McNutt was stumping over the patch and plumping
his wooden foot into every melon he could find, smashing them wantonly
against the ground. The discovery filled them with horror. They had
thought
inducing the agent to rob his own patch
of a few melons, while under the delusion that they belonged to his
enemy Brayley, a bit of harmless fun; but here was the vindictive
fellow actually
destroying his own property by the wholesale.
"Oh, don't! Please don't, Mr. McNutt!" pleaded Patsy, in frightened
accents. "Yes, I will," declared the agent, stubbornly. "I'll git even
with Dan Brayley fer once in my life, ef I never do another thing, by
gum!" "But it's
wrong--it's wicked!" protested Beth. "Can't help it; this is my chance,
an' I'll make them bum fifteen-cent mellings look like
a penny a piece afore I g