'
'Now, lads, I'll judge between ye this time,' said Black Thompson.
'Stevie shall carry them to the end of Red Lane, and cut across the hill
home: that's not much out of the way; and if Tim makes him go one step
farther, I'll lick thee myself to-morrow, lad, I promise thee.'
Stephen hoisted the sack upon his shoulders in silence, and strode away
with a swelling heart, in which a tumult of anger and perplexity was
raging. 'If I had only a commandment about these things!' he thought. He
was not quite certain whether it would not have been best and wisest to
fight with Tim and have it out; especially as Tim was all the time
taunting him for being a coward. But his father had read much to him
during the last three months; and though he could not remember any
particular commandment, he felt sure that the Bible did not encourage
fighting or drunkenness. Suddenly, and before they reached the end of Red
Lane, a light burst upon Stephen's mind.
'I say, Tim,' he said, speaking to him for the first time, 'it's four
miles to the New Farm, and I'll go with thee a mile farther than Red
Lane.'
'Eh!' cried Tim; 'and get Black Thompson to lick me to-morrow?'
'No,' said Stephen earnestly, 'I'll not tell Black Thompson; and if he
hears talk of it, I'll say I did it of my own mind.
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