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"Surely I am the afflictedest 'oman on G'liath Mounting! An' ter-morrer Brother Pete's wife an' his gals air a-comin', and I hed laid off ter hev raised bread." For "raised bread" is a great rarity and luxury in these parts, the nimble "dodgers" being the staff of life. "I never went ter do it," muttered Nick.
"Oh, tell it ter me, folkses!" he cried wildly; "tell it ter me, somebody! Will they keep me hyar all the same? An' when will I see G'liath Mounting agin, an' be whar Melissy air?" He had burst into tears, and there was a murmur of sympathy in the crowd. "Oh, that lets you out, I reckon, youngster," said Stebbins. "I'm glad enough of it for one."
He was far the brighter boy of the two, but his sharp wits seemed to thrive at the expense of his body. He was small and puny, and he was easily fatigued in comparison with big burly Nick, who rarely knew such a sensation, and prided himself upon his toughness. "Waal, Barney, surely ye air the porest little shoat on G'liath Mounting!" he exclaimed scornfully, as he had often done before.
"Ye war a-dustin' along toler'ble fast, Nicholas Gregory," he exclaimed; "but nothin' on G'liath Mounting kin beat me a-runnin' 'thout it air a deer. Ye'll kem along with me now, and stir yer stumps powerful lively, too, kase I hain't got no time ter lose." "What am I tuk up fur?" gasped Nick. "S'picious conduc'," replied the man curtly. Nick knew no more now than he did before.
This was the way the distant ranges looked from the crags of his own home; he knew that they were the mountains, but which was Goliath? Suddenly he struck his hands together, and broke out with a bitter cry. "I hev los' G'liath!" he exclaimed. "I dunno whar I live! An' whar is Melissy?"
His curiosity grew so great that several times he was almost at the point of going to see for himself; but one morning, early, when an opportunity to do so was suddenly presented, his courage failed him. His mother had just come into the log cabin from the hen-house with a woe-begone face. "I do declar'!" she exclaimed solemnly, "that I'm surely the afflictedest 'oman on G'liath Mounting!
The constable, being a native of these hills himself, knew something by experience of the homesickness of an exiled mountaineer, far more terrible than the homesickness of low-landers; he took his pipe promptly from between his lips, and told the boy that the second blue ridge, counting down from the sky, was "G'liath Mounting," and that "Melissy war right thar somewhar."
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