t he keeps for himself and the rest goes to
the poorhouse managers for his board in the Winter when he can't work.
"Then this boy ups and leaves me and comes to you. It isn't fair, and
I'm not getting the worth of the money I paid. For though he is a lazy
chap I managed to get some chores out of him."
"Of course," said Mr. Brown, "you may be right in what you say about
having the right to this boy's work because you paid for it. As for his
being lazy, I don't agree with you there. He has certainly been a help
to us about the camp."
"Oh, yes, where there's any fun in it Tom's right there! I s'pose he's a
good fisherman?"
"I never saw a better one," said Mr. Brown earnestly, while Bunny Brown
and Sue sat together on a big stump and wondered what it was all about.
"Yes, Tom'd rather fish than eat," said Mr. Bixby slowly, as he crossed
one ragged-trousered leg over the other.
"Who wouldn't with what I got to eat at your cabin?" burst out Tom who
had been standing back near the cook tent. "All I got was potatoes, and
once in a while bacon; I got so hungry I just _had_ to go out and fish."
"Well, we won't go into any argument about it," said Mr. Bixby. "I'm
entitled to work from you and I'm goin' to have you. That's all there
is about it."
"I'll never go back to you to be stung with them needles!" cried Tom.
At this Mr. Brown asked a question.
"What are these 'needles' Tom speaks of?" he asked. "I think I have a
right to know, as he is in my charge now, and if I let him go to you,
and he is hurt, I should feel I was to blame. I want to know about this
needle business."
"There wasn't anything to it. He just imagined it. I used to grab hold
of his arm, to shake him awake mornings, and I'd happen to hit his funny
bone in his elbow. You know how it is when you hit your elbow in a
certain place--it makes it feel as though pins and needles were sticking
in you."
"I have felt that," said Mrs. Brown.
"And so have I," added Bunny. "It's funny!"
"Well, that's all there is to it," said Mr. Bixby. "But I want Tom back.
I'm going to have him, too!"
"You shall have him if you have a right to him. But I shall look into
this first," said Mr. Brown. "You can't take him to-night."
"Oh, well, we sha'n't quarrel over that, as long as I get him to-morrow
to help dig potatoes. But you'll find I'm in the right, and that the boy
belongs to me for the Summer," said the hermit. "I'll do just as I
agreed to by him."
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