The boys looked ashamed, but said nothing.
“If you conclude to let me settle it, you must do just as I say. But I do not pretend that I have any right to decide such a case, unless you consent. So I will take you home, if you prefer.”
The boys both preferred that he should settle it, and promised to do as he should say.
“Well, then,” said he, “the first thing is for you, Rollo, to go over the other side of the brook, and you, James, to stay here, and both to sit down still, until you have had time to cool.”
The boys obeyed, and Jonas went back to his work.
The boys sat still, feeling guilty and ashamed; but they were not penitent. They ought to have been sorry for their fault, and become good-natured and pleasant again. But instead of that, they were silent and displeased, eyeing one another across the brook. Jonas waited some time, and then came and called them both to him.
“Now,” says James, “I will tell you all about it, and you shall decide who was to blame.”
“I heard it all, and I know which was to blame; you, James, came here to see Rollo, and found him building a wigwam. It was his wigwam, not yours. He began it without you, and was going on without you, and when you came, you had no right to assume any authority about it. You ought to have let him do as he wished with his own wigwam. You were unjust.”
Here Rollo began to look pleased and triumphant, that Jonas had decided in his favor.
“But,” continued Jonas, “you, Rollo, were playing here alone. Your little cousin came to see you; and you were very glad to have him come. He helped you build, and when he wanted to have the window in a particular way, you ought to have let him. To quarrel with a visitor for such a cause as that, was very ungentlemanly and unkind. So you see you were both very much to blame.”