drawled. "Say, do you know a young gal like her ain't strong enough to
lick scholars as sound as they ought to be licked, and thar is _some_
talk about appointin' some able-bodied man that lives close about to
step in an' sort o' clean up two or three times a week. I don't know
but what I'd like the job. A feller that goes as nigh naked as you do
would be a blame good thing to practise on."

"Huh!" the boy sniffed, as he tossed back his shaggy brown hair. "You
talk mighty big. I'd like to see you try to whip me--I shore would."

"Well, I may give you the chance if Dolly calls on me to help 'er
out," Webb laughed. "Say, I started to tell you a secret, but I
won't."

"I already know what it is," George said, with a mischievous grin.

"You say you do?" Webb was caught in the wily fellow's snare.

"Yes, you are going to get married." The boy now burst into a roar of
laughter and threw himself back on the grass. "You and Sue Tidwell are
going to get spliced. The whole valley's talking about it, and hoping
that it will be public like an election barbecue. You with your red
head and freckled face and her with her stub nose and--"

"That will do--that will do!" Webb's frown seemed to deepen the flush
which, fold upon fold, came into his face. "Jokin' is all right, but
it ain't fair to bring in a lady's name."

"Oh no, of course not." The boy continued to laugh through the net
which he had drawn over him. "The shoe is on the other foot now."