"Not this time, Toady. I am sure you will not forget again."
A great light of relief crept into the big, brown eyes, and Toady answered with all the vim he could muster, "You are right, I won't."
CHAPTER VIII
BILLIARD RUNS AWAY
Billiard, white, scared, remorseful, had crept away up the mountainside the minute he had seen Dr. Hayes bending beside the still form on the kitchen floor, and remained in his retreat, watching the house with frightened eyes, until the physician's bulky figure strode down the path toward town again. Then, flinging himself face down in the gravel, he sobbed in unrestrained relief, until, exhausted by the strain of his recent fearful experience, he fell asleep in the shadow of a ragged boulder, where late that afternoon Tabitha found him, after a vain search about house and yard.
Surprised at having caught a glimpse of this unsuspected side of the bully's character, she beat a hasty retreat, and with the tact of a diplomat, sent one of the younger girls in quest of him, feeling that he might resent being awakened by her while the trace of tears still showed on his face. Nor was she mistaken in this surmisal, for the instant the boy's eyes unclosed in response to Susie's energetic shaking, he demanded, "Does Tabitha—know where I am?"
"She wouldn't have set the rest of us to hunting if she had, would she?"
"Well, 'tain't necessary for you to tell her I was asleep. The sun was so hot it made my head ache, and I guess it has burned my face to a blister," cautiously touching his puffed, smarting cheeks.
Susie eyed the swollen lids and scarlet visage suspiciously, but for once held her tongue, only announcing briefly as she started on a trot down the trail, "We're waiting supper for you."