"My land! It'll make him _sick_!" cried Mrs. Baxter. "Well, I guess! If there's a sicker boy in Kingdom than what he'll be, I'm sorry for him!" Pippin threw back his head and laughed gleefully, Mr. Baxter joining in with a deep rumble over his pork and beans. Mrs. Baxter's dark eyes flashed. "I'd like to know what _you_ find to laugh at, Timothy Baxter! I must say I think you're real unfeelin', both of you." She brushed the crumbs from her apron with hands that trembled. "That boy--and you _said_ he was motherless, Pippin, I heard you--out in the rain all day, half starved, and then to make him sick--there! I think menfolks is just _mean_!" She rose from the table. As she turned away, Pippin caught at the corner of her apron. "Don't be mad with me, Mis' Baxter!" he pleaded. "Well, I _am_!" Mrs. Baxter turned squarely upon him. "I am mad with both of you, and what's more, I'm disgusted. There!" "Hold on, Ma!" Father Baxter pushed his chair back and came to lay a calm hand on her shoulder. "Now, Ma, you behave! We agreed to let Pippin run this show, didn't we? Well, then, what I say is, _let_ him run it!" "But I never--" Mrs. Baxter began indignantly. "Hold on, Ma! Pippin knows this kind of boy, and you don't, nor I don't, over 'n' above. He ain't calculatin' to give him a birthday party, with a frosted cake and seventeen candles and one to grow on; are you, Pippin?" "You bet I ain't!" Pippin was glowing with earnestness. "I'm goin' to give him--why, look at here, Mis' Baxter! When Buster ate them green apples last week, what was't you give him? A portion of physic, wasn't it? I thought so! Well, you physicked his stummick, 'cause he'd got things in it that didn't belong there; woman dear, I'm goin' to physic this boy's soul, and don't you forget it!" At the ring in his voice, the kindling light in his eyes, the good woman melted. The tears came into her eyes and her lips quivered. "That's right!" Pippin was stroking her head now and talking as if to a little child. "You'll see, 'twill all come out nice as pie. And you got your part to do, you know, Mis' Baxter. You're goin' to have the best hot supper, and the warmest bed, and the dryest clothes that ever was, ready by the time we get through to-night. Yes, ma'am! And Mr. Baxter, he's goin' to do his part--" "I am!" said the baker solemnly. "I don't know yet just what it'll be, but I'm goin' to do it all the same." "Green grass!" cried Pippin. "You _are_ dandy folks, no use talkin' 'bout it!" CHAPTER X PIPPIN LOOKS FOR THE GRACE OF GOD All day long the rain fell, softly, steadily, without haste and without rest; all day long the Red Ruffian cowered in his hiding hole, cold, wet, hungry and miserable. The water trickled in streams down the rock behind him and gathered in pools about his feet. The dump near by steamed, and sent off noisome fumes. Rats ran in and out of it; the Ruffian was afraid of rats.