They pulled in steadily, and presently the boy reached the rock
and came up, looking very much like a dripping seal as he
clambered to safety.
"Thank fortune, you are safe!" cried Dick when it was all over;
and Tom said "Amen," under his breath. Joel Darrel looked well
satisfied as he coiled up the wash line.
"It was a narrow escape," he remarked presently. "You want to be
careful how you try to cross the river at this point. What were
you doing on the tree?"
"I was after a thief," answered Sam, and then he looked at Dick
and Tom. "Where is he?"
"Gone," returned Dick.
"A thief!" ejaculated Joel Darrel. "Whom did he rob?"
"He robbed me."
"Do tell, Dick! When?"
"About half an hour ago. I was coming from the Corners with the
mail, when he pounced on me near our berry patch and knocked me
down. He took my pocketbook and my watch, but Sam and Tom came
up, and we chased the fellow and got the pocketbook back."
"But he kept the watch?"
"Yes."
"Was it a good one?"
"It was a gold watch that my father paid sixty-five dollars for --
and the chain was worth ten; and, what is more, the watch was one
my father used to wear; and as he is gone now, I thought a good
deal of it on that account.
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