The big boy sat down again more awkwardly, if possible, than he had risen.
“I’ll tell ye jest what I would do,” he began earnestly.
But he never told what it was, and Joe never had the benefit of his advice; for at that moment the bony figure of Captain Bill appeared at the corner of the shed.
The jaw of the large boy dropped suddenly, and jumping up from the box he made his escape to the tow-path.
“You’d better git!” shouted the man angrily after him. “What’d he say to ye?” he demanded, turning to Joe.
“He said,” stammered Joe, “he said that he used to work for you.”
“Did ’e say I used to lick ’im an’ kick ’im, an’ try to knock some sense into ’im?”
“Why, yes; something like that.”
“Well, I did, an’ I’ll do the same to you ef ye don’t ’ten’ closer to business. Come! Git out there to them horses! See w’ere they’re a-goin’! Jest look at that tow-line!”