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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Anything Once, by Douglas Grant
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Anything Once
+
+Author: Douglas Grant
+
+Illustrator: Paul Stahr
+
+Release Date: December 9, 2009 [EBook #30640]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ANYTHING ONCE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: He drank deeply, then struggled to a sitting posture,
+his face whitening beneath its tan.]
+
+
+
+
+ANYTHING ONCE
+
+BY DOUGLAS GRANT
+
+AUTHOR OF "THE SINGLE TRACK," "BOOTY," "THE FIFTH ACE," ETC.
+
+Frontispiece by PAUL STAHR
+
+[Illustration]
+
+NEW YORK
+
+W. J. WATT & COMPANY
+
+PUBLISHERS
+
+
+
+
+COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY W. J. WATT & COMPANY
+
+PRESS OF BRAUNWORTH & CO.
+
+BOOK MANUFACTURERS BROOKLYN, N. Y.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+ CHAPTER                                              PAGE
+       I.  A Roadside Meeting                            1
+      II.  Partners                                     17
+     III.  The Vendor Of Everything                     41
+      IV.  Under The Big Top                            55
+       V.  Concerning An Omelet                         69
+      VI.  The Red Note-Book                            83
+     VII.  Revelations                                  99
+    VIII.  Journey's End                               118
+      IX.  The Long, Long Trail                        138
+
+
+
+
+ANYTHING ONCE
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+A Roadside Meeting
+
+
+The white dust, which lay thick upon the wide road between rolling
+fields of ripened grain, rose in little spirals from beneath the heavy
+feet of the plodding farm-horses drawing the empty hay-wagon, and had
+scarcely settled again upon the browning goldenrod and fuzzy milkweed
+which bordered the rail fences on either side when Ebb Fischel's
+itinerant butcher-jitney rattled past. Ebb Fischel's eyes were usually
+as sharp as the bargains he drove, but the dust must have obscured his
+vision. Otherwise he would have seen the man lying motionless beside the
+road, with his cap in the ditch and the pitiless sun of harvest-time
+caking the blood which had streamed from an ugly cut upon his temple.
+
+But the meat-cart jolted on and out of sight, and for a long time
+nothing disturbed the stillness except the distant whirring of a reaper
+and nearer buzzing of a fat, inquisitive bluebottle fly, which paused to
+see what this strange thing might be, and then zoomed off excitedly to
+tell his associates.
+
+At length there came a dry rustling in the tall standing wheat in the
+field on the opposite side of the road, and a head and shoulders
+appeared above the topmost fence-rail. It was a small head covered with
+tow-colored hair, which had been slicked back and braided so tightly
+that the short, meager cue curled outward and up in a crescent, as
+though it were wired, and the shoulders beneath the coarse
+blue-and-white striped cotton gown were thin and peaked.
+
+The girl darted a swift, furtive glance up and down the road, and
+suddenly thrust a bundle tied in a greasy apron between the rails,
+letting it fall in the high, dusty weeds by the roadside. Next she
+climbed to the top of the fence, and for a moment perched there,
+displaying a slim length of coarse black stocking above clumping,
+square-toed shoes at least two sizes too large for her.
+
+She looked like a very forlorn, feminine _Monte Cristo_ indeed, as
+she scanned the world from her vantage-point, and yet there was a look
+of quiet satisfaction and achievement in her incongruously dark eyes
+which told of a momentous object accomplished.
+
+Then all at once they stared and softened as she caught sight of that
+still figure lying across the road, and in two bounds she was beside him
+and lifted his head against her sharp knees. She noted only casually
+that he was a clean-shaven, tanned young man with brown hair bleached by
+the sun to a warm gold, and that he wore shabby, weather-beaten clothes.
+
+Had she realized that those same worn, faded garments bore the stamp of
+one of New York's most exclusive tailors! that the boots were
+London-made, and the golf-stockings which met the corduroy
+knickerbockers came from one of Scotland's famous mills, it would have
+meant just exactly nothing in her young life.
+
+Her immediate attention was concentrated upon the jagged gash which ran
+unpleasantly close to his temple, and which had begun to bleed afresh as
+she raised his head.
+
+The girl looked about her again and saw that a short distance ahead the
+road was bisected by a bridge of planks with willows bordering it at
+either side. She pulled at the strings which held a blue sunbonnet
+dangling between her narrow shoulder-blades, regarded the sleazy
+headgear ruefully, and then spying the cap in the ditch, she deposited
+her burden gently upon the grass once more and scrambled over to
+investigate her find.
+
+The cap had an inner lining of something which seemed to be like rubber,
+and the girl flew off down the road to return with her improvised bowl
+filled with clear, cold spring water. Dropping on her knees beside the
+unconscious figure, she poured the contents of the cap over his face and
+head.
+
+The young man sputtered, gasped, moaned a little, and opened astonished
+brown eyes upon her.
+
+"How--how the devil did you come here?" he asked ungallantly.
+
+"Over the fence." Her reply was laconic, but it bore an unmistakable
+hint that further query along that line would be highly unwelcome. "Just
+you lay still while I git some more water, an' I'll tie up that head of
+yourn."
+
+The young man's hand went unsteadily to his aching brow and came away
+brightly pink, so he decided to take this uncomely vision's advice, and
+remained quiescent, wondering how he himself had come to be there, and
+what had happened to him.
+
+According to the map, he had surely been on the right road, yet it had
+as assuredly not looked like this one; the other had been a broad, State
+highway, while this----
+
+He closed his burning eyes to shield them from the glare of the sun, and
+a confused memory returned to him of that invitingly green, shady
+pasture which had tempted him as a short cut toward the next village,
+and of something which thundered down upon him from behind and lifted
+him into chaos. Good Lord, and he had only six days left!
+
+"You'd better take a drink of this first an' I kin use the rest on your
+head." A composed, practical voice advised by his side, and he looked up
+gratefully into the snub-nosed, freckled face of his benefactress as she
+held the brimming cap to his lips.
+
+He drank deeply, then struggled to a sitting posture, his face whitening
+beneath its tan at the sudden wrench of pain which twisted the muscles
+of his back.
