Jump!"
Sonya picked up the heavy load--twice as big as usual were the
baskets given her to carry, now that the interfering Master and
the superintendent were not here to forbid--and started
laboriously for the house.
Her back ached with weariness. Yet, in the absence of her
protectors, she dared not complain or even to allow herself the
luxury of walking slowly. So, up the hill, she toiled; at top
speed. Ruloff had finished filling another basket, and he
prepared to follow her. This completed the morning's work. His
lunch-pail awaited him at the barn. With nobody to keep tabs on
him, he resolved to steal an extra hour of time, in honor of
Labor Day--at his employer's expense.
Sonya pattered up the rise and around to the corner of the house.
There, feeling her father's eye on her, as he followed; she tried
to hasten her staggering steps. As a result, she stumbled against
the concrete walk. Her bare feet went from under her.
Down she fell, asprawl; the peaches flying in fifty directions.
She had cut her knee, painfully, against the concrete edge.
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