"I'm going to see if I can't stop its bleeding," said Mike.
"No, I don't mean that," said the other. "I mean what are you going to do to Jake?"
"Oh," said Mike, "I guess I'll pay him off, one of these days."
"And why not now?" the boy asked.
"I've got as much on my hands as I can attend to, just now," said Mike.
How do you suppose Jake felt, that day, after his cruel treatment of one of his playmates? What do you suppose were his feelings, when he found out what all the boys thought of his conduct; and when he had time to reflect upon the folly and wickedness of what he had done? Perhaps you can guess pretty well how he felt. Possibly you have yourself wronged some one of your playmates, and recollect how you felt about it, when you had a chance to get away somewhere, alone, to think over your conduct. If so, you can give a pretty rational guess as to the kind of feelings that were at work in Jake's bosom, on his way home from school that day.
He did not go home in company with the rest of the boys and girls who went in the same direction. He was in the habit of doing so. But he felt so much ashamed on account of what he had done, that he could not bear to see the faces of any of the children.
Instead of taking the public road that led directly to his father's house, he went through the gate that led into Deacon Stark's pasture, and followed the cart-path through the woods. It was a great deal farther that way. But he went through the woods so as to get clear of his playmates. One of the deacon's hired men saw the boy, leaning against the fence, just at the edge of the woods. Poor fellow! he was crying, as if his heart would break. So the man said. Jake got the worst of it, in that affair. Don't you think he did?
But I have not got through with the story yet, and I must go on with it.