hment were not of the flogging kind, but connected with
some way of giving Master Pomp tit for tat by means of a scare; but my
invention was rather at fault, and idea after idea was dismissed as soon
as formed. They were not pleasant ideas, some of them, and they were
all wanting in the element I wished to impart.

One of Sarah's wild-plum jam puffs, with a dose of medicine concealed
therein, was dismissed at once. So was a snake in his bed, because
there were objections to the trick. In all probability the snake would
not stop there; and if it did, as it must necessarily be a harmless one,
it would not frighten Pomp a bit, and might suggest the idea of playing
a similar trick on me.

I could push him into the water first time we were on the river-bank,
but he would only laugh and swim out.

I might lasso him suddenly some day, and tie him up to a tree, and leave
him in the forest without anything to eat for a few hours; but I knew
that I couldn't find the heart to torture the poor fellow like that; and
if I could, no knots that I contrived would ever hold him very long.

"Bah! It's waste of time!" I said; and I gave it up, not knowing that
I should soon have something far more serious to think about. For just
as I was deep in my cogitations I heard a step, and my father came into
sight, looking very hot and tired.

That evening, as we sat together by the light of a candle, with the
forest insects humming round, he said suddenly--

"I'm afraid our troubles with the Spaniards are not over, George. These
people are threatening again."

"But that does not matter, does it, father?"

"I don't know yet, my boy. There is a great deal of braggadocio and
pride in your Spanish don, and they have plenty of enterprise and fight
in them sometimes, as we know by what they have done."

"But will they come and fight against us, father?" I said, eagerly.

"I don't know that they will come and fight against _us_," he replied,
dryly.

I felt the blood come up into my temples, and I spoke quickly--

"I know I'm only a boy, father, and not big enough to fight for you, or
by your side like a soldier, but I could load."

He smiled and leaned toward me, and patted my shoulder.

"I beg your pardon, George," he said, kindly. "I ought not to have
spoken as I did. You are only a boy, and while you are a boy I pray
heaven that you may enjoy a boy's happy life, and that we may be free
from all the troubles that are threate