Little Britches Read Online Free Page A

They wore ten gallon hats and leather chaps with bright silver disks on them.
    As they came closer, I could see holsters with six-shooters in them, strapped to their waists. I was so busy watching that I forgot to move.
    They didn't slow up a bit till they were right beside me, then they skidded their horses to a stop on the hard adobe road. One of them leaned over and said, "Want a lift, Sonny?"
    I almost bit my tongue before I could make it say, "Sure I do."
    He leaned so far out of his saddle that he took the milk bucket right out of my hand without my lifting it. Then he passed it to one of the other fellows, and swung me up behind his saddle by one arm. I had hardly landed when the horses started off. My cowboy said, over his shoulder, "Hang on if you want to burn some trail." I dug my fingers in under his cartridge belt. Somebody yelled, "Yipeee!" and we were off like scared rabbits.
    Mother used to recite "The Charge of the Light Brigade." With all the guns and running horses, I was sure I was in it. They put me down right at our back steps and raced away. There wasn't a drop of milk spilled when the cowboy passed me the bucket.
     

3
Fight, Molly!
    MONDAY morning Grace and I went to school, and the attendance went up a fifth. Bessie Aultland came for us and drove us over to the little brick schoolhouse, a mile and a half from home.
    When Bessie took us in to Miss Wheeler, she said, "I tried to tell Molly just to let them come in overalls and frock, not to get them all dressed up like they were going to Sunday school; but she wouldn't think of it. Doesn't Ralph look cute in his little Buster Brown suit? Molly made it herself." Bessie didn't really talk loud, but her voice was clear and rang in the little room.
    There were ten pupils in the school—I was going to say, children, but I couldn't, because Rudolph Haas was nearly as tall as Father. He was in the eighth grade. They all watched us like chicken hawks while Miss Wheeler had us read and do numbers for her. After we were done with the numbers, she decided Grace belonged in the fourth grade and I in the third.
    Recess didn't go a bit good for me. Before we left home, Mother had taken us into the front room and said, "I am not going to have you children grow up to be rowdies and ruffians just because we live on a farm. Ralph, if you get into a fight in this new school, I shall give you a hard thrashing when you come home. The Bible says that if your enemy smites you on one cheek, you are to turn the other. I want you to follow that teaching absolutely. And Grace, I want you to promise me on your word of honor that you will tell me if he ever raises a hand against any other child at school."
    She must have heard about Freddie Sprague. He was in the second grade, but he was bigger and fatter than I. We hadn't been out to recess a minute when Freddie put a stick on my shoulder and then knocked it off. "Wanta fight?" he said.
    Grace was standing right behind him, and hollered, "If you do, I'll tell Mother."
    I knew she would, too, so I said, "No, my mother won't let me."
    I don't know why the Bible picked out cheeks, but that's right where Freddie hit me. I wanted to hit him back, but I didn't dare to. Mother could spank pretty hard if I did something right after she'd told me not to. I just let my hands stay down and turned my face around. Freddie hit that side, too. And he hit it hard.
    When I started to cry, somebody sang out, "Molly, Molly." Then all the boys, and even some of the girls, started yelling it.
    Grace came over and wiped my face with my handkerchief. "Don't cry," she said. "Mother will be proud of you." Then Miss Wheeler rang the bell for us to come in, and said Freddie should be ashamed for hitting me. Every time she wasn't looking the rest of the morning, he kept making faces at me.
    Noon was worse than recess. Grace had brought a rubber ball to school with her. She knew how to play jackstones with it, but the other girls didn't. As soon as we got