"
Tom shook his head, but let her have her own way.
"Besides," she went on, "he'll learn something being with the other
children."
"Learn to fight, mebbe," the husband laughed.
He did, too, and the way it came about was as big a surprise to the Boy
as it was to the youngster he fought.
The small bully of the school lived in the same direction as the Boy and
Sarah. They frequently walked together for a mile going or coming and
grew to know one another well. The Boy disliked this tow-head urchin
from the moment they met. But he was quiet, unobtrusive and modest and
generally allowed the loud-mouthed one to have his way. The tow-head
took the Boy's quiet ways for submission and insisted on patronizing his
friend. The Boy good-naturedly submitted when it cost him nothing of
self-respect.
At the close of school, the tow-head whispered:
"Come by the spring with me, I want to show you somethin'!"
"No, I don't want to," he replied.
"Let Sarah go on an' we'll catch her--I got a funny trick ter show you.
You'll kill yourself a-laughin'."
The Boy's curiosity was aroused and he consented.
They hastened to the spring where the embers of a fire at which the
scholars were accustomed to warm their lunch, were still smouldering.
The tow-headed one drew from the corner of the fence a turtle which he
had captured and tied, scooped a red-hot coal from the fire with a
piece of board and placed it on the turtle's back.
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