It'll be a watch chain, an' I've made a watch out of a walnut.
It can't keep time, of course," he added, "'cep'n for that it's really a
sho' nough watch." His small freckled face, overhung by a mat of carroty
hair, was wreathed in a contagious, an intoxicating smile--the smile of
one who has bought happiness at the price of duty, and whose enjoyment
is sweetened by the secret knowledge that he has successfully eluded the
Stern Daughter of the Voice of God. Instinctively, Abel was aware that
the savour was not in the chinquapins, but in the disobedience, and his
heart warmed to the boy with the freckled face.
"Are you going home now?" he asked.
"You bet I ain't. I've got my snack ma fixed for me." He unrolled a
brown paper package and revealed two thin slices of bread with a fishing
hook stuck in one corner. "Thar's apple-butter between 'em," he added,
rolling his tongue, and a minute later, "Ma'd whip me jest the same,
an' I'd ruther be whipped for a whole day than for a half. Besides," he
burst out as though the mental image convulsed him with delight, "if I
went home I'd have to help her tote the water for the washin'.
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