"I never had to take anything back."
"No? Then you are about to encounter a new phase of life. Singular, isn't it, that we never know when we are about to stumble upon something new."
"You don't mean——"
"I don't know that I do. But I mean that you'll take that back or carry away a thrashing that will make you stagger. Did you ever see a man wabbling off after a thrashing that he was hardly able to carry? Sad sight sometimes. The last man that I whipped weighed about forty pounds more than I do. He presumed on his weight. But he soon found out that his flesh was very much in his way. He was a saw mill man and a bully; and it so tickled Uncle Buckley that nothing would do but I must come to his house and live as one of the family. Out at Fox Grove a man who won't be imposed upon stands high."
"Lyman, I don't want any trouble, and——"
"Oh, it won't be any trouble."
"And I acknowledge that I was hasty. I take it back, and here's my hand on it."
"I'm obliged to you for taking it back, Caruthers, but I don't want to take your hand. I don't understand it, but a spiritual something seems to have arisen between us."
"All right," said Caruthers, "but I hope we don't part as enemies."
"Oh, no, not as enemies. You speak of parting as if you were the one who has to vacate."