“Ningapie! Ningapan! He up an' killed the Booger Man! Ningapie, Ningapitch! 'He's the one to kill a witch.' “Johnny wuz so took up wi' the talkin' an' the singin' of the little feller in the acorn that he didn't hear his stepmammy when she come, an' when he did hear her he wuz that skeered that he shook like a poplar-leaf. “'Watch out!' says the little chap in the acorn. 'Watch out! Be right still. Don't move. I want to show you sumpin'.' “'She'll skin me alive,' says Johnny. “'Thess wait,' says the little chap. 'If she calls you, keep right still.' “Mis. Chambliss onlocked the door an' went in the house, an' slammed things down like she wuz mad. She flung the tongs down on the h'ath, slung the shovel in a corner, an' sot a cheer back like she wuz tryin' for to drive it thoo the wall. Then she began to jaw. “'I'll get 'im! Me a-tellin' 'im to stay an' min' the sallid-patch, an' he a-runnin' off! Won't I make 'im pay for it?' “'That's me,' says Johnny, an' he talked like he wuz mighty nigh ready to cry. “'Thess wait!' says the little chap in the acorn. 'Keep right still!' “Bimeby Mis. Chambliss come out'n the house an' looked all aroun'. Then she called Johnny. She had a voice like a dinner-horn, an' you moughter heard her a mile or more. Johnny he shook an' shivered, but he stayed still. His stepmammy called an' called, an' looked ever'whar for Johnny exceptin' in the right place. Then she went back in the house an' presently she come out. She had a little spade in one hand an' a little box in t' other. “'Watch her!' says the little chap in the acorn. 'Keep your eye on her!' “She went down in the gyarden an' walked along tell she come to a Mogul plum-tree, an' then she knelt down an' begun to dig away at the roots of it. She dug an' dug, and then she put the box in the hole an' covered it up. “'Oho!' says the little chap in the acorn. 'Now you see whar she hides her money an' your daddy's money. Ever'body thinks your daddy has been a-throwin' his money away, an' thar's whar it's gone. I've been a-watchin' her a long time.' “'I ain't botherin' 'bout the money,' says Johnny. 'I'm a-thinkin' 'bout the frailin' I'm gwine to git.' “'Well,' says the little chap in the acorn, 'when she goes to the spring for to fetch a bucket of water, put me in your pocket an' climb down from here. Then go up the road a piece, an' there you'll see a red cow a-grazin'. Walk right up to her, slap her on the back, an' say, “Ningapie wants you.” Fetch her home an' tell your stepmammy that a stranger told you that you might have her ef you'd go an' git her.'