Down the Ravine

ze Rufe returned wit

ice's harnt lately?" he once

with both arms, his old, bent, wool hat perched on the back of his tow head, a

ughed lazily, as

erved to make him so pert and forward, the tanner said, humoring the privile

crooked finger. "He air so peart an' forehanded a-viewin' harnts, he don't hev to wait til

. He took his pipe from his mouth, and glanced over his shoulder

Rufe; the knife lay unheeded on the ground at his f

owly, "Birt tole y

ally to and fro in imminent peril of toppling

d Byers, with a

suspected filial treachery in the ma

urn, not comprehendi

- I reckon ye knows him. That thar freckled-faced, snaggled-toothed, r

er, puzzled by Byers's grave, anxiou

lf - Tom say the calf war spotted red an' white - an' jes' ez he war a-leadin' it home with him, his dad kem racin' inter the house with sech a rumpus ez woke him up, an' he never got the calf along no furder than the turn in the road. An' thar sot his dad in the cheer, declarin'

in equally excellent mimicry of a ghost-seer, or

ngue. I couldn't stop laffin' long enough ter tell Tom what I war laffin' at. An' ez Tom knowed I war snake-bit las' June, he went home an' tole

ered tanner glanced

xclaimed, feeling aggrieved, thus balked of a sensation. "An' the old woman ain'

e hed tole me he'd skeer the wits out'n me, I 'lowed ez I could show him ez his wits warn't ez tough ez mine. Though," added the roguish Rufe, with a grin of enjoyment, "arter I hed dressed up the blackberry bush in

uddenly. "Waal, Bi

credit, of the enterprise. "Birt dunno nuthin' 'bout it ter this good day." Rufe wi

aintained a most i

ll?" he said interrogatively,

ndy?" he cried. "Though ye never seen no harnt, ye 'pear ter

, and began to shiver in imagi

Price's - harn

rkins thought Rufe's comicality most praiseworthy - his

rmint!" he cried suddenly

ufe afterward declared, he assisted the small boy through the air with a celerity that caused Rufe to wink very

mself together, and went demurely and sat down on the lowest log of the wood-pile. After a little he produced a papaw from his poc

yard, and was lying asleep beside the wo

ight, facing Rufe, and eyeing the papaw gloatingly. He wagged his tail in

nciple; but he was given no opportunity to sample it, for Rufe hardly noticed him, being absorbed in d

a smouldering fire in the "smoke-room" for the purpose of drying the hides suspended from th

ir the differ ter ye, Andy, whether 't war bub, hyar, or Birt, ez dr

"Whar's Birt, ennyhow?"

e him ez he mought ez well hev the rest o' ter-day. He 'lowed ez he warn't partic'lar 'bout a day off, now. But I tole him enn

emoniously in the conversation of his elders. "Now, Birt

son he never tole ye, b

xperienced some surprise to hear of the unwonted sylvan recreations of the young drudge. He noticed that the mule was off duty too, grazing among the bushes just beyond the fe

his exclamato

t me tech Birt's rifle, 'thout it air ez empty ez a gourd! She say she air feared I'll shoot my head off, an' she don't want no

as' seen him," replied the tanner; "ef ye stir yer

icity to be expected only of a rubber dog. As he uttered a shrill yelp of delight, he sprang up against Rufe, who, reeling under the shock, dropped the remnant of the papaw. Towse darted upon it, sniffed

progress through the underbrush was marked by an abnormal commotion among the leaves, as

oked for a ti

n' ter be let ter wor

his shaggy eyeb

y ez he mought steal su'thin' else, an' I ain't ekal ter keepin' up a spry lookout on things, an' bein' p

etoads and the locusts were trolling a chorus. So loudly vibrant, it was! So clamorously gay! Some subtle intimation they surely had that summer was ephemeral and the season waning, for the burden of their song was, Let us now be merry. The scarlet head of a woodpecker showed bril

suggested presently, with more conscience in the matte

in' right," said B

dpecker was solemnl

rn whence the sudden sound came,

tole that thar grant from N

ne it," said Bye

s lips. "What ails ye ter say th

ed his fingers once or twice across the bl

eep the

' my boot," sa

aa

blackberry bush ez Mrs. Price's harnt. An' then I'd remember ez his mother war a widder-woman, an' he war nothin' but a boy, an' boys air bound ter be gamesome an' full o' jokes wunst in a while, an' I'd feel like I war bound ter furgive him 'bout the harnt. An' then ag'in I got toler'ble oneas

ping of the woodpeck

grant, Andy?" asked the

im slyin' round, an' I hev fun

as solemnly tapping, high