"Blast his ornery hide!" Tad ejaculated.
Joe said sternly, "What's that you said?"
"You say it."
"So you can too, huh? Get this, don't let me ever again hear you say anything that even sounds like a cuss word. And no more wildcats."
"It was only a little one."
"You heard me!"
Tad's face was stubborn, a little sullen. For a moment he said nothing and Joe repeated,
"You heard me!"
"Yes, Pa."
Joe lighted their way back to the house, blew the lantern out before he entered and hung it on a wooden peg. The gesture was automatic, and brought about by a lifetime of necessarily frugal living. One never stinted his family, himself, or his animals, in that order, on food. But one never wasted anything at all that cost money. Though the circuit-riding Reverend Haines often thundered to those of his flock who lived in Tenney's Crossing that money was the root of all evil, Joe had never believed that. Money was simply the hardest of all things to come by.