38 A NIGHT UNDER THE LOGS. CHAP. n. 



whilst there with a few more boys preparing sparrow- 

 traps, one of them called out "Tarn, there's yer 

 faither ! " Tom immediately got up, and ran away ; 

 his father, following him, called out " Stop, sir ! stop, 

 sir ! come back, corne back, will you ! " Tom's father 

 was a long slender man, and could not stand much 

 running. He soon dropt behind, while Tom went out 

 Dee-side way like a lamplighter. He never stopped 

 until he reached the Clayholes. Not seeing his 

 father following him, he loitered about there until 

 it was, nearly dark ; he then returned, keeping a close 

 look-out and ready to run off again. At length, about 

 dark, he got back to the logs. 



It must be mentioned that on the spare ground 

 above the Inches large piles of logs were laid, some 

 of them of great size. The logs were floated down 

 the Dee, and were laid there until the timber mer- 

 chants found it convenient to take them away. Little 

 care being exercised in putting up the piles, there 

 were often large openings left at the ends. Instead 

 of going home, the boy got into one of these openings, 

 and crept in as far as he could get. But though he 

 was in a measure out of sight, he soon found that he 

 could obtain very little shelter for the night. He was 

 barefooted, and his clothes were thin and raggy. The 

 wind blew through the logs, and he soon became very 

 cold. He shivered till his teeth chattered. The 

 squeaking and jumping of the rats, of whom there 

 seemed to be myriads, kept him awake. It was so 



