A Romance of Billy-Goat Hill

								

the Flathers' foundling as “Chicken.” The insult had been instantly
resented in a battle so fierce and so bloody, that the details of it
became historic in the annals of Billy-goat Hill. Chick, though of
lighter weight, and feeble muscle, was armed with righteous indignation.
He observed no rules, but fought with arms, legs, teeth and nails. The
odds were against him however, and he had to be assisted from the field,
a vanquished hero.
From that time on, by one of those mysterious laws that govern boydom,
the two were inseparable companions, waging open war on all adjoining
neighborhoods, engaging in predatory expeditions in their own, and, when
interest in life flagged, fighting each other.
Skeeter interpreted all that Chick said, interpreted it freely, and
with imagination, and Chick apparently considered himself honor bound
to accept the interpretation and stand for it, no matter how far it came
from expressing his meaning.
Eleven years of wickedness had thus been swaggered through when Chick
suddenly and unexpectedly fell in love. It was when the beautiful young
lady at the railroad crossing had bent above him like a succoring angel,
that he had been forced to change his classification of the human race.
Hitherto it had been divided into grown people and children, henceforth
it was divided into men and women!
All that Sunday afternoon he went about in a dream. He could not get
over the fact that she had taken his part, that she had put her arm
around him, and smiled at him. Once or twice when nobody was looking, he
put his very dirty hand on his cheek and felt the spot where her fingers
had rested.
But this new and tender emotion was not allowed to interfere with the
special project that Chick had in mind. It was a project so colossal in
its nature, that not even Skeeter was to be admitted to the secret. For
six weeks Chick had been the victim of a gaming system, and to-night he
was to take his revenge.
At supper time Skeeter recognized a convention of civilization and
repaired to the bosom of his family, but Chick being accountable to
nobody, and recognizing no conventions, stole a couple of apples from a
passing cart, and repaired to the dump heap to wait for the dark.
He had not long to wait, for great black clouds were covering the sky,
and he could no longer see the houses at the end of the alley. Carefully
storing his apple cores in his pocket for future trades, he picked his
way over the tin cans and debris, until he reached the Junction. Here he
hesitated. It was there that he and Skeeter had tussled for the whip. It
was here that the young lady had come to his rescue, and said she didn't
believe he was so very bad. Gee! but she was a pretty young lady, and
her hand was so soft, and her voice--
Chick rammed his hands in his pockets and pulled his cap over his eyes.
This was no way for a cove to be feeling when he had a job to do! With