If only I could hold the Captain here a bit while he got in! Nils realizes
there is no time to be lost--he is already unfastening the harness on the
way.
Suddenly the Captain looks at me, and asks:
"Well, have you lost your tongue?"
"'Twas Nils," I answer then. "Something gone wrong, it looks like; he's
taken the horses out."
"Well, and what then?"
"Nay, I was only thinking...."
But there I stopped. Devil take it, was I to stand there playing the
hypocrite? Here was my chance to put in a word for Nils; the next round he
would have to manage alone.
"It's the spring season now," I said, "and there's green showing already
where we're done. But there's a deal more to do yet, and we...."
"Well, and what then--what then?"
"There's two and a half acres here, and Nils with hard on three acres of
corn land; perhaps Captain might give it another thought."
At that the Captain swung on his heel and left me without a word.
"That's my dismissal," I thought to myself.
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