on the dead leaves. He laughed and said that he did not
suppose that I would have been very much frightened had the cat jumped
at me. Then I told him that I was the biggest coward on earth, and
sought to prove it by offering to let him kick me as long as he might
find it amusing. I told him that everybody despised me for the way I had
beaten him, everybody, including my own family, and that I deserved the
censure of all good people. We talked a long time, and he laughed a
great deal, but when I told him that I was coming over to work for him
three weeks, his eyes grew brighter with tears. This filled me up again
and I could do nothing but blubber. After a long time I asked him if he
would do me a favor, and he said that he would. Then I took out a watch
that I had brought in a buckskin bag, and I said, "Here is a thing that
used to belong to my grandfather, and it was given me by mother when I
was ten years old. It is a fine time-piece and is solid. Now, I want you
to take it as a present from me. You said you would do me a favor." But
he declared that he could not take it. "Why, I would despise myself if I
did," said he. I told him that I would despise myself if he did not. His
mother, who had left us alone, came in, smiling, and said that I must
not think of parting with so valuable a watch, the mark of my
grandfather's gentility, but I put the watch on the table and plunged
out into the rain and was gone. Bentley's mother returned the watch the
next day, and then there went about the neighborhood a report that I was
so much afraid of Bentley's revenge that I had tried to buy him off with
a watch. Bentley had said that I should not work for him, but when the
time for breaking up the land came, I went over and began to plow the
field. His mother came out and compelled me to quit, but I went back at
night and plowed while other people slept; and thus I worked until much
of his corn-land was broken up. The neighbors said that I had gone
insane, and a few days afterward, when I met a woman in the road, she
jerked her old mare in an effort to get away, and piteously begged me
not to hurt her. I made no further attempt to get into "company," and
thus, forced back upon myself, I began to form the habits of a student;
and to aid me in my determination to study law, I decided to teach
school. So, when I was almost grown--or, rather, about twenty-three
years old, for I appeared to keep on growing--I went over into another
neighbo