Marco immediately reflected that it would not answer for him to meet his uncle, and he descended from the fence again on the same side with the boys, until his uncle should go back.

The boys thought he came back because he was undecided whether to go with them or not, and they renewed their invitations with redoubled urgency.

Marco did not reply, but looked steadily toward the house.

He saw a man standing in the yard with a small ladder in his hand.

A moment afterward, Marco's uncle came out of the house, and, to Marco's great consternation, he perceived that he had a saw and a hatchet in his hand, and then he recollected that his uncle had been intending to prune some trees that forenoon.