“I suppose you have been poking a little fun at me all along when you
have hinted at my being a diver, sir. Do you really believe your brother
would give me a thought?”
“He might, if you went to him backed up with a letter from me.”
“I have a mind to ask you for that letter.”
“And you’ll not get it, my boy! I don’t propose to have your uncle Deck
come yowling and clawing at me like an old tom-cat because I have coaxed
his handy-Andy away from him.”
“I don’t like the kind of work he puts me to, Mr. Vose. I have grown up
to be a man, almost, and I understand better than I did at first.”
“You understand, for instance, that when you took that cow away from
Andrew P. Corson last week you left his baby without milk!” He stroked
his nose and peered at me from under eyelids that were cocked like
little tents.
“There was a bill of sale! He made me go and get the cow.”
“But do you know what your uncle did, after that?”
“No, sir!”
“He went to Andrew P. Corson and said you acted without orders. He lent
Corson the money to buy another cow.”