It was a hard-won battle ; but he would never have to fight so terrible a one again ; for though enemies would still assail from within and from without , he had found the little guide-book that Christian carried in his bosom , and Love , Penitence , and Prayer , the three sweet sisters , had given him the armour which would keep him safe . He had not learned to wear it yet , and chafed against it , though he felt its value , thanks to the faithful friend who had stood by him all that bitter year . Soon he was to be free again , worn and scarred in the fray , but out among men in the blessed sun and air . When he thought of it Dan felt as if he could not wait , but must burst that narrow cell and fly away , as the caddis-worms he used to watch by the brookside shed their stony coffins , to climb the ferns and soar into the sky . Night after night he lulled himself to sleep with planning how , when he had seen Mary Mason according to his promise , he would steer straight for his old friends , the Indians , and in the wilderness hide his disgrace and heal his wounds . Working to save the many would atone for the sin of killing one , he thought ; and the old free life would keep him safe from the temptations that beset him in cities . ` By and by , when I 'm all right again , and have something to tell that I 'm not ashamed of , I 'll go home , ' he said , with a quicker beat of the impetuous heart that longed to be there so intensely , he found it as hard to curb as one of his unbroken horses on the plains . ` Not yet . I must get over this first . They 'd see and smell and feel the prison taint on me , if I went now , and I could n't look them in the face and hide the truth . I ca n't lose Ted 's love , Mother Bhaer 's confidence , and the respect of the girls , for they did respect my strength , anyway ; but now they would n't touch me . ' And poor Dan looked with a shudder at the brown fist he clenched involuntarily as he remembered what it had done since a certain little white hand had laid in it confidingly . ` I 'll make 'em proud of me yet ; and no one shall ever know of this awful year . I can wipe it out , and I will , so help me God ! ' And the clenched hand was held up as if to take a solemn oath that this lost year should yet be made good , if resolution and repentance could work the miracle . Chapter 16 . IN THE TENNIS-COURT Athletic sports were in high favour at Plumfield ; and the river where the old punt used to wabble about with a cargo of small boys , or echo to the shrill screams of little girls trying to get lilies , now was alive with boats of all kinds , from the slender wherry to the trim pleasure-craft , gay with cushions , awnings , and fluttering pennons . Everyone rowed , and the girls as well as the youths had their races , and developed their muscles in the most scientific manner . The large , level meadow near the old willow was now the college playground , and here baseball battles raged with fury , varied by football , leaping , and kindred sports fitted to split the fingers , break the ribs , and strain the backs of the too ambitious participants . The gentler pastimes of the damsels were at a safe distance from this Champ de Mars ; croquet mallets clicked under the elms that fringed the field , rackets rose and fell energetically in several tennis-courts , and gates of different heights were handy to practise the graceful bound by which every girl expected to save her life some day when the mad bull , which was always coming but never seemed to arrive , should be bellowing at her heels .
One of these tennis grounds was called ` Jo 's Court ' , and here the little lady ruled like a queen ; for she was fond of the game , and being bent on developing her small self to the highest degree of perfection , she was to be XXXXX at every leisure moment with some victim hard at it .
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