+
+"Kin you hold the cap steady?" The girl thrust it into his hands without
+waiting for a reply, and, sitting down with her back to him, calmly
+turned back the hem of her gown and tore a wide strip from the coarse
+but immaculately white cambric petticoat beneath.
+
+Dipping it into the water, she bandaged his head not unskilfully, and
+then rose.
+
+"There! I gotta git you over to the shade of them trees, or you'll have
+sunstroke. Wait till I fetch somethin'."
+
+She ran across the road and returned with her greasy bundle under one
+arm, offering the other to him with a gesture as frank as it was
+impersonal.
+
+"Lean on me, an' try to git along--and please kinder hurry!"
+
+She added the last with a note of sudden urgency in her tones and the
+same furtively darting glance with which she had swept the road from the
+fence-top, but the young man was too deeply engrossed with his painful
+effort to rise to observe the look, although her change of tone aroused
+his curiosity. Was this scrawny but good-natured kid afraid some of her
+people would catch her talking to a stranger by the roadside?
+
+Somehow he managed to hobble, with her aid, across the little bridge and
+down the bank of the swiftly racing brook at its farther side to a nest
+in the dense thicket of willow-shoots which completely screened them
+from the road.
+
+The girl eased him down then upon the sward, and, seating herself beside
+him, unrolled the apron she had carried.
+
+"It's the ham that's greased it all up like that," she remarked. "I'd
+have brought a pail, only I didn't want to take any more 'n I had to."
+
+The young man gasped with astonishment as the contents of the
+apron-bundle were exposed: a whole ham glistening with the brown sugar
+in which it had been baked, a long knife, a huge loaf of bread, and,
+wrapped separately in a piece of newspaper, a bar of soap, a box of
+matches, and a bit of broken comb.
+
+"When there's lots of them, ham sandwiches, together with spring water,
+ain't so bad, an' it's near noon," the girl observed, beginning to cut
+the loaf into meager slices with a practised hand. "I should've made
+them thicker, but I forgot."
+
+A starving gleam had come into the young man's eyes at the sight of
+food, but he paused with the sandwich half-way to his lips to glance
+keenly at his companion.
+
+"You've enough here for an army," he declared. "Were you taking it to
+men working in the fields somewhere?"
+
+"No," she replied without hesitation, but with the same air of finality
+with which she had responded to his first question. "You can rest easy
+here till sundown, when the men begin to come in from the harvestin',
+an' then if you holler real loud some of them will maybe stop an' give
+you a lift on your way. There's a railroad about four miles from here,
+an' the slow freight goes by along about ten."
+
+The slow freight! So the girl thought he was a tramp! The young man
+smiled, and glanced down ruefully at his shabby attire. Well, so had
+others thought, whom he had encountered in his journey.
+
+But who and what was the girl herself? She had asked no questions as to
+how he had come to the condition in which she found him, but had nursed
+his hurt, brought him to this cool resting-place; and was sharing her
+food with him as unconcernedly as though she had known him all her life.
+
+That quantity of provisions, the package of humble toilet articles, and
+her furtiveness and haste to get away from the open road all pointed to
+one fact--the girl was running away. But from whom or what? She had
+taken him at his face value, and he had no right in the world to
+question her, at least without giving some sort of account of himself.
+
+"I have no intention of traveling by rail," he assured her. "A little
+while before you found me--I don't quite know how long--I was crossing
+that pasture which adjoins the wheat-field, thinking that this road
+might be a short cut to Hudsondale, when something came after me from
+behind and butted me over the fence. I think my head must have been cut
+open by striking against a stone, for I don't remember anything more
+until you poured that water over my face."
+
+The girl nodded.
+
+"I seen the stone with blood on it right near you; you must have bumped
+off it an' turned over," she averred. "Anybody who goes traipsin'
+through old Terwilliger's pasture is apt to meet up with that bull of
+his."
+
+So she had reasoned his predicament out without asking any of the
+questions that another girl would have heaped upon him.
+
+He turned to her suddenly with a fresh spark of interest in his eyes.
+
+"How did you know that I didn't belong here?" he demanded.
+
+The corners of her lips curled upward in a comical little grimace of
+amusement, and he realized that before they had been set in a straight
+line far too mature for her evident youth.
+
+"No grown men 'round these parts wears short pants, an', anyhow, I knew
+you were different from the way you talk; somethin' like the welfare
+workers, with the hell an' brimstone left out," the girl replied
+soberly. "I'm goin' to talk like you some day."
+
+It was the first remark she had made voluntarily concerning herself, and
+he was quick to seize his advantage.
+
+"Who are you, young lady? You've been awfully kind to me, and I don't
+know to whom my gratitude is due."
+
+"Not to anybody." She turned her head away slightly, but not before he
+saw a flush mount beneath the superficial coating of freckles, and
+marveled at the whiteness of her skin. Hers was not the leathery tan of
+the typical farmer's daughter, inured to all weathers, yet her hands,
+although small, were toil-worn, and there was an odd incongruity between
+her dark eyes and the pale, flaxen hue of that ridiculous wisp of a
+braid.
+
+"I didn't do any more for you than I'd do for a dog if I found him lyin'
+there."
+
+Her naïve sincerity robbed the statement of its uncomplimentary
+suggestion, and the young man chuckled, but persisted.
+
+"What is your name? Mine is James--er--Botts."
+
+"Lou Lacey. It was 'L' day, you know, an' there was a teeny bit of lace
+on my dress. I ain't ever had any since."
+
+She added the last with unconscious pathos in her tones, but in his
+increasing interest and mystification the man who called himself "Botts"
+was unaware of it. What on earth could she mean about L day, and if she
+were running away why did she appear so serenely unconcerned about the
+future as her manner indicated?
+
+He felt that he must draw her out, and he seemed to have hit upon the
+right method by giving confidence for confidence; but just how much
+could he tell her about himself? James Botts's own face reddened.
+
+"I'm walking to my home in New York," he explained. "But I'm late; I
+ought to make it by a certain date, and I don't think I'll be able to,
+since my encounter with Terwilliger's bull. Where do you live? I mean,
+where are you going? Where is your home?"
