"Pooh! those were letters I was burning--some I didn't want to carry home."
"They were not letters, they were book-leaves. I saw them plainly."
"Spy!" hissed Drayton furiously. "You hung around and watched."
"I did not. I was passing along that way because I left my geometry under the big tree, and I had to finish my lesson before bedtime."
"Oh yes," sneered Drayton. "You had time to take special notice of the size of the paper. You'd no business there; and I have a good mind to thrash you within an inch of your life."
Joe laughed at this furious threat. "I didn't know you owned the garden, or I would have kept out of it. As for thrashing, you know I don't thrash easy, even by a boy of your size. You tried it once. If you think it will help you out of your scrape, you can try it again."
Drayton looked amazed. Here was little Joe Chester not only defying him, but actually laughing at his threat as if it were a joke.
"Well, I'll tell you what it is, Chester: if you breathe a word about this I will have my revenge somehow."
Chester began to look fierce now himself. "Come, Drayton, you have blustered and fumed long enough. You had better change your course. I am not easily frightened."
Drayton had reached the same conclusion, and, changing his tone, said almost pleadingly,--