: "Might jus' as well get th'
game with th' name."

For several nights after the departure of the big brothers, the little
girl came home radiant, brushes dangling from her apron ruffle like
scalps. Then, one evening, when four catches should have made her happy,
she ate her supper with a sad and puzzled face, and afterward added
only _two_ tails to her string. Her mother, seeing that something was
troubling her, inquired what it was; but, on hearing the story, went
into such a hearty fit of laughter that the little girl's feelings were
hurt very much, and she went to bed on the instant. She did not broach
the subject again. But while the two weeks of her big brothers' absence
were passing, she was often dejected.

After supper, the first night of their return, when the benches were
still drawn up around the table, and the big brothers, tired with their
long ride, were pulling at their corn-cob pipes, the little girl went up
to the eldest and touched him timidly on the arm.

"Well, youngster," he said, "how many gophers have you snared since
we've been gone?"

The little girl got red suddenly, and hesitated before she spoke.
"Sixty," she answered, half under her breath.

The biggest brother took his pipe out of his mouth in mock astonishment.
"Sixty!" he exclaimed. "Why, geewhitaker! you'll break the bank if you
don't look out!"

The eldest brother put his hand into his pocket and took out some
change. "Get the string," he said, "and here's your money."

The little girl looked at the coins mournfully, and then around the
circle, and stepped back a few paces. "You won't b'lieve me when you
see it," she said. She went out and came back presently, holding up the
tails.

The eldest brother took them out of her hand, and she stood silently by
while he counted them. When he had finished, he looked at her crossly.
"Sixty!" he sneered. "You haven't caught no such thing! Here's only
twenty." He waved the brushes in the air, and the little girl trembled
visibly. "Did you think I'd pay you for sixty," he continued, "when you
ain't got the tails to show for 'em?"

The little girl trembled more than ever. "Honest," she said; "honest! We
caught sixty--we did, truly--"

"Where are their tails, then? where are their tails?" asked the eldest
brother, impatiently, shaking the string so violently that some of the
brushes fell off. "You _say_ you did--_but what have you got to show for
'em_?"

The little girl came closer, he