "The Rifle Rangers" and went outside with it to
read, and wait for the people who were coming on the steamboat. I
felt more comfortable outdoors than in. With Mr. Snider creeping
from one room to another I never knew what might happen, nor how
he might try to cage me up. Outside, he wouldn't be able to touch
me, if I had any kind of a start.

I had thought it over while I was eating breakfast. There was some
sort of hocus-pocus going on, connected with this excursion and
the gold company. Anybody could see that. Whether they really
expected Captain Bannister to come on the steamboat, or whether
that was all a lie to make me stay, I could not tell. Captain
Bannister had said, according to the men at the Eagle House, that
he was coming to Rogers's Island, so it might be that the
Professor's story was true. On the other hand, it might have been
made up out of whole cloth in order to keep me there over night.
But why should they want to do that? They thought I had seen
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