THE STEADFAST HEART
“I’ll stir him.”
“Don’t go knocking him around. He’s lost his appetite for it. Once Angus gets to going and he’ll whiz. He hasn’t all that head bulging behind his ears for nothing.”
Jake turned morosely to Angus. “What kin you do?” he demanded sharply.
The boy looked first at Jake, and then to Wilkins for support. “I kin split wood,” he said.
“There hain’t what you might call a openin’ for a woodchopper in this print shop…. Kin you make a broom do its duty?”
Angus shook his head. A broom was an implement of cleanliness and with such he had known small experience.
“Broom and sprinklin’ can is back in the corner, and some sawdust in a bag. Git ’em.”
When Angus returned, Jake directed the spreading of the sawdust and the wetting of it with the sprinkling can.
“Now,” said Dave, “see how clean you can sweep it, Angus. I’ll come down after a little to see what sort of a job you make of it.”
Dave returned in half an hour to fulfill his promise of inspection, but stopped to speak with Jake about some handbills which should be ready for delivery. Several minutes were consumed in discussing this detail. While the conversation progressed, Angus, who had lingered in the rear
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