Towards evenin' I heard a most an awful
yell, and looked round, and there was Eb shoutin' and screamin' at the
tip eend of his voice, and a jumpin' up and down, as if he had been
bit by a rattlesnake.
"'What in natur is the matter of you, Eb?' sais I. 'What are you a
makin' such an everlastin' touss about?' But the more I asked, the
more he wouldn't answer. At last, I thought I saw a splash in the
water, as if somebody was making a desperate splurging there, and I
pulled for it, and raced to where he was in no time, and sure enough
there was his little brother, Zeb, just a sinkin' out of sight. So I
makes a spring in after him in no time, caught him by the hair of his
head, just as he was vamosing, and swam ashore with him. The
bull-rushes and long water-grass was considerable thick there, and
once or twice I thought in my soul I should have to let go my hold of
the child, and leave him to save my own life, my feet got so tangled
in it; but I stuck to it like a good fellow, and worked my passage out
with the youngster.
"Just then, down came the women folk and all the family of the Snells,
and the old woman made right at me, as cross as a bear that has cubs,
she looked like a perfect fury.
"'You good-for-nothin' young scallowag,' said she, 'is that the way
you take care of that poor dear little boy, to let him fall into the
pond, and get half drowned?'
"And she up and boxed my ears right and left, till sparks came out of
my eyes like a blacksmith's chimney, and my hat, which was all soft
with water, got the crown knocked in in the scuffle, and was as flat
as a pancake.
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