e out, if you like," said Carter.

Tom looked at him with scorn. "You ain't got enough money to buy my
south field. But I'll thank you for the ten cents you owe us. Abe and I
each did a half day's work."

[Illustration]

Tom's right eye was swelling, and by the time he reached home it was
closed. The bump on the side of his head was the size of a hen's egg.
There was a long scratch down his cheek.

Sarah was kneeling before the fireplace, raking ashes over the potatoes
that she had put in to bake. She jumped up in alarm.

"What's the matter? What happened?" she asked.

"It was like Pa said," Abe told her. "Mr. Carter is a skinflint."

Sarah took Tom by the arm and made him sit down on a stool. She touched
the swollen eye with gentle fingers.

"It don't hurt much," he said.

"I reckon Mr. Carter hurts more," Abe spoke up again. "He has two black
eyes."

Tom slapped his thigh and roared with laughter. "He sure does. But if it
hadn't been for Abe--"

He stopped, embarrassed. Sarah was soaking a cloth in a basin of cold
water. She laid it on his eye.

"What started it all?"

"You tell them, Abe," said Tom.

"That Mr. Carter ain't as smart as he thinks he is," Abe explained. "He
had a paper for Pa to sign and tried to make out it was for just the
south field. And do you know what, Mamma? When Pa asked me to read it,
why, it was for almost our whole farm."

"You don't mean to tell me!" said Sarah.

"Carter said he'd have a new paper made out. But I told him," Tom added
with a touch of pride, "I could do without his money."

"Good for you!" Sarah said, beaming. "Don't you fret. We'll squeak
through somehow. But what if you had signed that paper? The farm would
have been sold right out from under us. I reckon we can feel mighty
proud of Abe."

"Well," Tom admitted, "it didn't hurt that he knew how to read. When did
you say Mr. Swaney aims to start his school?"

"Right after harvest," said Abe before his stepmother had a chance to
answer.

Tom ignored him and went on talking to his wife. "Now, mind you, Sairy,
I ain't saying Abe needs any more eddication. I ain't saying it is
fitting a son should know more'n his pa. But if you think the young ones
should go to this new school for a spell, I won't say no."

He rose and stalked out of the cabin. Then he came back and stuck his
head in at the door.

"Mind you, Abe, you forget to do your chores just one time, and that
schoolmaster won't be seeing you ag