"I often thought of home, and, indeed, wished bad enough to be
there. But when I thought of the school-house, and of Kitchen, my
master, and of the race with my father, and of the big hickory stick
he carried, and of the fierceness of the storm of wrath I had left
him in, I was afraid to venture back. I knew my father's nature so
well, that I was certain his anger would hang on to him like a
turtle does to a fisherman's toe. The promised whipping came slap
down upon every thought of home."

Travelling back with the wagon, after two days' journey, he met his
brother again, who had then decided to return himself to the
parental cabin in Tennessee. He pleaded hard with David to accompany
him reminding him of the love of his mother and his sisters. The
boy, though all unused to weeping, was moved to tears. But the
thought of the hickory stick, and of his father's brawny arm,
decided the question. With his friend Myers he pressed on, farther
and farther from home, to Gerardstown.






CHAPTER II.

Youthful Adventures.

David at Gerardstown.--Trip to Baltimore.--Anecdotes.--He ships for
London.--Disappointment.--Defrauded of his Wages.--Escapes.--New