THE FATTED CALF. 15 



" Suddenly it occured to us we must have been 

 gone a pretty long hour. So we started back 

 — disappointed and scared and ashamed — the 

 way we had come, as well as we could judge, 

 and we were not far wrong. But everything was 

 against us. Thorns and brambles caught us, one 

 or both. Steep crags got in our way on purpose. 

 Gullies sank under our feet. So fully four hours 

 had gone by when we came in view of the landing 

 place again. The cap'ns were hallooing with all 

 their might, but we were too scared to answer 

 and so kept still. That didn't pay, though. When 

 the old man clapped his eyes on me, he hollered 

 out at the top of his lungs, ' Come here, you 

 rascal. I'll learn you to run aAvay ! I'll learn 

 you to keep me waiting ! Come here till I make 

 a little spread-eaglet of you ! I'll learn you this 

 lesson so it'll stick in your back as well as your 

 head ! Come ! Are you dead ? Show a leg there ! ' 



" With that the old man grabbed hold of the 

 boat's warp and was going to give me a thrashing 

 with the bitter end of it. But the other cap'n 

 begged me off. 



" ' Well,' said the old man, ' I'll put druggs on 

 the rascal so he won't run out so blamed swift. 

 Here's what Til do. Cap'n Crocker can have his 

 way about the little spread-eaglet, but I'll have 



