"I wish," he said to himself, fifty times, "I wish I had told about the horse; for, like as not, they wouldn't have licked me, and, if I am to have a licking, I'd rather have it now, and done with, than think about it a week."
VI.
MORNING AT THE FARM.
On the following day Samuel's ankle was so badly swollen as to make a frightful appearance. Mrs. Royden had to call him three times before he could summon courage to get up; and when, threatened with being whipped out of bed, he finally obeyed her summons, he discovered, to his dismay, that the lame foot would not bear his weight.
With great difficulty Sam succeeded in dressing himself, after a fashion, and went hopping down stairs.
"You good-for-nothing, lazy fellow!" began Mrs. Royden, the moment he made his appearance, "you deserve to go without eating for a week. The boys were all up, an hour ago. What is the matter? What do you hobble along so, for?"
"Can't walk," muttered Sam, sulkily.
"Can't walk!"—in a mocking tone,—"what is the reason you cannot?"
"'Cause my ankle's hurt, where I fell down."