Then he washed the plate nicely; and seeing
no one in sight, he thought he could leave the booth long enough
to return the plate.
He ran with it quickly into the tent occupied by the thin man and
fat woman, and handed it to her, with a profusion of thanks for
her kindness.
"Did you eat it all?" she asked.
"Well," hesitated Toby, "there was two doughnuts an' a piece of
pie left over, an' I put them in my pocket. If you don't care, I'll
eat them some time tonight."
"You shall eat it whenever you want to; an' any time that you get
hungry again you come right to me."
"Thank you, marm. I must go now, for I left the store all alone."
"Run, then; an' if Job abuses you, just let me know it, an' I'll
keep him from cuttin' up any monkeyshines."
Toby hardly heard the end of her sentence, so great was his haste
to get back to the booth; and just as he emerged from the tent, on
a quick run, he received a blow on the ear which sent him sprawling
in the dust, and he heard Mr. Job Lord's angry voice as it said,
"So, just the moment my back is turned you leave the stand to take
care of itself, do you, an' run around tryin' to plot some mischief
against me, eh?" And the brute kicked the prostrate boy twice with
his heavy boot.
"Please don't kick me again!" pleaded Toby. "I wasn't gone but a
minute, an' I wasn't doing anything bad."
"You're lying now, an' you know it, you young cub!" exclaimed the
angry man as he advanced to kick the boy again.
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