CHAPTER IX.
TREACHERY.
Zebedee was flushed and excited when he entered the paternal dwelling.
He had been away all day, and knew that he was likely to get a good thrashing for neglect of his work.
Ezekiel was waiting for him very patiently.
Zeb had taken all in at a glance. There was a thick beechen stick standing by the chimney corner, and old Zeke was not far from it.
One of his most favored passages of the Bible was the one in which the spoiling of the child is said to be caused by the small use of the rod.
Zeb knew what it meant.
He had often felt the strength of his father's muscles, and he fully realized that if he was spoiled it was not because the rod had been spared.
Only three mornings before Zeb had entered the kitchen, which served as dining room as well, and had partaken of his breakfast standing, and at the midday meal he still preferred an upright position instead of the one adopted by the other members of his family.