She had never done rough farm work, such as
women all about her did; she had little exercise during the long,
cold winter, and the first half dozen spadefuls tired her until the
tears of self-pity rolled.
"I wish there was a turtle as big as a wash tub in the river" she
sobbed, "and I wish it would eat that old Black Bass to the last
scale. And I'm going to take the shotgun, and go over to the
embankment, and poke it into the tunnel, and blow the old Kingfisher
through into the cornfield. Then maybe Dannie won't go off too and
leave me. I want this onion bed spaded right away, so I do."
"Drop that! Idjit! What you doing?" yelled Jimmy.
"Mary, ye goose!" panted Dannie, as he came hurrying across the
yard. "Wha' do ye mean? Ye knew I'd be back in a minute! Jimmy
juist called me to hear the Bass splash. I was comin' back. Mary,
this amna fair."
Dannie took the spade from her hand, and Mary fled sobbing to the house.
"What's the row?" demanded Jimmy of the suffering Dannie.
"I'd juist started spadin' this onion bed," explained Dannie. "Of
course, she thought we were going to stay all day."
"With no poles, and no bait, and no grub? She didn't think any such
a domn thing," said Jimmy. "You don't know women! She just got to
the place where it's her time to spill brine, and raise a rumpus
about something, and aisy brathin' would start her. Just let her
bawl it out, and thin--we'll get something dacent for dinner."
Dannie turned a spadeful of earth and broke it open, and Jimmy
squatted by the can, and began picking out the angle worms.
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