Betty sprang up on the gate, her eyes blazing.

"How dare you!" she cried, her voice shaking with anger. "How dare
you strike him! I'll scream till some one comes if you touch him.
Those men at the barn won't stand by and see you beat a boy."

"Hoity toity!" sputtered the amazed farmer, confronting the angry
girl in the middy blouse with the blazing cheeks and tangled dark
braids.

Bob tried to pull himself free, but was brought up short by a quick
twist.

"I'm not through with you," Peabody informed him grimly. He glanced
quickly toward the barn and observed the men watching him covertly.
It was the better part of discretion, something told him, not to flog
the boy before so many witnesses.

"I'm through with you!" declared Bob through clenched teeth. "I'm
going! You've had all out of me you're going to get. Let go of me!"

For answer, Peabody tightened his hold on the worn shirt collar.

"Is that so?" he drawled. "Let me tell you, Mr. Smarty, you'll go
out to that barn and pitch down the hay you were supposed to do this
afternoon or you'll go back to the poorhouse. You can take your
choice. The county has a place for incorrigible boys, and if you go
far enough you'll land in the reform school. Are you going out to the
barn or not?"