FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51  
52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   >>   >|  
small; but he's got all the world before him to grow in, an' if he only eats enough--There, that reminds me. Job isn't going to give him any supper, because he didn't work hard enough." "He won't, won't he?" exclaimed the large lady, savagely. "Oh, he's a precious one, he is! An' some day I shall just give him a good shakin' up, that's what I'll do. I get all out of patience with that man's ugliness." "An' she'll do just what she says," said the skeleton to Toby, with an admiring shake of the head. "That woman hain't afraid of anybody, an' I wouldn't be a bit surprised if she did give Job a pretty rough time." Toby thought, as he looked at her, that she was large enough to give 'most anyone a pretty rough time, but he did not venture to say so. While he was looking first at her, and then at her very thin husband, the skeleton told his wife the little that he had learned regarding the boy's history; and when he had concluded she waddled away toward her tent. "Great woman that," said the skeleton, as he saw her disappear within the tent. "Yes," said Toby, "she's the greatest I ever saw." "I mean that she's got a great head. Now you'll see about how much she cares for what Job says." "If I was as big as her," said Toby, with just a shade of envy in his voice, "I wouldn't be afraid of anybody." "It hain't so much the size," said the skeleton, sagely--"it hain't so much the size, my boy; for I can scare that woman almost to death when I feel like it." Toby looked for a moment at Mr. Treat's thin legs and arms, and then he said, warningly, "I wouldn't feel like it very often if I was you, Mr. Treat, 'cause she might break some of your bones if you didn't happen to scare her enough." "Don't fear for me, my boy--don't fear for me; you'll see how I manage her if you stay with the circus long enough. Now I often--" If Mr. Treat was about to confide a family secret to Toby, it was fated that he should not hear it then, for Mrs. Treat had just come out of her tent, carrying in her hands a large tin plate piled high with a miscellaneous assortment of pie, cake, bread, and meat. She placed this in front of Toby, and as she did so she handed him two pictures. "There, little Toby Tyler," she said--"there's something for you to eat, if Mr. Job Lord and his precious partner Jacobs did say you shouldn't have any supper; an' I've brought you a picture of Samuel an' me. We sell 'em for ten cents apiece, but I'm
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51  
52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
skeleton
 

wouldn

 

supper

 

pretty

 

looked

 

precious

 

afraid

 
secret
 

family


confide
 

carrying

 

circus

 

happen

 

warningly

 

manage

 
brought
 

shouldn

 
Jacobs

partner

 

picture

 

Samuel

 
apiece
 

miscellaneous

 

assortment

 

pictures

 

handed

 

husband


reminds
 

exclaimed

 

learned

 
concluded
 

waddled

 
ugliness
 

history

 

thought

 

surprised


admiring

 

venture

 

sagely

 

shakin

 

disappear

 

greatest

 

patience

 
savagely
 
moment