"Alger Jr, Horatio - Joe the Hotel Boy" - читать интересную книгу автора (Alger Horatio Jr)

Ned wanted to go directly home, and he and Joe rowed the craft in
the direction of Riverside. As they passed along the lake shore
the hermit's boy noted that several trees had been struck by
lightning.

"I'm glad the lightning didn't strike the lodge while we were
there," said he.

"It was certainly a severe storm while it lasted, Joe. By the
way, shall I say anything about those two men?"

"Perhaps it won't do any harm to tell your father, Ned."

"Very well, I'll do it."

Soon Riverside was reached, and having paid for the fish and the
outing, Ned Talmadge walked in the direction of his residence.
Joe shoved off from the tiny dock and struck out for his home.
He did not dream of the calamity that awaited him there.



CHAPTER III.


A HOME IN RUINS.


As Joe rowed toward his home on the mountain side, a good mile
from Riverside, he could not help but think of the two mysterious
men and of what they had said.

"They were certainly rascals," he mused. "And from their talk
they must have come from New York and are now going to try some
game in Philadelphia."

The hermit's boy was tired out by the day's outing, yet he pulled
a fairly quick stroke and it was not long before he reached the
dock at which he and Hiram Bodley were in the habit of leaving
their boat. He cleaned the craft out, hid the oars in the usual
place, and then, with his fishing lines in one hand and a good
sized fish in the other, started up the trail leading to the
place that he called home.

"What a place to come to, alongside of the one Ned lives in," he
said to himself. "I suppose the Talmadges think this is a
regular hovel. I wish we could afford something better,--or at
least live in town. It's lonesome here with nobody but old Uncle
Hiram around."