+
+"Nowheres," Lou Lacey replied offhandedly, following with her eyes the
+graceful swoop of a dragonfly over the tumbling waters of the little
+stream.
+
+"Great Scott!" The astounded young man sat up suddenly, with his hand to
+his head. "Why, everybody has a home, you know!"
+
+"Not everybody," the girl dissented quietly.
+
+"But--but surely you haven't been walking the roads?"
+
+There was genuine horror in his tones. "Where did you come from this
+morning when you found me?"
+
+"From Hess's farm, back up the road a piece," she replied with her usual
+unemotional literalness. "I been there a week, but I didn't like it, so
+I came away. The welfare workers got me that place when my time was up."
+
+Her time! Good Heavens, could this little country girl with her artless
+manner and candid eyes be an ex-convict? Surely she was too young, too
+simple. Yet the gates of hideous reformatories had clanged shut behind
+younger and more innocent-appearing delinquents than she.
+
+His eyes wandered over her thin, childish figure as she sat there beside
+him, still intent upon the movements of the glittering dragonfly, and he
+shuddered. Those horrible, shapeless shoes might very well have been
+prison-made, and the striped dress was exactly like those he had seen in
+some pictures of female convicts. Her freckles, too, might have been the
+result of only a few days' exposure to the sun, and he had already
+observed the whiteness of the skin beneath; that whiteness which
+resembled the prison pallor.
+
+Could it be that her very gawkiness and frank simplicity were the result
+not of bucolic nature, but of dissimulation? Every instinct within the
+man cried out against the thought, but a devil of doubt and uncertainty
+drove him on.
+
+"I thought that didn't look like the dress of a farmer's daughter!" He
+essayed to laugh, but it seemed to him that there was a grating falsetto
+in his tones. "You haven't worked in the garden much, either, have you?"
+
+"Garden!" Lou sniffed. "They promised the welfare workers that they'd
+give me outdoor chores to build me up, but when I got there I found I
+had to cook for eighteen farm-hands, as well as the family, an' wait on
+them, an' clean up an' all. Said they'd pay me twelve dollars a month,
+an' I could take the first month's money out by the week in clothes, an'
+for the first week all they gave me was this sunbonnet an' apron. I left
+them the other dress an' things I had, an' I figgered the rest of the
+money they owed me would just about pay for this ham an' bread an' the
+knife an' soap. The comb was mine."
+
+She added the last in a tone of proud possession, and James Botts asked
+very soberly:
+
+"The welfare workers found this position for you, Lou Lacey? But where
+did they find you?"
+
+"Why, at the institootion," she responded, as though surprised that he
+had not already guessed. "I ain't ever been anywhere else; I've always
+been a orphin."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+Partners
+
+
+For a moment James Botts turned his head away lest she see the deep red
+flood of shame which had suffused his face. Poor little skinny, homely,
+orphan kid, thrown out to buck the world for herself, and stopping in
+her first flight from injustice to help a stranger, only to have him
+think her a possible criminal! He was glad that his back twinged and his
+head throbbed; he ought to be kicked out into the ditch and left to die
+there for harboring such thoughts.
+
+He was a cur, and she--hang it! There was something appealing about her
+in spite of her looks. Perhaps it was the sturdy self-reliance, which in
+itself betrayed her utter innocence and ignorance of the world, that
+made a fellow want to protect her.
+
+In his own circle James Botts had never been known as a _Sir
+Galahad_, but he had been away from his own circle for exactly
+nineteen eventful days now, and in that space of time he had learned
+much. His heart went out in sympathy as he turned once more to her.
+
+But at the moment Lou Lacey seemed in no momentary need of sympathetic
+understanding. She was pursuing a hapless frog with well-directed shots
+of small pebbles, and there was an impish grin upon her face.
+
+"How old are you?" he asked suddenly.
+
+Lou shrugged.
+
+"I don't know. About seventeen or eighteen, I reckon; at least, they
+told me six years ago that I was twelve, an' I've kept track ever since.
+When I was sixteen, though, and it was time for me to be got a place
+somewhere, the matron put me back a couple of years; we were gettin'
+more babies from the poor-farm than usual, an' I was kinder handy with
+them. She had to let me go now because one of the visitin' deaconesses
+let out that she'd seen me there sixteen years ago herself, an' I was
+toddlin' round then. Oh, I missed him!"
+
+The frog, with a triumphant _plop_, had disappeared beneath a flat,
+submerged stone, and Lou turned to note her companion's pain-drawn face.
+
+"I'm goin' to fix that bandage on your head again," she declared as she
+sprang to her feet. "Is your back hurtin' you very much?"
+
+"Not very." He forced a smile, but his face was grave, for, despite his
+suffering, the problem which this accidental meeting had forced upon him
+filled his thoughts. What was he to do with this girl? In spite of the
+statement that she had "kept track" of her last few years he could not
+credit the fact that she was approximately eighteen; fourteen would be
+nearer the guess he would have made, and it was unthinkable that a child
+like that should wander about the country alone.
+
+He could not bear the thought of betraying her innocent confidences by
+handing her over to the nearest authorities; it would mean her being
+held as a vagrant and possibly sent to the county poor-farm. Perhaps the
+people with whom she had been placed were not so bad, after all; if he
+took her back and reasoned with them, insisted upon their keeping to
+their bargain, and giving her lighter tasks to perform.
+
+Then he remembered his own appearance, and smiled ruefully. Instead of
+listening they would in all probability set the dog on him. Perhaps he
+could persuade her to return of her own accord.
+
+"The people you were working for; their name was 'Hess'?" he asked.
+
+She nodded as she finished fastening the cool compress about his
+forehead.
+
+"Henry Hess an' his wife, Freida, an'--an' Max."
+
+Something in the quality of her tone more than her hesitation made him
+demand sharply:
+
+"Who is Max?"
+
+"Their son." Her voice was very low, but for the first time it trembled
+slightly.
+
+"You don't like him, do you?" He waited a moment, and then added
+abruptly: "Why not?"
