Dawsey glared at the large man. Bertie did not know what to say or do.

The door opened and Mr. Binns came in.

“Papa, I am so good to see thee!”

“I am glad to see thee too. What is going on here”

“Nothing is going on here,” said the large man as he stared back at Dawsey.

“Well, I am glad to hear that.” Mr. Burns looked quizzically at Dawsey and Bertie. Then he turned to face the large man. “Is there anything that I can get thee?”

“Yes, I want some laudanum and some black powder,” said the large man. “And I don’t want any of that Dupont crap. Give me Nitre Hall powder.”

“First, kindly watch thy tongue in this establishment friend Donuz. Second, thee well knows that Nitre Hall has not made powder for decades,” said Mr. Binns.

“Nitre Hall was good enough for my father and it is good enough for me!”

“We do not have any of that brand. It is not made anymore.”

“Lies, damn lies,” said Mr. Donuz.

“If thee keeps talking like that, I will have to ask thee to leave.”

“Just give me the laudanum and the lame brand of powder that you have.”

Mr. Binns handed him the two items and rang up the sale. “Goodbye Svin Donuz.”

Svin Donuz grunted, turned, and left the store.

“Who is that stinky, old man,” said Bertie.

“Svin Donuz Is our neighborhood pig farmer, as if you could not guess from his stench,” said Dawsey.

“Thee must look for the light in all people, even Svin Donuz.”

“Yes papa, but I find that hard to do when he does not treat everybody with respect,” said Dawsey.

“Thee must try, especially with people like Svin Donuz. But for now, I want thee to move and straighten all of these boxes over here.” The boys moved to the corner of the shop and started moving the boxes that Mr. Binns had pointed out. Mr. Binns went back to the register.

“Why does Mr. Donuz not like Seph,” said Bertie in a low voice.

“Seph is a negro. He does not like anybody that is a negro,” said Dawsey.

“Too bad, Seph seems like a good guy,” said Bertie.

“Seph is a good guy.” Dawsey picked up a box and moved it to the other side of the wall. “Svin has been around pigs too long.”

“Well, I hope that he does not come back here. He smells” Bertie wrinkled his nose and moved a box.

“He will not be back anytime soon. He bought all that he usually buys and that lasts him several days.”Dawsey moved a box.

“What does he do with all that gunpowder?” Bertie moved a box.

“Papa says that he uses it to remove stumps. But I do not believe that he has as that many stumps for all the gunpowder that he buys.” Dawsey moved a box.

“Only one way to find out.” Bertie winked at Dawsey and moved a box.

Dawsey smiled and moved a box.

“Well boys, it looks like thee moved all of the boxes. So I will be giving thee a present in honor of our guest.”

“What,” said Bertie and Dawsey as they rushed over to the register.

“When thee are done sweeping the floor, thee can go outside and play.

“Yay,” said Dawsey..

“Thank you,” said Bertie.

The two boys grabbed the brooms and started frantically sweeping the floor. Soon, every nook and cranny was swept. Mr. Binns smiled. “I should have thee over more frequently Bertie. The store has never been cleaned so fast or so thoroughly.”

“Can we leave now,” Dawsey.

“Yes, thee can go now, but stay out of trouble. Also, be back in time for dinner. Your mother is cooking up something special for our guests”

“Yes Papa.” The boys ran out of the door. They headed to the gate at the west of the farm. Wooster bounded up to them and licked them both.

“Hello Wooster! I am glad to see thee too,” said Dawsey. The big dog ran circles around the boys and clearly wanted to play.

“I would like to play with thee too, but thee knows the rules. Thee must stay here and protect the farm. We are headed west to seek adventures,” said Dawsey.

The boys left the farm and closed the gate. Wooster stared at them, still wanting to play. Then his ears perked up and he ran back to the house.

“Do you think that Wooster is going to find anything? He left in a hurry,” said Bertie.

“Who knows? That dog is always chasing after something.”

The boys left the farm. They walked along the side of a well used road. There were many trees along the road. They were mostly tall, straight tulip poplar trees and big oaks with thick branches that the squirrels loved. But every now and then they walked by a redbud in flower. Bertie had never seen a tree that had flowers growing out of the bark. He was going to say something when Dawsey spoke.

“That building over there is the Meeting house. We will come back here tomorrow, but we are not stopping there now. We have to keep going west to find Svin Donuz’s farm.”

“Then west we must go. How much further is it?”

“Not too far. We have to go past the quarry. Then the Donuz farm will be just beyond the Hayti Cemetery along Holland Run in the swampy area. Perfectly located for Svin Donuz and his pigs.”

“Okay”

The boys continued their march. The woods got thicker as they went down hill. Soon they came up to the quarry. Men were busy swing pick axes.

“Do you think that they might make explosions here?”

“Oh yes, they are blowing stuff up here frequently. We might even get lucky and see one.”

BOOM!