paternal roof,
but, as I went along, my heart began to sink again; visions of a rod,
with which my not too saintly character had made me somewhat familiar,
loomed up before me; but worse than all, the thought of my brother's
ridicule made my sensitive spirit quail. I thought I would evade all for
that night, however, by going quietly up the back stairs, going to bed,
and "playing sick." Fortune favored me. I reached the bedroom without
being seen; and, just as I was, with my hat on, for it could only have
come off with my scalp, I got into bed, and covered myself entirely up
with the bed-clothes. It was now dusk, and I felt for the moment quite
safe. Presently my aunt came into the room to get something for which
she was looking, and I could hear her give several inquiring sniffs, and
as she went out I heard her say: "I certainly do smell tar; where can it
come from?" An interval of peace followed, and then in came my mother.
"Tar? Smell tar? Of course you do; it's strong enough in this room.
Bring a light."

[Illustration: "I COVERED MYSELF WITH THE BED-CLOTHES."]

It was the sound of doom!

My mother soon came close up to the bed, and held the light so that it
fell full upon me as she tried to turn down the bed-clothing. Probably,
if it had not been for several previous scrapes in which I had been
involved, she would have been much frightened; but as it was, the sight
of her young blackamoor had much the same effect upon her as upon my
cousin. Her exclamations and shrieks of laughter brought every member of
the household successively to the room, and as one after another came
in, fresh zest seemed to be given to the merriment of which I was the
unfortunate victim.

But every renewal of the fun was an added agony to me, for I clearly
foresaw that it would be rehearsed by Jack and Tom to all the boys in
the neighborhood. Beside this, I was not in a condition to be hilarious.
Plastered with tar from head to foot; streaming with perspiration at
every pore; my clothes drenched; my hair matted together, and my straw
hat, soaked with water, fastened upon it, and falling limp and wet about
my eyes; I was not rendered more comfortable by the fact that I could
not move without taking pillow and bed-clothes with me, as, in my
desperate desire to conceal myself from view, I had become enwrapped in
the bed-clothing like a caterpillar in its chrysalis; and I was
conscious of a dim fear that if I sat up, with the pillow stuck fa