been done right if ye didn't take proper
time fer it, Nat Nason! I know you! You are gittin' lazy!"

"I'm not lazy!" cried the boy, indignantly. "I work as hard as anybody
around here."

"Don't you talk back to me!" ejaculated Abner Balberry. "I say you are
lazy, an' I know. How many fish did ye catch?"

"I only got two. They didn't bite very well to-day."

"Humph! A-wastin' three hours an' more jest to catch two little fish! If
I let you go your own way, Nat Nason, you'll be in the poorhouse before
you die."

"I don't think I'll ever get to the poorhouse, Uncle Abner."

"Oh, don't talk back! Take your fish to the kitchen an' then git down to
the barnyard as quick as you can. You've got to help me milk to-night.
An' don't you dare to go fishin' ag'in, unless I give ye permission,"
added Abner Balberry, as he strode off towards the barn.

A sharp answer arose to Nat Nason's lips, but he checked it and turned
toward the kitchen of the farmhouse.

"What luck did you have, Nat?" questioned the did woman who was Abner
Balberry's housekeeper.

"Not much luck, Mrs. Felton. They didn't bite very well to-day."

"What was Mr. Balberry saying to you?" went on Mrs. Felton, who had been
housekeeper at the place since the death of Mrs. Balberry, two years
before.

"He was mad because I went fishing."

"I am sorry to hear that."

"Uncle Abner never wants me to have any sport."

"He's a hard-working man, and always was, Nat. He doesn't believe in
wasting time."

"But a fellow ought to have a little time off."

"That may be true."

"Don't you think I work pretty hard for a boy of my age?"

"I do, Nat."

"Uncle Abner wants to make a regular slave out of a fellow."

"Didn't he say you were to help him milk to-night?"

"Yes, and I might as well get at it right away. If I don't, he'll give
me another jawing," answered the boy, and placing his fish on a bench,
he strode off toward the barnyard.

Nat Nason was an orphan, the only child of Mr. William Nason, who had
been a brother to the late Mrs. Balberry. The boy's father had been
killed in a runaway and his mother had never gotten over the shock of
the sudden death.

When the youth found himself an orphan he was taken in by his Aunt Mary,
who did what she could for him. The Nasons had not been rich, so there
was little or no money coming to Nat. From the start he was told that he
must earn his own living, and this he proceeded to do to the best of his
ability.