He did not know for how long his services had been sold to the padrone by his father, but he felt sure that the letter of the contract would be little regarded as long as his services were found profitable.
What hope, then, had he of better treatment in the future?
There seemed no prospect except of continued oppression and long days of hardship, unless--and here the suggestion of Mr.Pomeroy occurred to him--unless he ran away.

He had known of boys doing this before.

Some had been brought back, and, of course, were punished severely for their temerity, but others had escaped, and had never returned.

What had become of them Phil did not know, but he rightly concluded that they could not be any worse off than in the service of the padrone.

Thinking of all this, Phil began to think it probable that he, too, would some day break his bonds and run away.