Gradually the
truth began to work its way into the head of Hans. Looking sternly at
the two, he asked, in a threatening voice:
"Which of you put dat powder in mine meerschaum, eh? which of you done
dat, eh?"
Neither answered, except by hanging their heads and looking at their
bare feet.
"I axes you once more, and dis is de last time."
Each now protested that it was not himself but the other, so that if
there really were but one culprit, Hans had no means of determining.
Under the circumstances, he concluded the safest plan was to believe
both guilty. Accordingly he made a sudden dash and commenced whacking
them soundly with the stick he held in his hand. They yelled, kicked,
and screamed; and squirming themselves loose, scampered quickly away
from their irate instructor.
"Dat meerschaum can't be fixed," he soliloquized, taking the bare stem
out of his mouth and looking sorrowfully at it. "'Cause dere ishn't
anything to fix it mit. It ish wonderful what mischief gets into dem
boys; dere ain't no time when dey ain't doin' notting what dey hadn't
not ought to--all de times just de same way, while I toils myself to
death to educate dem and bring 'em up in de way apout which dey ought
to go."
Keewaygooshturkumkankangewock being in the habit of frequently
indulging in the use of tobacco, her husband was not deprived entirely
of his solace. Going into the wigwam, he unbosomed his griefs to her,
and she kindly loaned him her own pipe.
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