"Well," he said, "what is it? Want to speak to me?"
"Yes, sir," I burst out; "I want to tell you that I--that I broke--"
"The ladder, eh?" he said smiling. "That's right, Grant; always speak
out when you have had an accident of any kind. Nothing like being
frank. It's honest and gives people confidence in you. Yes, I know all
about the ladder. I was coming to see if you wanted it moved when I saw
you overcome by it. Did Ike trim off that branch?"
"Yes, sir," I cried hastily. "I'm very sorry, sir. I did not know
that--"
"It was so heavy, Grant. Leverage, my boy. A strong man can hardly
hold a ladder if he gets it off the balance."
"Will it cost much to--"
"It was an old ladder, Grant, and I'm not sorry it is broken; for there
was a bad crack there, I see, covered over by the paint. We might have
had a nasty accident. It will do now for the low trees. Look here."
He led me into the shed where the ladders hung, and showed me the broken
ladder, neatly sawn off at the top, and thinned down a little, and
trimmed off with a spokeshave, while a pot of lead-coloured paint and a
brush stood by with which the old gentleman had been going over the
freshly-cut wood.
"My job," he said quietly. "Dry by to-morrow. You were quite right to
tell me."
Then there was a pause.
"How many apples does that make you've had to-day?" he said, suddenly.
"Apples, sir? Oh! that was the first."
"Humph!" he ejaculated, looking at me sharply. "And so you've been
having a set-to with Shock, eh?"
"Yes, sir," I said in an aggrieved tone; "he--"
"Don't tell tales out of school, Grant," he said. "You've had your
fight, and have come off better than I expected. Don't let's have any
more of it, if you can help it. There, have a wash; make haste.
Dinner's waiting."
The relief I felt was something tremendous, and though five minutes or
so before I had not wanted any dinner, I had no sooner had a good wash
in the tin bowl with the clean cold water from the pump, and a good rub
with the round towel behind the kitchen door, than I felt outrageously
hungry; and it was quite a happy, flushed face, with a strapped-up wound
on the forehead and a rather swollen and cut lip, that looked out at me
from the little square shaving glass on the wall.
That morning I had been despondently thinking that I was making no end
of enemies in my new home. That afternoon I began to find that things
were not so very bad after all. Shock was sulky, and seemed to delight
in showing me the roots of his hair in the nape of his neck, always
turning his back; but he did not throw any more apples and he played no
more pranks, but went on steadily picking.