And so, on the following afternoon, it turned out that the Peppers, about whose coming there had been so many plans and expectations, just walked in as if they had always lived there. The greater excitement completely swallowed up the less!
WHICH TREATS OF A GOOD MANY MATTERS
“Phooh!” said Joel a few mornings after the emptying of the little brown house into the big one, when he and Van were rehearsing for the fiftieth time all the points of the eventful night, “phooh! if I'd been here they wouldn't have got away, I guess!”
“What would you have done?” asked Van, bristling up at this reflection on their courage, and squaring up to him. “What would you have done, Joel Pepper?”
“I'd a-pitched right into 'em—like—everything!” said Joel valiantly; “and a-caught 'em! Yes, every single one of the Bunglers!”
“The what?” said Van, bursting into a loud laugh.
“The Bunglers,” said Joel with a red face. “That's what you said they were, anyway,” he added positively.
“I said Burglars,” said Van, doubling up with amusement, while Joel stood, a little sturdy figure, regarding him with anything but a sweet countenance.
“Well anyway, I'd a-caught 'em, so there!” he said, as Van at last showed signs of coming out of his fit of laughter, and got up and wiped his eyes.