"But what does Mr. Bixby want, Mother? Is he really going to take Tom
away from us?" asked Sue.
"I don't know, my little girl. I hope not. But he seems to have the law
on his side."
"Well, you have your way of looking at it and I have mine," Mr. Bixby
was saying to Mr. Brown. "I hired this boy from the poorhouse and agreed
to pay him certain wages. Part he keeps for himself and the rest goes to
the poorhouse managers for his board in the Winter when he can't work.
"Then this boy ups and leaves me and comes to you. It isn't fair, and
I'm not getting the worth of the money I paid. For though he is a lazy
chap I managed to get some chores out of him."
"Of course," said Mr. Brown, "you may be right in what you say about
having the right to this boy's work because you paid for it. As for his
being lazy, I don't agree with you there. He has certainly been a help
to us about the camp."
"Oh, yes, where there's any fun in it Tom's right there! I s'pose he's a
good fisherman?"
"I never saw a better one," said Mr. Brown earnestly, while Bunny Brown
and Sue sat together on a big stump and wondered what it was all about.
Pages:
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194