Part 22 (2/2)

CHAPTER XX

FOLLOWED BY SANDY

”I have it!” exclaimed Frank. ”Get into our boat and we'll land you anywhere you want.”

”Will ye?” asked the farmer. ”That'll be th' thing. I'll fool th' savage critter. This is where I git ahead of ye, Stonewall Jackson,” he added, shaking his fist again at the bull.

”Is that his name?” asked Ned.

”I named him that about an hour ago,” the farmer said. ”He was wuss than a stone wall for me, th' way he kept me from gittin' out of th' river.

'Fore that his name was jest plain William.”

”Named after any one?” inquired Bart as the farmer got into the rowboat.

”Not special. Ye see I took him for a debt a feller owed me, an' I named him William 'cause I took him for a bill, see? Bill bein' short for William.”

”Oh, you needn't explain,” said Bart, as he joined in the laugh that followed.

”I've got th' best on ye now,” the farmer went on, looking at the beast as the boys rowed the boat out into deeper water.

The bull seemed to think so, for with a loud bellow it went back to the middle of the pasture and began eating.

”He fairly had me,” the farmer said. ”He could run along sh.o.r.e a good deal faster than I could wade in th' water, and th' pasture runs along th' river for three miles, without a fence wuth speakin' of. I couldn't see no way of escapin'. It's lucky you come along. Are you boatin' for a livin'?”

”No, we're taking a sort of vacation,” replied Ned.

”Had breakfast?” inquired the farmer.

”Oh yes, early this morning.”

”Wish I had. Next time I try t' ring a bull's nose 'fore I git my meal I'll be a older man. I was goin' t' ask ye t' have some breakfast with me,” he went on. ”My name's Garfield Johnson. I've got quite a farm.”

”Much obliged, Mr. Johnson,” said Bart, ”but we're just roughing it, and we're not dressed for company.”

”Green onions! Neither be I!” exclaimed the farmer. ”Look at my boots, all wet and my pants too. I wonder what Mandy'll say. Mandy's my wife,”

he added, ”an' she's dreadful particular.”

The boys beached the boat in about half an hour, and tying it fast followed Mr. Johnson to his house, facing on a lane which led out to a country road.

”We'll go in th' back way,” said Mr. Johnson. ”Mandy's particular about her floors, an' I'm sorter--.” He looked down at his trousers, which still dripped water, and laughed.

Mr. Johnson introduced the boys to his wife, telling her what had happened. She insisted that the chums remain to breakfast which they did, though they had eaten a few hours previously. They declined an invitation to stay to dinner. Mr. Johnson made them take a big pail of milk, while his wife added a bag of home-made crullers and some cheese, which formed a welcome addition to their larder.

”If you row up stream a mile you'll be right opposite the village, or you can go by the road,” said the farmer as they bade him and his wife good-bye.

Fenn and Bart decided they would walk, and let Frank and Ned row the boat up and meet them. They wanted to get some condensed milk and matches, of which they had run out.

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