"Yas, sir. Won't you p-p-please t-take it?"

"Did yer folks tell ye to give me this money?"

"Why, no. I'd oughter hev asked 'em, I s'pose, but I never thought o'
that. Honest Injun, Mr. Spooner, I didn't--and--and it's my own
money," she concluded, half defiantly, "an' Popsy said as how I could
do what I liked with it. Please take it."

"No," said Pap.

He stared at us, clicking his teeth and frowning. Then he said,
curtly, "Wal, I'll take the dime, Sissy--I kin make a dime go farther
than a dollar, can't I, boys?"

"You bet," said Ajax.

"And now, Sissy, you run along home," said Pap.

"We'll take her," I said, for Sissy was a sworn friend of ours. At
once she put her left hand into mine. We bade the old man good-night,
and took leave of him. On the threshold Ajax turned and asked a
question----

"Won't you reconsider your decision, Mr. Spooner?"

"No," he snapped, "I won't. I dunno as all this ain't a reg'lar plant.
Looks like it. And, as I say, the scallywags in these yere foothills
need thinnin'--they need thinnin'."