“I won’t. I’ll get a writ for him, and give him his choice, to go back to work, or go to jail. I want to punish him, and I want you to go with me.”
The second day of the quest they found the horse feeding beside the road, with the bridle under his feet, but could get no trace of the man.
It was near planting time. Mr. Whitman, the previous fall, had ploughed under a heavy crop of clover, and in the spring sowed the ground to wheat, with the exception of a quarter of an acre, that he had reserved to plant.
He then said to James,—
“Scarcely had the Words Left his Lips than he Received a Blow that Sent him headlong across the Back of an Ox.” Page [198].
“I’ll give you the use of this land. You may take the team; haul all the dressing on it that is necessary, and plant it with potatoes; take care of them through the summer, dig them in the fall, sell them, and have the money; but you must pay me for the seed, or return me in the fall as many potatoes as you plant. When you come to hoe them, you can have the horse to plough amongst them. You must keep the ground clear of weeds; if you do not, I shall hoe the potatoes, and then you will lose the crop. You may plant them, and put on the dressing, in my time, but you must hoe them at odd chances that you will find plenty of before breakfast, while the horses are eating, at noon, and after supper, and father will instruct you about planting them.”
By the old gentleman’s direction he put on a large quantity of dressing, and then advised him, as the land was in such good heart, and abundantly dressed beside, to plant his potatoes in drills, as he would thus get more seed on the ground. When he began to plant, Maria insisted upon dropping the seed for him.
Peter and Bertie had each of them a corn patch of his own, and they hoed the three pieces in company. Sometimes James would be up at three o’clock in the morning, to hoe among his potatoes, or in Bertie or Peter’s corn patch, just which needed hoeing the most.
The boys had considerable time at their disposal, some before breakfast, some at noon while the horses were eating and resting, and also after supper, which they had at five o’clock, as not much work was done after that except in haying, or wheat harvest.