Next thing I know the boss is there, an' talkin' fine an' good,
Explainin' to the visitors how trees are made of wood.
They murmur things like "Marvellous!" an' "What a monster tree!"
An' then the one with sunlit hair comes right bang up to me.
"I saw you fall," she sort of sung: you couldn't say she talked,
For her voice had springtime in it, like the way she looked an' walked.
"I saw you fall," she sung at me. "I hope you were not hurt."
An' suddenly I was aware I wore my oldest shirt.
"It never hurt me half as much as your two smilin' eyes."
That's how I could have answered her — an' watched old Pike's surprise—
"It never harmed me half as much as standin' here like this
With tattered shirt an' grimy hands" … But I just says,
"No, Miss."
"Oh, no," I says. "We're pretty hard, an' have to take them cracks."
(But, just to see her sudden smile, made me as soft as wax.)
"You're strong," she smiles. I answers, "Oh, I'm pretty strong, all right."
An' close behind I heard old Pike observin', "Hear 'im skite!"
