Page:A Girl of the Limberlost.djvu/410

390 "The day is all right," admitted Billy. "I mean every single thing has gone wrong with me." "Now, that is too bad!" sympathized Mrs. Comstock. 'Tell me about it." "Began early this morning," said Billy. "All Snap's fault, too." "Now, what has poor Snap been doing?" demanded Mrs. Comstock, her eyes beginning to twinkle. "Digging for woodchucks, just like he always does. He gets up at two o'clock to dig for them. He was coming in from the woods all tired and covered thick with dirt. I was going to the barn with the pail of water for Uncle Wesley to use in milking. I had to set down the pail to shut the gate so the chickens wouldn't get into the flower beds, and old Snap stuck his dirty nose into the water and began to lap it down. I knew Uncle Wesley wouldn't use that, so I had to go 'way back to the cistern for more, and it pumps awful hard. Made me mad, so I threw the water on Snap." "Well, what of it?" "Nothing, if he'd stood still. But it scared him awful, and when he's afraid he just goes a-humping for Aunt Margaret. When he got right up against her he stiffened out and gave a big shake. You oughter seen the nice blue dress she had put on to go to Onabasha!" Mrs. Comstock and Ammon laughed, but Elnora put her arms around the boy. "Oh, Billy!" she cried. "That was too bad!" "She got up early and ironed that dress to wear