+
+"Because he's a--a beast! I don't want to talk about him! I don't want
+even to remember that such _things_ as he is can be let live!"
+
+James Botts turned and looked at her and then away, for the childish
+figure had been drawn up tensely with a sort of instinctive dignity
+which sat not ill upon it, and from her dark eyes insulted womanhood had
+blazed.
+
+"I'd like to go back and lick him to a standstill!" to his own utter
+amazement Botts heard his own voice saying thickly.
+
+The fire had died out of Lou's face and she replied composedly:
+
+"What for? He don't matter any more, does he? We're goin' on."
+
+The last sentence recalled his problem once more to his mind. What in
+the world was he to do with this young creature whom fate had thrust
+upon his hands? Four quarters and a fifty-cent piece represented his
+entire capital at the moment, and if he did put her into the hands of
+the county authorities until his journey was completed and he could make
+other arrangements for her, it would mean a delay on his part now, when
+every hour counted for so much just now.
+
+"Do you know how far we are from Hudsondale?" he asked.
+
+"Not more'n two miles, the farm-hands used to walk there often of an
+evenin' to the movies."
+
+The girl had cleaned her knife in the brook and was now wrapping it in
+the apron, together with the remains of their repast.
+
+"They say that not more'n twenty miles from there you can see the big
+river, but I ain't ever been."
+
+"That's the way I was going," he observed thoughtlessly. "From
+Hudsondale to Highvale, and right on down the west bank of the river to
+New York."
+
+Lou sat back on her heels reflectively.
+
+"All right," she said at last. "I ain't ever figgered on goin's far as
+New York, but I might as well go there as anywhere, and I guess I kin
+keep up with you now your back's kinder sprained. We'll go along
+together."
+
+James Botts gulped.
+
+"Certainly not!" he retorted severely, when he could articulate. "It's
+utterly out of the question! You're not a little child any longer, and
+I'm not old enough to pose as your father. You must think what people
+would say!"
+
+"Why must I?" Her clear eyes shamed him. "What's it matter? I guess two
+kin puzzle out the roads better than one, an' if I have been in a brick
+house with a high fence an' a playground between where never a blade of
+grass grew, for about eighteen years, it looks to me as if I could take
+care of myself a lot better 'n you kin!"
+
+"But you don't understand!" he groaned. "There are certain conditions
+that I can't very well explain, and if I did you'd think I had gone
+crazy."
+
+"Maybe," Lou observed non-committally, but she settled herself on the
+bank once more with such an air of resigned anticipation that he felt
+forced to continue.
+
+"You know an army has to obey orders, don't you?" he floundered on
+desperately. "Well, I'm like a one-man army; there are a lot of rules
+I've got to follow. This is Monday afternoon, and I must reach New York
+by midnight on Saturday; that's ninety miles or more, and you never
+could make it in the world. I've got just a dollar and a half, and I
+mustn't beg, borrow, or steal food or a lift or anything, but work my
+way, and never take any job that'll pay me more than twenty-five cents.
+
+"Of course, if people invite me to get up and ride with them for a
+little I can accept, or if they offer me food, but I can't ask. Even the
+money I earn in quarters here and there I mustn't use for traveling, but
+only to buy food or medicine or clothes with. And the worst of it is
+that I cannot explain to a soul why I'm doing all this."
+
+Lou regarded him gravely, and opened her lips to speak, but closed them
+again and for an appreciable moment there was silence.
+
+"Well, I don't see anythin' in that that says you can't have somebody
+travelin' along with you," she remarked, and that odd little smile
+flashed again across her face. "It don't make any difference to me what
+you can or can't do. _I'm_ foot-loose!"
+
+Not until later was the meaning of that final statement to be made
+manifest to her companion; the one fact upon his mind was that nothing
+he had said had moved her an iota from her original decision. They would
+go along together.
+
+Well, why not? It was obvious that he could not send her back to the
+Hess farm nor hand her over to the authorities. His own appearance would
+not be conducive to confidence in his assurances if he attempted to
+leave her in the care of some country woman until he could return and
+make proper arrangements for her, and the only alternative was that she
+must tramp the roads by herself until she found work, and that was out
+of the question.
+
+At least, he could protect her, and she looked wiry in spite of her
+skinniness; it was as possible that she might make the distance as he,
+with his aching back. But on one point he was determined: when they
+neared the suburbs of New York he would telephone to a certain
+gray-haired, aristocratically high-nosed old lady and persuade her to
+send out her car for this waif.
+
+The child had been kind to him, and he would protect her from all harm,
+but not for all the gilt-edged securities in Wall Street would he have
+the story of his knight-errantry get abroad, nor the unprepossessing
+heroine of it revealed to his friends.
+
+The old lady would find some suitable position for her, and, as she
+evidently possessed no reputation of any sort at the moment, a six-day
+journey in his company could harm it no more if the truth became known
+than if she had tramped upon her way alone.
+
+"All right," he said. "We'll be partners, and I'll do my best to look
+out for you."
+
+She laughed outright, a merry, tinkling little laugh like the brook
+rippling over the pebbles at her feet, and the man involuntarily stared.
+It was the sole attractive thing about her that he had observed.
+
+"Reckon it'll be me that'll look after you!" she retorted. "Oh, there's
+somethin' comin'! Duck in here, quick!"
+
+Seizing her bundle, she wiggled like an eel through the willow thicket
+until she was completely hidden from view, and Botts followed as well as
+he was able, with one hand fending off the supple young shoots from
+whipping back upon his wounded forehead.
+
+He had heard nothing, yet the girl's quick ears had caught the faint
+creaking of a cart along the road, and now a cheerful but somewhat
+shrill whistle came to him in a vaguely reminiscent strain.
+
+"That's Lem Mattles," Lou whispered as she reached behind him and drew
+the willows yet more screeningly about their trail. "He's whistlin'
+'Ida-Ho'; it's the only tune he can remember."
+
+"Who is he?" demanded her companion.
+
+"The Hess's next-door neighbor. She'll stop him right away an' ask if
+he's seen me on the road, an' they'll all be after me, but they'll never
+think of the old cow-trail; one of the hands showed it to me an' told me
+it led clear to Hudsondale, an' came out by the freight-yards."
