“If I were you, Kate, I would. Jack has a rifle that shoots peas or beans, and it takes a load of care from my mind, for I know he can’t injure anything with a dried pea. And boys will have some form of gun, you know, especially if they are forever playing George Washington, in the days of Indian wars and revolutions,” said Mrs. Davis.
“I’ll ask father and we’ll see what he thinks,” replied Mrs. Parke.
“One won’t be enough! Martha and Jim each need one, and John will have to get one, too,” reminded George anxiously.
“John had better ask his father if he will consent to this new plan of defense,” laughed Mrs. Parke.
“Ah rickon mah mammy won’t ’ject to a pea-gun ’cause it hain’t so bad as an axe, yo’ knows,” murmured Jim.
“Hoh, I guess not! And John’s folks will be glad to know he won’t be scalped again, even if we play Braddock and the Indians, like that other time,” added George, thinking of the great battle between the French and British at the time the hedge was broken down.
“If we could only have those guns while Jack and Anne are visiting us we could have the real battles of Long Island, Harlem and Jersey,” sighed John.
“Mother, you must try and have father tend to it next time he passes a toy shop in Washington, won’t you?” begged George eagerly.
“I’ll tell him what aunty said, and leave it to his own good judgment whether you should have a pea-shooter or a new form of punishment,” teased Mrs. Parke.
But George and Martha understood their mother so well that they felt sure she would advise the guns at once, so they chattered all about the forthcoming battles to be fought the moment the rifles arrived from the store.