She touched
the swollen eye with gentle fingers.
"It don't hurt much," he said.
"I reckon Mr. Carter hurts more," Abe spoke up again. "He has two black
eyes."
Tom slapped his thigh and roared with laughter. "He sure does. But if it
hadn't been for Abe--"
He stopped, embarrassed. Sarah was soaking a cloth in a basin of cold
water. She laid it on his eye.
"What started it all?"
"You tell them, Abe," said Tom.
"That Mr. Carter ain't as smart as he thinks he is," Abe explained. "He
had a paper for Pa to sign and tried to make out it was for just the
south field. And do you know what, Mamma? When Pa asked me to read it,
why, it was for almost our whole farm."
"You don't mean to tell me!" said Sarah.
"Carter said he'd have a new paper made out. But I told him," Tom added
with a touch of pride, "I could do without his money."
"Good for you!" Sarah said, beaming. "Don't you fret. We'll squeak
through somehow. But what if you had signed that paper? The farm would
have been sold right out from under us. I reckon we can feel mighty
proud of Abe."
"Well," Tom admitted, "it didn't hurt that he knew how to read.
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