d force he could use it. "Yes, that's the way I did it, David. He
applied an oath to me and laid a hand on my shoulder. What else could
I do? I appeal to you--what else could I do but knock him down?"

"And didn't he whip you for it, sir?" I cried, still doubting that the
giant could have fallen beneath such a blow.

"Whip me?" The Professor laughed. "Do you think that great bully could
whip me? Why, David, you quite hurt my feelings. By the time he had
gone over the wood-pile into the rain-barrel there wasn't any fight
left in him. He didn't even speak till he was safe across the
clearing. Then you should have seen him. He has gone down to the
village to get help; he is going to teach me what it means to assault
an officer of the law; he is going to send me to jail for life." The
Professor glared out of the open doorway as fiercely as though the
constable were standing there and he defying him. Then suddenly he
leaned over the table to me, and fixing his eyes on mine asked in a
hoarse voice: "David, did you ever hear of such injustice?"

"No, sir," I answered. "But Mr. Pound said----"

At the mention of Mr. Pound the Professor sat down and the table reeled
under his fist. "Pound--he is at the bottom of it all. He has said
that I am a good-for-nothing loafer and the county should be rid of me.
Maybe he is right. But he won't have his way. I have done nothing and
I will not go--do you hear that, Davy, I will not go. Now tell me what
Mr. Pound said."

In a faltering voice I began my story with that fateful home ride with
James. As I went on I lost my diffidence in my interest in the tale,
and spoke rapidly till the need of breath slowed me down. There were
retrogressions to speak of things which I had forgotten, and many
corrections where I had slightly misquoted Miss Spinner, Mr. Smiley, or
some other equally unimportant person. I told the story as a small boy
recites to his elders the details of some book which he has read; so
the Professor had to check me frequently with admonitions not to mind
what Mrs. Crumple said about my mother's ice-cream and such matters,
but to tell him exactly what my father said of him. Still I persisted
in my own way, bound that whatever I did should be done thoroughly,
even though he might hold in contempt my effort to be of service to
him. When at last there was not a word left untold, he leaned back in
his chair and gazed at me with a look of utter helplessness.