He didn't want the boys to know what he was doing, for fear they would tell his mother; and he wanted to surprise her.
Before reaching the house, he met his mother coming after him.
"Why, Sammy Sumerford, where have you been this livelong day?"
"Down to the river."
"Down to the river, indeed! Didn't you hear me blow the horn? I was afraid the Indians had got you. What could you find to do there without any dinner, and all alone?"
"I've had a good time, ma'am."
"Well, if you have, I'm glad of it; but it must have been a very different good time from any you ever had before: for never since you came into the world could you have any sort of a good time without half a dozen boys round you; and, if there were as many girls, so much the better."
The moment he had swallowed his supper, he ran off to report to Mr. Seth; who had a good laugh when Sammy told him he had moulded on a pumpkin, and reckoned he could not dig out till it was thoroughly rotten, without breaking the pot.
He was, however, singularly favored in this respect: not being able to visit the place for two days without the notice of the other boys, when he did go he found the pumpkin entirely covered with ants, who had devoured nearly the whole of it.
"Good on your heads!" said he. "You can dig it easier and better than I can, and won't break the pot neither."