Маленькие мужчины / Little men. Уровень 4

“Oh, that’s Jack Ford’s worm-shop[8 - worm-shop – магазин червяков]. He digs heaps of them and keeps them here, and when we want to go fishing with, we buy some of him. It saves lots of trouble, only he charged too much for them. Now, I own two hens, those gray ones with top knots, and I sell Mrs. Bhaer the eggs, but I never ask her more than twenty-five cents a dozen, never!” cried Tommy.

“Who owns the dogs?” asked Nat.

“The big dog is Emil’s. His name is Christopher Columbus,” answered Tommy.

“The white pup is Rob’s, and the yellow one is Teddy’s. A man was going to drown them in our pond, and Papa Bhaer didn’t let him. Their names are Castor and Pollux.”

Nat climbed up a ladder, put his head through a trap door and looked at the pretty doves.

“How do you get these animals?” he asked, when he joined Tommy in the barn.

“We find them or buy them, or folks give them to us. My father sends me mine,” said Tommy, with the air of a millionaire.

Nat sighed, for he had neither father nor money, nothing in the wide world but an old empty pocketbook. Tommy understood the sigh which followed his answer,

“Look here, I’ll tell you what I’ll do. If you hunt eggs for me – I hate it – I’ll give you one egg out of every dozen. When you have twelve, Mother Bhaer will give you twenty-five cents for them, and then you can buy what you like.”

“I’ll do it! What a kind fellow you are, Tommy!” cried Nat, quite dazzled by this brilliant offer.

“Pooh! You begin now and rummage the barn, and I’ll wait here for you. Granny is cackling, so you’re find one somewhere,” and Tommy threw himself down on the hay.

Nat joyfully began his search, and he found two fine eggs.

“You may have one and I’ll have the other, and tomorrow we’ll start again. Here, you chalk your accounts up near mine,” said Tommy.

Then Tommy took Nat to an old willow-tree.

From the fence it was an easy scramble into a wide niche between the three big branches. Here little seats had been fixed,

“This is Demi’s and my private place; we made it, and nobody can come up unless we let them, except Daisy,” said Tommy.

“Oh, it’s just beautiful!” cried Nat. “I hope you’ll let me up sometimes. I never saw such a nice place in all my life. I’d like to be a bird, and live here always.”

“It is pretty nice.