Murphy.
"Why, hello, Mr. Bobbsey!" exclaimed Mr. Murphy. "I thought you were
off on a vacation with your family in a houseboat."
"I was," said the lumber merchant, "but I came back."
"Back so soon? Didn't you like it?"
"Oh, yes, first rate. But we can't go any farther."
"Can't go any farther? What's the matter, did your boat sink?"
"No, but we're stuck in Lemby Creek. Mr. Hardee, a farmer who owns
land on both sides of the creek, has put a wire fence across to stop
us from going on to Lake Romano."
"Is that so! Well, that's too bad. How did it happen?"
"I'll tell you," said Mr. Bobbsey.
Then he told the story of stopping the angry farmer from beating Will
Watson, and how the fence had been built in the night.
"Well, that certainly was a mean trick on the part of Mr. Hardee,"
said Mr. Murphy. "And so the boy ran away?"
"Yes, and Mr. Hardee accused me of knowing something about him, but I
don't--any more than you do."
"I suppose not. But now the question is, How are you going to get past
that wire fence?"
"I don't know. The only way I see is to get Mr. Hardee to cut it, or
take it down, and he says he won't do either."
"Humph! Let me see. There ought to be a way out of it. I believe he
has the right, as far as the law goes, to put that fence up, but no
one else would be so mean.
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