"Will he use a crutch?" but Aunty May didn't know. She hoped not. And
now, would I please get well, and be ready for her to hand me over whole
to Uncle Burt.

I said I would, but she'd have to be handed over too, for Uncle Burt
told me to take care of her for him.

I got better, and so did Aunty May. As fast as I grew better, she got
more cheerful, and we used to have lots of fun. But all the time we
stayed in the tent, and never went to the house. I used to hear
hammerings and things, but I never saw anything, because I wasn't
allowed to walk yet on account of the anti-toxin. I don't know whether
that word is spelled right, but I don't like to ask Aunty May, it always
makes her pale when I say the word.

One day, Aunty May brought a boy down the path with her. A mule boy. I
heard the mules waiting for him outside, and it was the "cap and eel"
boy, and he said, "How are you, young feller? Heerd you was sick!"

"Who told you?" I said.

"The Mushrat," he said. "He came a-whooping and a-running up the canal
one night, an' hollered to me in passing that he wasn't going to bring
no pitcher-books back to no diphtheria sore-throaters. Kina cowardly
fellers, them mush-rats, so I brung it myself. Say, when ye going to get
up and paste me?"

"When you put those turkey-red trousers on your mule," I said.

And then we both laughed, and Aunty May give him another picture-book,