They believed the keepers would recapture him before he could do much harm in the community.

They were convinced, too, that they were not the only ones looking for him.
The shutters of all the windows were never more carefully barred than before the three inmates retired to their beds.
Tom Gordon, being a rugged, healthy boy, generally passed the night in refreshing slumber.

Not a trace of the ague which kept him from the circus showed itself in his system when he went up-stairs to his room; but, somehow or other, after he lay down he could not sleep.
No doubt the excitement through which he had gone so wrought upon his nerves as to drive away all drowsiness; but the thought that was running through his brain found expression in the words:-- "A hundred dollars! What a fortune that is! It would make us comfortable for life.

I wonder if there is any way of catching Tippo Sahib before the men find him.
"I don't believe there's anything in what Jim said about looking the creature in the eye.

S'pose I should meet him in the woods, and fix him that way, what good would it do?
I'd have to stand there till the keepers come along, and they might not do that for a week or two.