`` Oh , Miss Celia ! I did n't know they could be so beautiful , and this is the beautifulest part of it ; I do n't know how to thank you , but I 'm going to try -- '' and , finding words would n't come fast enough , Ben just put his two arms round her , quite speechless with gratitude ; then , as if ashamed of his little outburst , he knelt down in a great hurry to untie his one shoe . But Miss Celia liked his answer better than the finest speech ever made her , and went away through the moonlight , saying to herself , -- `` If I can bring one lost lamb into the fold , I shall be the fitter for a shepherd 's wife , by-and-by . '' CHAPTER XXII A BOY 'S BARGAIN It was some days before the children were tired of talking over Ben 's birthday party ; for it was a great event in their small world ; but , gradually , newer pleasures came to occupy their minds , and they began to plan the nutting frolics which always followed the early frosts . While waiting for Jack to open the chestnut burrs , they varied the monotony of school life by a lively scrimmage long known as `` the wood-pile fight . '' The girls liked to play in the half-empty shed , and the boys , merely for the fun of teasing , declared that they should not , so blocked up the doorway as fast as the girls cleared it . Seeing that the squabble was a merry one , and the exercise better for all than lounging in the sun or reading in school during recess , Teacher did not interfere , and the barrier rose and fell almost as regularly as the tide . It would be difficult to say which side worked the harder ; for the boys went before school began to build up the barricade , and the girls stayed after lessons were over to pull down the last one made in afternoon recess . They had their play-time first ; and , while the boys waited inside , they heard the shouts of the girls , the banging of the wood , and the final crash , as the well-packed pile went down . Then , as the lassies came in , rosy , breathless , and triumphant , the lads rushed out to man the breach , and labor gallantly till all was as tight as hard blows could make it . So the battle raged , and bruised knuckles , splinters in fingers , torn clothes , and rubbed shoes , were the only wounds received , while a great deal of fun was had out of the maltreated logs , and a lasting peace secured between two of the boys . When the party was safely over , Sam began to fall into his old way of tormenting Ben by calling names , as it cost no exertion to invent trying speeches , and slyly utter them when most likely to annoy . Ben bore it as well as he could ; but fortune favored him at last , as it usually does the patient , and he was able to make his own terms with his tormentor . When the girls demolished the wood-pile , they performed a jubilee chorus on combs , and tin kettles , played like tambourines ; the boys celebrated their victories with shrill whistles , and a drum accompaniment with fists on the shed walls . Billy brought his drum , and this was such an addition that Sam hunted up an old one of his little brother 's , in order that he might join the drum corps . He had no sticks , however , and , casting about in his mind for a good substitute for the genuine thing , bethought him of bulrushes . `` Those will do first-rate , and there are lots in the ma ` sh , if I can only get 'em , '' he said to himself , and turned off from the road on his way home to get a supply . Now , this marsh was a treacherous spot , and the tragic story was told of a cow who got in there and sank till nothing was visible but a pair of horns above the mud , which suffocated the unwary beast . For this reason it was called `` Cowslip Marsh , '' the wags said , though it was generally believed to be so named for the yellow flowers which grew there in great profusion in the spring . Sam had seen Ben hop nimbly from one tuft of grass to another when he went to gather cowslips for Betty , and the stout boy thought he could do the same .
Two or three heavy jumps landed him , not among the bulrushes , as he had hoped , but in a pool of muddy water , where he XXXXX up to his middle with alarming rapidity .
celebrated fell got know liked lounging played sank waited worked