"All of ten cents?"
"Yes."
"To keep you from droppin’ and breakin’ your neck?"
"Yes, to keep me from——"
"It ain’t worth it," grinned the boy; "but I guess I’ll do it. Just you hang on there till I come back. Old Eb Jones lives over here on the road a piece, and there’s a ladder right by his barn. I’ll be back in a hurry, an’ I’ll leave Tige right here to watch you. Hey, Tige, keep your eye on him, boy."
"Bow-wow!" barked Tige, glaring at Uric in a vicious way, as if longing to rend him with his keen teeth.
"Oh, take your dog away!" cried the unfortunate boy in the tree. "Don’t leave him here!"
"Oh, he’s all right!" declared the boy. "He can’t reach you."
"But what if my trousers give? Take him away, I say! Please don’t leave him here!"
But the boy ran off, laughing, having left his old gun leaning against a crotched sapling.