"Hold on!" cried the farmer, turning back, "you ain't goin'."

Joel stood absolutely still. "Not going!"

"Th' idee o' takin' a leetle chap like you," laughed Deacon
Blodgett. "Why, I couldn't look your Ma in the face, Joel Pepper,
ef I sh'd do sech a thing."

Joel scanned Ben's face.

"I'm sorry, Joe," said Ben, "but Mamsie wouldn't like it, you
know."

Joel gave a howl. "They're mine. And he's my man who stole our
bread; an' they all b'long to me, for I found 'em." He kept
screaming on.

"Mercy me!" cried Ben, shaking his arm, "stop screaming so, Joe,
you're scaring all Mr. Blodgett's men. They'll think you're half
killed. See 'em running here."

"I don't have to go after 'em, to call 'em, s'long as you yell
like that," observed Farmer Blodgett, grimly.

"An' they all b'long to me, every single one of 'em," screamed
Joel, harder than ever, "so there! an' Mamsie'd let me," he
added in a fresh burst.

"Well, I can't let you," declared Ben, decidedly, "without she
says so; and if we wait here much longer, all those fellows will