They knew but little of his relations to Mr.Belcher, but they had a strong suspicion that he had been badly treated by the proprietor, and that it had been in the power of the latter to save him from wreck.

So, when it became known that he had escaped with his boy from the poor-house, and that both had been exposed to the storm of the previous night, they all--men and boys--covered the fields, and filled the woods for miles around, in a search so minute that hardly a rod of cover was left unexplored.
It was a strange excitement which stirred the women at home, as well as the men afield.

Nothing was thought of but the fugitives and the pursuit.
Robert Belcher, in the character of principal citizen, was riding back and forth behind his gray trotters, and stimulating the search in every quarter.

Poor Miss Butterworth sat at her window, making indiscriminate inquiries of every passenger, or going about from house to house, working off her nervous anxiety in meaningless activities.
As the various squads became tired by their long and unsuccessful search, they went to the poor-house to report, and, before sunset, the hill was covered by hundreds of weary and excited men.

Some were sure they had discovered traces of the fugitives.