"We'll have no more monkeyshines," he said severely. "Go on with the
introducing."

One day Abe almost got into real trouble. He had started for school
early, as he often did, so that he could read one of Master Crawford's
books. He was feeling sad as he walked through the woods; he seemed to
miss his mother more each day. When he went into the schoolhouse, he
looked up and saw a pair of deer antlers. Master Crawford had gone
hunting. He had shot a deer and nailed the antlers above the door.

What a wonderful place to swing! thought Abe. He leaped up and caught
hold of the prongs. He began swinging back and forth.

CRASH! One prong came off in his hand, and he fell to the floor. He
hurried to his seat, hoping that the master would not notice.

But Master Crawford was proud of those antlers. When he saw what had
happened, he picked up the switch on his desk. It made a swishing sound
as he swung it back and forth.

"Who broke my deer antlers?" he shouted.

No one answered. Abe hunched down as far as he could on the bench. He
seemed to be trying to hide inside his buckskin shirt.

Master Crawford repeated his question. "Who broke my deer antlers? I
aim to find out, if I have to thrash every scholar in this school."

All of the children looked scared, Abe most of all. But he stood up. He
marched up to Master Crawford's desk and held out the broken prong that