Dan rose as Walter’s tirade continued. For a moment he looked steadily at the angry boy and, though his face was colorless, without a word he started toward the door.
“Hold on!” shouted Walter, springing in front of Dan and closing the door. “You don’t crawl out that way! I’d like to know what you have to say for yourself. We’ll have this out right now while we’re at it. I’d like to know what you have to say for yourself!”
“About what?”
“About what I’ve just said.”
“You’ll have to explain yourself.”
“‘Explain’; ‘Explain’!” retorted Walter. “I ‘explain’! You’re the one, I guess, to do the explaining. Gus Kiggins says you can make a pet of a toad, but a toad will still be a toad to the end of the chapter, and I guess he’s about right.”
“How about a hog, Walter?” The sneering query escaped Dan’s lips before he was fairly aware of what he had said. Deeply as he regretted his momentary failure to control his tongue he was aware that his provocation was great and that he had been most unjustly accused.
“Who are you to talk about hogs?” demanded Walter.
“I know a little about them. We raised a few on the farm. They are interesting animals, Walter, if you go at them in the right way.”