Walsh eyed him expectantly.
"All right," he said at last. "You're the boss."
In this manner was discipline restored among the Anvil men.
CHAPTER XXXIX
NEWS FROM BUFFALO JIM
Rub-a-dub-dub,
Three men in a tub,
The butcher, the baker,
The candlestick maker;
They all jumped out of a holler pertater.
Rub-a-dub-dub.
"Do you call them your prayers?" asked Lafe sternly. "I done told you to get to bed more'n a hour ago, son. I swan I can't figure what your ma's thinking of. Now, drag it."
The boy turned a confident grin on his sire and continued his march through the house, rub-a-dub-dubbing to the best that was in him. He was attired lightly in a chemise, and was accordingly able to give an unhampered illustration of how the candlestick maker and the other tradesmen emerged from the spud. Hetty had gone to prepare his bed; returning, she made a dive for the fugitive and bore him, struggling, to his unwelcome nest. There she was obliged to growl over him in imitation of a big old bear, before Lafe, Jr., became reconciled.
Johnson listened with scant patience to their further discourse inside the bedroom.