+
+For a moment she paused with a little catch in her breath. "Think you
+kin make it, Mr. Botts?"
+
+"Sure!" He smiled and held out his hand. "We're partners now, and I'm
+'Jim' to my friends, Lou."
+
+"All right, Jim," she responded indifferently, but she laid her little
+work-worn hand in his for a brief minute. "Come on."
+
+With the bundle under her arm once more she led the way, and her partner
+followed her to where the brook dwindled and the thicket gave place to a
+stretch of woodland, between the trees of which a faint, narrow trail
+could be discerned.
+
+"We're all right now if we kin keep on goin'," announced Lou. "Nobody
+comes this way any more, an' the feller said that the tracks runs
+through the woods clear to the Hunkie settlement by the yards. Feelin'
+all right, Jim?"
+
+"I guess so." Jim put his hand to his side, where each breath brought a
+stab of pain, but brought it down again quickly lest her swift glance
+catch the motion. "It's pretty in here, isn't it?"
+
+"It's longer," replied Lou practically. "An' the sun's gittin' low.
+Let's hurry."
+
+There was little further talk between them, for Jim had already
+discovered that his companion was not one to speak unless she had
+something to say, and he was breathing in short snatches to stifle the
+pain. The track wound endlessly in and out among the trees, and in the
+dim light he would have lost it altogether more than once had it not
+been for her light touch upon his arm.
+
+At length the track turned abruptly through the thinning trees and led
+down to a rough sort of road, on either side of which ramshackle wooden
+tenements leaned crazily against each other, with dingy rags hanging
+from lines on the crooked porches. Slatternly, dark-skinned women gazed
+curiously at them as they passed.
+
+From somewhere came the squalling of a hurt child and a man's oath
+roughly silencing it, while through and above all other sounds came the
+bleating of a harmonica ceaseless reiterating a monotonous, foreign air.
+
+The sun had set, and from just beyond the squalid settlement came the
+crash and clang of freight-cars being shunted together. In spite of his
+pain, Jim realized that nowhere in this vicinity could his
+self-constituted companion rest for the night; open fields or dense
+woodland were safer far for her.
+
+"Let us cross the tracks and push on up that hill road a little," he
+suggested. "We can't stay here, and they'll think we are tramps if they
+catch us by the railroad."
+
+"I guess that's what we are." Lou wrinkled her already upturned nose.
+"But the country would be nicer again, if you ain't give out."
+
+He assured her doggedly that he had not, and they crossed the tracks and
+started up the steep hill road past the coal-dump and the few scattered
+cottages to where the woodland closed in about them once more.
+
+Jim picked up a stout stick and leaned heavily upon it as they plodded
+along, while the twilight deepened to darkness and the stars appeared.
+The girl's step lagged now, but she kept up in little spurts and set her
+lips determinedly.
+
+At length they came to another stream, a rushing mill-race this time,
+with an old mill, moss-covered and fallen into decay beside it, and by
+tacit consent they sank down on the worn step.
+
+"I don't believe we can go any farther," Jim panted. "I guess this is as
+good a place as any to camp for the night, and you can sleep in there."
+
+He indicated the sagging door behind him, and Lou followed his gesture
+with a reluctant eye. Jim noted the glance and, misunderstanding it,
+added hastily:
+
+"I don't believe there are any rats in there, but if you'll lend me your
+matches I'll see."
+
+"Rats!" she repeated in withering scorn. "There was plenty of them in
+the insti--where I come from. I was just thinkin' maybe somebody else
+was sleepin' there already."
+
+She handed over the matches and Jim pushed open the door and entered,
+feeling carefully for rotten boards in the decayed flooring. A prolonged
+survey by the flickering light of the matches assured him that the
+ancient, cobwebbed place was deserted, and he turned again to the door,
+but its step was unoccupied and nowhere in the starlight could he
+discern a flutter of that blue-and-white striped dress.
+
+Could she have run away from him? At the thought a forlorn sense of
+loneliness swept over him greater than he had known since he had started
+upon his tramp. She was tired out; could he in some way have frightened
+her, or had a mad spirit of adventure sent her on like a
+will-o'-the-wisp into the night?
+
+"Lou!" he called, and his voice echoed back. "Lou!"
+
+All at once he noticed what he had not observed before--a single light
+by the roadside in a clearing ahead. Perhaps she had gone there for more
+secure shelter.
+
+His cogitations were abruptly interrupted by a dog's excited barking,
+subdued by distance, but deep-throated. The sound came from the
+direction of the clearing, and, taking up his heavy stick, Jim hobbled
+to the road. If Lou had got into any trouble----
+
+The barking turned to growls; horrible, crunching growls which brought
+his heart up into his throat as he broke into a run, forgetting his
+pain. He had not gained the top of the rise in the road, however, when
+the growls gave place to wild yelps and howls which rapidly diminished
+in the distance and presently Lou appeared holding carefully before her
+something round and white which gleamed in the starlight.
+
+"Good Heavens!" he exclaimed when she neared him. "What on earth have
+you been doing?"
+
+"Git on back 'round the other side of the mill!" ordered Lou. "I gotta
+go slow or I'll spill it."
+
+"What is it?"
+
+But she vouchsafed him no reply until they reached a ledge of rock over
+the tumbling stream, well out of sight of that light on the hill. Then
+she set down the object she was carrying and he saw that it was a bright
+tin pan, filled almost to the brim with milk.
+
+"I thought it would go good with our bread an' ham," she explained
+ingenuously. "I figgered from what I learned at that Hess place that
+they'd leave some out in the summer cellar to cream, for they ain't got
+any spring-house, an' they won't be likely to miss one pan out of
+fifteen. Besides, there's nothin' in them rules you told me that stops
+_me_ from beggin' or borrowin', or stealin', either, an' if I
+_give_ you some of this you ain't got any call to ask me where it
+come from."
+
+This feminine logic left Jim almost speechless, but he managed to gasp
+out:
+
+"The dog! Didn't he attack you?"
