CHAPTER IV.
IN WHICH BOBBY GETS OUT OF ONE SCRAPE, AND INTO ANOTHER Bobby was so indignant at the conduct of Mr.Hardhand, that he entirely forgot the adventure of the morning; and he did not even think of the gold he had in his pocket.

He loved his mother; he knew how hard she had worked for him and his brother and sisters; that she had burned the "midnight oil" at her clamps; and it made him feel very bad to hear her abused as Mr.Hardhand was abusing her.

It was not her fault that she had not the money to pay him.

She had been obliged to spend a large portion of her time over the sick beds of her children, so that she could not earn so much money as usual; while the family expenses were necessarily much greater.
Bobby knew also that Mr.Hardhand was aware of all the circumstances of his mother's position, and the more he considered the case the more brutal and inhuman was his course.
As our hero entered the family room with the basket of fish on his arm, the little crusty old man fixed the glance of his evil eye upon him.
"There is that boy, marm, idling away his time by the river, and eating you out of house and home," said the wretch.

"Why don't you set him to work, and make him earn something ?" "Bobby is a very good boy," meekly responded the widow Bright.
"Humph! I should think he was.