That was a hard question, and I decided not to pay any attention to it. I asked Ham if the mail was ready to go, and was hastening out to the barn to harness Darky, when Captain Fishley called me back.
"Are you deaf, Buck?" demanded he, sharply, and with that ugly look he had worn since our troubles began.
"Mr. Barkspear asked you if you had seen Sim Gwynn. Why don't you answer him?"
"I would rather not answer him," I replied; for, whatever other faults I had, I felt above lying and stealing.
"That means, I s'pose, that you have seen him," added Barkspear, in that peculiar whining tone which always indicates a mean, stingy man.
I made no reply, for I had no idea of betraying Sim, on the one hand, or of lying, on the other.
"Why don't you speak, Buck?" growled the captain.
"I have seen him, and he has run away. That's all I have to say about it."
"I didn't think your boy would try to kiver him up. Sim hadn't any business to run away, jest when he was gittin' big enough to be some help to me about the farm."
"I would have run away if I had been in his place," I ventured to remark, perhaps foolishly, for I could not bear to see Barkspear assuming to be an injured man, when his own meanness had driven poor Sim from his home.
"I allus took care on him, and sent him to school every winter, when there warn't much to do; and it's shameful for him to treat me so. He hain't got no gratitude in him."
"Did you have any trouble with him?" asked the captain.
"Well, we did hev a little yesterday mornin'. He stole some things out of the house, and I licked him for't," replied Barkspear, rather sheepishly.
"He ought to be licked if he stole," said Captain Fishley, glancing sternly at me; "or if he didn't behave himself, and be respectful to his employers."
"What did he steal, Mr. Barkspear?" I asked, indignantly.
"Well, he stole some things out of the buttery."
"Yes, sir! That's just what he stole--something to eat! He didn't have breakfast enough to keep his stomach from grumbling, and he stole a piece of boiled pork and some cold potatoes."
"That boy eats more'n enough for four men!" exclaimed Barkspear, in disgust.
"No matter if he does; he ought not to be starved. In this house we have enough to eat, and that which is first rate too. When Sim told me he didn't get enough to eat, I pitied him, for I'm not used to such things."