+
+"I guess that was what he intended, but I put down the pan an' fit him
+off." She added, with evident pride. "I never spilled a drop, either!"
+
+"Good Lord!" Jim ejaculated. "I believe you'd do anything once!"
+
+"I b'lieve I would, provided I wanted to," Lou agreed placidly. Then her
+tone changed. "There's somebody comin' up the road from Hudsondale like
+all in creation was after 'em."
+
+Indeed, the sound of a horse's mad gallop up the steep road by which
+they had come was plainly to be heard increasing in volume, and the
+grating jar of wheels as though a wagon were being thrown from side to
+side.
+
+"Think it's a runaway?" Jim rose and strained his eyes into the darkness
+at the farther end of the bridge.
+
+"No; driver's drunk, maybe," Lou responded. "The horse's dead beat an'
+he's lashin' it on. Listen!"
+
+Jim heard the wild gallop falter and drop into a weary trot, only to
+leap forward again with a wild scramble of hoofs on the rocky road as
+though the wretched animal was spurred on by sudden pain, and he
+clenched his hands.
+
+As though reading his thoughts, Lou remarked:
+
+"Only a beast himself would treat a horse that way. The folks at the
+farm where I was treated theirs somethin' terrible. If he don't look out
+he'll go over the side of the bridge."
+
+Jim had already started for the road in front of the mill, and Lou
+followed him, just as a perilously swaying lantern came to view, showing
+an old-fashioned carriage of the "buggy" type containing a single
+occupant and drawn by a horse which was streaked with lather.
+
+The light wagon hit the bridge with a bounce which almost sent it
+careening over into the rushing stream below, and at the same moment Lou
+uttered an odd exclamation, more of anger than fear, and straightened up
+to her full height.
+
+"It's Max!" she informed Jim. "You git back behind the mill; you ain't
+fit to fight----"
+
+"What do you take me for?" Jim demanded indignantly. "Max Hess, eh? The
+fellow who treated you so badly back at that farm? I wanted to get him
+this morning, the hound! You go straight back into the mill yourself,
+and leave me to handle him."
+
+But he was too late. The wagon had crossed the bridge and halted in
+front of them so suddenly that the horse slid along for a pace upon his
+haunches.
+
+"Got yer!" a thick voice announced triumphantly, as a burly figure
+wrapped the reins around the whip socket and lumbered to the ground.
+"Yah! I thought there was a feller in it, somewheres!"
+
+He approached them with menacingly clenched fists, but Jim asked coldly:
+
+"Are you addressing this young woman?"
+
+"Young thief, you mean! She's gotter come----"
+
+But Jim, too, had advanced a pace.
+
+"Take that back and get in your wagon and beat it," he announced
+distinctly, with a calmness which the other mistook for mildness. "If
+your name is Hess, this young woman is not going back with you, and I
+warn you now to be off."
+
+"So that's it, is it?" the heavy voice sneered. "She's my mother's hired
+girl, an' she stole a lot o' food an' ran away this mornin'. Comes o'
+takin' in an asylum brat----"
+
+"Take that back, too, you blackguard!" Jim's voice was beginning to
+shake.
+
+"Take nothin' back, 'cept Lou! What's she doin' with you, anyway? Might
+ha' knowed she was this sort----"
+
+He got no further, for something landed like a hammer upon his nose and
+the blood streamed down between his thick lips, choking him. With an
+inarticulate roar of rage he lowered his bull neck and drove at the
+other man, but the other man wasn't there! Then another light, stinging
+blow landed upon his fat face and he flailed out again with a force that
+turned him completely around, for again his adversary had danced out of
+his way.
+
+Every drop of bad blood in the lout was aroused now, for he was the
+bully and terror of his community, and he could not understand this way
+of fighting, nor why his own blows failed to land when this tramp could
+dodge in and punish him apparently whenever he chose.
+
+Jim was many pounds lighter, and although the science of boxing was not
+unknown to him, he was dog-tired and his wrenched back agonized him at
+every move. The sheer weight of the other man was bearing him down, and
+Hess seemed to realize it, for with a grunt of satisfaction he swung in
+and landed a stiff body blow which staggered his adversary.
+
+Hess's left eye was closed, and his lips split, but he hammered at his
+man relentlessly, and at length caught him with a blow which brought him
+to his knees. All the bully's blood-lust boiled at sight of his
+half-fallen victim, and he drew back his heavily shod foot for a
+murderous kick, but it was never delivered.
+
+Something caught that foot from behind and tripped him heavily into the
+dust, then landed upon him like a wildcat and bit and tore at him until
+with a scream of pain he managed to throw it off. Even as he struggled
+to his feet it sprang again upon him, kicking and clawing, and he turned
+quickly, and scrambling into the buggy seat, gathered up the reins.
+
+Lou stood where he had torn himself from her grasp, listening to the
+volley of oaths and clatter of horses's feet until both had been
+swallowed up in the distance. Then she turned to where Jim stood
+swaying, with one hand pressed to his side, and the blood from the
+reopened cut upon his forehead making his face look ghastly in the
+starlight.
+
+"Well," she remarked with satisfaction. "I guess he got more 'n he come
+for, an' we've seen the last of _him!_"
+
+"But Lou!" There was admiration and awe in his tones. "Your method of
+fighting isn't in the Queensberry rules, although I must say it was
+effective. I was going to try to protect you, and it turned out the
+other way!"
+
+"Don't know what queen you're talkin' about, nor what rules she made,
+but when _I_ fight, I fight with everything I've got," Lou declared
+with finality. "Come and let me fix up your head again, an' we'll have
+supper."
+
+An hour later and throughout the night, a slim little figure, rolled in
+a man's shabby coat, lay sleeping peacefully in a corner of the mill,
+while on the doorstep in his shirt sleeves and with a stout cudgel
+across his knees, a weary man drowsed fitfully, on guard.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+The Vendor of Everything
+
+
+When Lou awakened the next morning at dawn it was her turn to find
+herself deserted, but the fact failed to arouse any misgivings in her
+mind. She had found in her brief experience with menfolks that they were
+mostly queer, one way or another, but this one was dependable, and she
+felt no doubt that he would turn up when he got ready.
