“Oh, she’s okay, I guess,” the boy admitted grudgingly.
“She makes you work too hard?”
“I have to chop a lot of wood. I hate that. The other work isn’t so bad.”
“Mrs. Jones doesn’t have much money or any man to help her about the place. Jack, she really needs you.”
“I guess so,” the boy admitted uncomfortably. “I’ve been trying to please her. It’s just—well, I can’t stand being cooped up in the house all the time. Every so often I have to get away or I’ll pop wide open!”
“I understand,” the Cub leader said. “Had that feeling myself when I was a boy. I never gave way to the urge too much, and I made a point never to take anything that didn’t belong to me.”
Jack rocked back on his heels, regarding the Cub leader with hostility.
“What do you mean by that crack?”
“Didn’t you swipe our biscuits?” Red demanded before Mr. Hatfield could speak.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about!”