10 IMPRISONED AT HOME. CHAP. i. 



rarely fulfilled it. He went to his old haunts, regard- 

 less of the urgency of the message. One morning he 

 was sent to his father's workshop with his breakfast ; 

 but instead of going there, he set off for the Stocket, 

 several miles from town, with two other loons.* Tom 

 induced them to accompany him. The Stocket was 

 a fine place for birds and birds' nests. They searched 

 all day, and returned home at night. The father never 

 received his breakfast. It was eaten by Edward and 

 the loons. 



As a punishment for his various misdoings, he 

 was told one morning that he was to be confined to 

 the house all day. It was a terrible punishment, at 

 least to him. Only a portion of his clothes was given 

 him, that he might not go out ; and as a further 

 precaution, his mother tied him firmly to the table 

 leg with a thick wisp of thrums. She also tied his 

 wrists together with a piece of cord. When she 

 went out on family affairs, Tom's little sister was set 

 to watch him. But he disengaged himself from his 

 bonds almost as quickly as the Davenport brothers. 

 With a mixture of promises and threats, he made his 

 little sister come to his help ; and the two together 

 pushed the table close to the grate, when putting the 

 rope which confined his legs between the ribs, it soon 

 burnt asunder, and he was free. He next tried to 

 find his clothes, but his mother had hidden them too 

 securely. He found a coat of his elder brother's, 



* In the north, loons and queaiis are boys and girls. 