+
+Unwrapping her bundle, she took the apron, soap, and broken comb, and
+wandered down the bank of the stream until in the seclusion beneath the
+bridge she came upon a pool formed by outjutting rocks, where she
+performed her limited toilet. Then, scrubbing the greasy apron
+vigorously, she hung it on a bramble bush behind the mill to dry, and
+scuttling across the road, made for the woods back of the house where
+she had committed her nocturnal depredation.
+
+An hour later when Jim came slowly up the hill road from the direction
+of Hudsondale, he saw a tiny smudge of smoke rising from a rock well
+hidden in the rank undergrowth at the edge of the stream, and
+approaching it found Lou industriously brushing her coat with a broom
+which she had improvised of small twigs tied together. Beside her,
+carefully cradled in her sunbonnet, were half a dozen new-laid eggs.
+
+"Good morning." He greeted her with a little bow, and sank down on the
+rock. "Were you frightened to find yourself left all alone?"
+
+"Oh, no. I knew you would come back," she replied serenely. Then, as she
+noted his glance fall upon the eggs she added in swift self-defense:
+"You needn't think I stole those; I found them back in the woods a
+piece. O-oh!"
+
+He had carried a large paper package under his arm, and now as he
+unwrapped it her wonderment changed to swift rapture. It contained an
+overall apron of bright pink check, a cheap straw hat, and a remnant of
+green ribbon.
+
+"I ain't had a pink dress since I was ten!" Her dark eyes were
+perilously glistening. "I'd almost have died for one, but you had to
+wear blue after that, 'count of doin' work 'round. Oh, an' that hat! I
+kin put that ribbon on it as easy as----"
+
+She halted suddenly and lowered her eyelashes, adding:
+
+"But you hadn't any call to buy them for me; I can't pay you back right
+now."
+
+Jim's reply was irrelevant.
+
+"Why, your eyes aren't black, after all! They're violet-blue, the
+deepest blue I ever saw!" Then he caught himself up, reddening
+furiously, and after a moment said in a casual tone: "That's all right
+about the things, Lou; you can pay me when you get some work to do. Now,
+go fix yourself up, and we'll have breakfast."
+
+When she had disappeared into the mill he cursed himself for a fool. The
+child had trusted him as a comrade; what would she think if he began
+paying her compliments? What had come over him, anyway? He had seen
+women with violet-blue eyes in more countries than one; beautiful women
+with every enhancement which breeding and wealth could bestow. It must
+have been sheer surprise in discovering any attribute of prettiness at
+all about so uncompromisingly homely a girl as poor little Lou.
+
+With this reassuring reflection he set about replenishing the fire, and
+presently his companion reappeared. The large, flapping hat sat oddly
+upon her small head with its tightly drawn-back hair, but the straight
+lines of the all-enveloping pink gown brought out the slender curves of
+her childish figure, and she didn't seem quite so gawky, after all, as
+she moved toward him over the rocks.
+
+"My, you look nice!" he said cheerfully. "I've brought some rolls
+from----"
+
+"We'll keep them for later," Lou interrupted him firmly. "There's still
+the end of the bread left, and goodness knows where we'll eat again!"
+
+They breakfasted gaily, drinking the remainder of the milk first and
+then boiling the eggs in the pan, but Lou's remark about their next meal
+had made Jim think seriously of the immediate future. He had assumed a
+responsibility which he must fulfill, and his progress thus far under
+the handicaps he had spoken of had been difficult enough alone.
+
+The little pink apron-frock had cost half of his capital, the hat
+twenty-five cents more, and the ribbon a dime. Five cents in addition
+for the rolls had left but thirty-five of the preciously hoarded
+pennies, and he was ninety miles from home, with a host of petty, but
+formidable, restrictions barring his way, and an adopted orphan on his
+hands.
+
+He had been forced to turn his head sharply away when he passed the
+village tobacco store, for every nerve cried out for the solace of a
+good pipe, but he felt more than repaid for the sacrifice by Lou's
+honest rapture over the poor things he had been able to get for her.
+
+Breakfast finished, and the remainder of the ham stowed away in the
+milk-pan, they carefully skirted the house on the rise of the hill, and
+coming out once more upon the road, they forged ahead. The strained
+muscles of Jim's back and side were still sore, but they troubled him
+less than the lack of a smoke, and for Lou it was as though a new world
+had opened before her eyes.
+
+The pleasant, wheat-growing valley had been left behind them, and the
+road from being hilly grew steeper and more steep until it became a mere
+rutted trail over the mountains. More or less dilapidated farm-houses,
+each with its patch of cleared ground, appeared now and then, and before
+the gate of one of these a huge, canvas-covered wagon stood, bearing the
+ambitious legend:
+
+TRAVELING DEPARTMENT STORE
+
+BENJ. PERKINS
+
+A genial-looking fat man in a linen duster and a wide-brimmed hat was
+just clambering in over the wheel when he spied the two pedestrians
+gazing at the turnout, and called good-naturedly:
+
+"Want a lift? I'm goin' inter New Hartz."
+
+"Thanks. That is just where we are going, too," Jim replied promptly.
+"It's awfully good of you to take us along."
+
+"Git right in; plenty of room with me on the front seat here," the
+proprietor of the extraordinary department store responded heartily.
+"Yer sister 'd be nigh tuckered out ef you tried ter walk her inter town
+on a hot day like this."
+
+Jim hoisted Lou in over the big wheel and as he climbed up beside her
+the driver slapped the reins over the broad backs of the two horses, and
+they were off.
+
+"You are Mr. Perkins?" Jim asked, ignoring the assumption of Lou's
+relationship to him.
+
+"That's me!" The other glanced at the fresh bandage about the young
+man's head which Lou had applied just before they started out, and
+inquired: "You git hurt, some ways?"
+
+Jim explained briefly, and changed the subject with a haste which would
+have been significant to a less obtuse host.
+
+"You seem to have a little of everything back here in the van, Mr.
+Perkins."
