I got kind o' mixed up in 'em, an' somebody tried to git my tin pail, or I thought he did, an' the upshot was that I lost sight o' Billy P., an' couldn't make out to ketch a glimpse of him nowhere.

An' _then_ I kind o' come down to earth, kerchug! It was five o'clock, an' I had better 'n four mile to walk--mostly up hill--an' if I knowed anything 'bout the old man, an' I thought I _did_, I had the all-firedist lickin' ahead of me 't I'd ever got, an' that was sayin' a good deal.

But, boy 's I was, I had grit enough to allow 't was wuth it, an' off I put." "Did he lick ye much ?" inqured Mrs.Cullom anxiously.
"Wa'al," replied David, "he done his best.

He was layin' fer me when I struck the front gate--I knowed it wa'n't no use to try the back door, an' he took me by the ear--most pulled it off--an' marched me off to the barn shed without a word.

I never see him so mad.