"Well, I will." And, arming himself with a few slices of Bologna in case his appetite should get the best of him, Carrots began the story. "That man was sweeter than pie all the time I was ridin' home with him, an' you'd thought he loved me 'most to death till we got to the farm. Then I helped unharness them plaguy old mules, an' one of 'em fetched me a kick with his heels that left a black-an'-blue spot on my leg bigger'n the whole front of the City Hall. I up with a club, an' was goin' to knock the life out er him; but the farmer caught me by the collar, an' shook me till I thought my head would fly off."
"He wanted to sort of introduce you to the place, I s'pose."
"Well, I reckon he did it pretty well. My heels knocked together like a pair of clappers, an' it seemed to me I could hear my head crack, the same way a whip does when you snap it. Well, after the old feller got through paralyzin' me, an' I was kind er steady on my feet once more, he told me to go to work an' clean out the stable. Why, Teddy, the job he set me at would have taken three men a month; an' he 'lowed I was to have it all done before night! You see, I didn't have any dinner, an' had heard so much 'bout how they lived in the country that I thought I'd kind er like to sample the cookin'. So I asked him if he didn't think it would be best to have some grub before I tackled sich a job as that. I don't know what he thought 'bout it, cause he didn't say a word; jest walked right away an' left me. Jiminy crickets! How I did sweat! But I thought to myself, I'll do my level best so he'll know he's got a mighty good man. An' I'll be blamed if when that old duffer came out he didn't act as if he thought I must have been loafin'!"
"How long did he leave you workin?"
"From the time we got there till pretty nigh night. Then he said I was to go down to the pasture an' bring up the cows. Well, now, I'm a dandy to bring up cows! Never saw one before. I wasn't goin' to let on that I didn't know the whole thing, so I walked down big as life. He told me where the pasture was, an' I cleaned her right out. Took every blamed thing in there an' drove 'em up. Well, you jest bet he was mad! He wanted to know why I didn't leave the oxen behind, an' what I was doin' with the sheep, an' how I ever expected to catch them two colts ag'in? I asked him to tell me how I was goin' to sort 'em out when they was runnin' all 'round. Said I was hungry, an' didn't have time for sich jobs. Why, Teddy, there was one of them sheep what had horns on; I couldn't have got rid of it if I'd stayed there a month. Knocked me down twice before I could even get the bars fixed. He acted like the goats you see up in Shantytown, an' looked a good deal like Skip Jellison in the face. I didn't figger on sheep bein' ugly. I wasn't so awful scared at first, for I 'lowed he was playin', an' got up soon's I could. The next thing I was down ag'in like one of them babies at a fair what you throw balls at."
"It was an old ram, I s'pose. I should have thought you'd looked out for him."
"You jest bet I did after that; but I hadn't time then, you see. Why, he was all over that pasture quicker'n you could wink. After a while I got 'round by the other side of the fence, let down the bars, an' then sneaked up through the bushes till I got the whole lot of 'em inter line. Then I kept clubs flyin' so they jest had to scoot, an' afterward—an' afterward, Teddy, what do you s'pose?"
"Why, how do I know?"
