"What made you fire up so quick with Jake Elliott, Sam?" asked the younger boy.
"Because he is a bully who would give trouble if he dared. I didn't want to have a fight with him and so I thought it best to take the first opportunity of teaching him the first duty of a soldier,--obedience."
"But you might have reasoned with him, as you generally do with people."
"No I couldn't," replied Sam.
"Why not?" Tom asked.
"Because he isn't reasonable. He's the sort of person who needs a master to say 'do' and 'don't.' Reasoning is thrown away on some people."
"But you had good reasons, didn't you, for stopping here instead of going on further?" asked Tom.
"Certainly. There's the Mackey house five miles ahead, and if we'd gone on we must have stopped near it to night?"
"Well, what of that?"
