It did not require many seconds for Mr. Souders to see that the harness had been tampered with, and he said in a cheery tone, which was a delightful contrast to the one used a short time previous by his wife, as he pulled off his coat,—
"I reckon you an' I have a big contract ahead of us, my boy. It would puzzle a lawyer to fix all these as they should be, and the most we can hope for is to put the sets together so the old women may go home. We'll begin with mine, an' see what can be made of the job."
It was a long and tedious task, and before it had been half completed Jack was so well pleased with the gentleman that he said confidentially,—
"Mr. Souders, I don't want you to think I tried to insult your wife. It was an accident which I couldn't prevent, an' you see for yourself I wasn't to blame for this muss."
"Don't worry about it, my boy. Mother is a leetle hot-headed with a powerful dislike to youngsters 'cause she hain't got any of her own; but I'll venter to say she's sorry as a cat this very minute for what's been said an' done. If you knowed her little ways you wouldn't mind anything about it; but I'm put out to think she laid her hands on a poor cripple like you."
"It wasn't that which made me feel so bad as to have her think I would act mean."
"She don't believe a word of what she said by this time, an' for that I'll go bail. There's no use talkin' 'bout it now; I allow you'll see her ag'in mighty soon. Have you been havin' a great deal of trouble with Bill Dean?"
Jack was not disposed to tell very much lest it should be thought he was complaining; but Mr. Souders finally succeeded in drawing from him a full account of the threats made.
"You sha'n't be troubled any more, my boy, that I'll answer for. Bill is pretty wild, but I reckon we can tame him down a bit before another day goes by."
"I wouldn't like any of the fellows to say I'd been carryin' tales, sir."