United States or China ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
"Say his own chil'n air 'hearty feeders an' hard on shoe-leather? Takes a good deal o' goadin' ter git ploughin' enough fur the wuth o' feed out'n a toler'ble beastis like old Blaze-face thar, don't it, Neighbor? an' how is it a-goin' ter be with a human ez mebbe will hold back an' air sot agin plough-in' ennyhow, an' air sorter idle by profession?
"The contrairy beastis couldn't hev fund a more ill- convenient spot ter die of he hed sarched the mounting." "I ain't goin' ter leave him thar, though," stoutly declared the boy who still held the rifle. "That thar fox's scalp an' his two ears air wuth one whole dollar." Tim remonstrated. "Look-a-hyar, Birt; ef ye try ter climb up this hyar bluff, ye'll git yer neck bruk, sure."
Slip the beastis in on the sly. Pearce Tallam don't feed an' tend ter his critters nohow. I hev hearn ez his boys do that job, so he ain't like ter find it out. On the sly that's the trade." Ike hesitated. Once more the man teetered on one foot, and held out the coin temptingly. But Ike's better instincts came to his aid. "That barn b'longs ter Pearce Tallam.
His wrinkled hands were clasped on his stick. His white head, shaded by his limp black hat, was bent down close to them. There was a slow, pondering expression on his face, but an excited gleam in his eye. Presently, he pointed backward toward a little unhewn log shanty that served as a barn, and rising with unwonted alacrity, he said to the boy, "Fotch me the old beastis!"
Jes' tell me whar them loafers air, an' how many horses they hev got along, an' I'll gin ye the bes' beastis I hev got ter ride, an' a pair o' shootin'-irons and set ye in the valley road on the way home. Ye kin say ye war lost from them."
"That's my bid!" said the old man sternly. "Fotch the beastis." There was no one else about the place. Jonas Creyshaw had gone fishing shortly after daybreak. His wife had trudged off to her sister's house down in the cove, and had taken the baby with her. Tad was ploughing in the cornfield on the other side of the ravine.
Tall ez yo' fatheh wuz, an' strong ez er li'ne. He kin git ole Mr. An'lope. He kin ride ary beastis in this yer onery country. An' him a-wukkin' for ther railroad, an' a lawyeh, an' all that. He's shoh' boun' toe be rich, one o' these yer days. An' he's a gemman, too, mo'oveh; he's a gemman! Reckon I knows quality!
Whenst the squad kem back an' reported the passage full safe for man an' beastis the leader tuk a purse o' money out'n his pocket an' held it out to me though he said it couldn't express his thanks. But I held my hands behind me an' wouldn't take it.
"I'll be powerful glad ter do that thar job fur a dollar," said Ike, thinking, with a glow of self-gratulation, of the corn which he had raised in his scanty leisure on his own little patch of ground, and which he might use to feed the animal. "But hold yer jaw 'bout'n it, boy. Yer stepdad wouldn't let the beastis stay thar a minute ef he knowed it, 'kase waal 'kase me an' him hev hed words.
The leaves without were fitfully astir, and once the porch creaked suddenly. Brierwood glanced at the door sharply, even fearfully, his hand motionless on the rolls of money. "Only the wind, Amos, only the wind!" said the short, stout man impatiently. But he, himself, was disquieted the next moment when a horse neighed shrilly. "That ain't my beastis, Amos, nor yit your'n!" he cried, starting up.
Word Of The Day