+
+"Reckon I hev," the other agreed complacently. "From a spool of thread
+to a pitchfork, and from a baby rattle to wax funeral wreaths, there
+ain't nothin' the folk hereabout hev use for that I don't carry. The big
+ottermobile order trucks don't hurt my business none; I ben workin' up
+my trade around here fer twenty year."
+
+Mr. Perkins paused to draw a pipe and tobacco sack from his pocket, and
+Jim's throat twitched. After filling the pipe the genial pedler offered
+the sack. "Hev some?"
+
+Jim hesitated, and his face reddened, but at last he shook his head
+determinedly.
+
+"Thanks; I--I don't smoke."
+
+Lou, who had hunched about in her seat to stare at the assorted array of
+articles in the body of the van, turned and looked curiously at him.
+Surely that hard bulge in the coat upon which she had slept on the
+previous night had been the bowl of a pipe! The eyes which Jim had
+called "violet blue" narrowed for an instant in puzzled wonderment, then
+blurred as with swift understanding she glanced down at the new pink
+apron and stroked it softly. But Jim had gone on talking rather
+nervously.
+
+"You don't get much trade around here, do you? Not many houses in these
+mountains."
+
+"Oh, here and thar," Mr. Perkins replied easily. "Here and thar."
+
+The conversation which ensued was all Greek to Lou, who took off her
+hat, leaned her head against the side of the van, and went peacefully to
+sleep.
+
+She was awakened by a hand gently shaking her shoulder and found that
+the van had been halted in the middle of a maple-lined street before a
+big house which bore a sign labeled: "Congress Hotel." Busy little shops
+shouldered it on either side, and a band-stand stood in the open square.
+
+"Come down, Lou." Jim stood on the sidewalk reaching up for her hands.
+"This is New Hartz."
+
+Mr. Perkins was not in the van, but as Lou scrambled over the wheel he
+appeared from the door of the hotel.
+
+"Young man, I wish I was goin' further, but I ain't, and I want ter talk
+a little business with you." He drew Jim aside. "You and your sister
+wouldn't ha' ben walkin' it in from Hudsonvale if you could ha' paid ter
+come any other way."
+
+"No, Mr. Perkins." Jim backed away smilingly. "We couldn't think of--of
+borrowing, but thanks for the ten-mile lift into New Hartz."
+
+"Glad ter hev your company." Mr. Perkins suddenly dived around to the
+back of the van and his voice came to them muffled from the depths of
+its interior. "Wait jest a minute."
+
+He emerged, red and perspiring, with a small package wrapped in a square
+of something shimmering and white in his hands, which he offered to the
+wondering Lou.
+
+"It's jest a little present fer you, miss," he said.
+
+Lou accepted it gravely.
+
+"Thank you, sir," she said primly. "You ain't got any call to give me
+this, not after bringin' us all the way from Hudsondale."
+
+"I guess I can make a little present if I'm a mind ter, ter a pretty
+little girl like you." Mr. Perkins turned to Jim. "Wish yer both luck on
+your way."
+
+They took leave of the kindly little fat man and moved off up the
+village street and beyond the inevitable car tracks to the dwindling
+country road once more. In the shade of a big tree at a crossroads, Lou
+glanced up at her companion.
+
+"Could we set down here for a spell?" she asked. "I ain't tired, Jim,
+but I feel like I'd die if I can't open this!"
+
+She gestured with Mr. Perkins's gift, and Jim dropped laughingly on the
+grass.
+
+"Of course. Let's see what's in it."
+
+Gravely she seated herself beside him and unknotted the square of white.
+It contained three little handkerchiefs with pink borders, a small
+bottle of particularly strong scent, and a string of beads remotely
+resembling coral. The square in which the articles had been wrapped
+proved to be a large white silk handkerchief with an American flag
+stamped in the corner.
+
+"That must be for you, Jim," Lou said slowly. As in a trance she slipped
+the string of beads over her head, opened the bottle, and poured a few
+drops of its contents upon one of the little handkerchiefs, inhaling the
+rank odor in ecstasy.
+
+Jim watched her, amused but touched also. To that luxury-starved little
+soul the coarse handkerchiefs and cheap perfume meant rapture, and he
+resolved to see that the gray-haired lady in New York provided something
+better for Lou than a servant's position. Education, perhaps----
+
+"It must be past noon, for the shadows have started to go the other
+way." Her voice broke in upon his meditations. "We'd better eat the
+rolls an' ham now. How far is it to where we're goin'?"
+
+"Eight miles; I'm afraid it is a long way for you----"
+
+"Then the sooner we git started the better," the girl interrupted. "I'll
+take the pan an' run back to that yellow house we just passed for some
+water."
+
+Without waiting for a reply she tilted the little scent bottle carefully
+against the tree-trunk and departed, while Jim stretched himself out
+luxuriously in the grateful shade. He was tired, and the still heat of
+noon had a stupefying effect. Lou seemed long in returning, and his
+thoughts grew nebulous until he finally drifted off into slumber.
+
+When he awakened the shadows had lengthened to those of mid-afternoon,
+and there was a delicious, unaccustomed aroma in the air. He gazed about
+him in a bewildered fashion to find Lou sitting cross-legged in the
+grass, and spread upon it on the apron between them were the rolls and
+ham, and a huckleberry pie, still warm, and fairly exuding juice.
+
+"Good Lord, where did you get it?" he demanded.
+
+"Remember that yellow house where I went to git water?" Lou laughed, but
+there was a new note of shyness in her voice. "When we passed it first I
+saw that the currant bushes were just loaded down, an' a woman was out
+pickin' them, though it's ironin' day. I figgered if I pick for her
+she'd maybe pay me, an' she did. I--I guessed you was out of--this."
+
+The freckles disappeared in a rosy blush as with a red-stained hand she
+held out a bag of tobacco.
+
+"Lou! Why, you--you precious kid!" Jim stammered. "You worked in all
+this heat, while I lay here and slept."
+
+"It wasn't far back to New Hartz, an' I'd seen where the cigar-store was
+when we came by. The woman at the house, she give me the pie, an' I've
+got ten cents left besides. I never had ten cents of my own before!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+Under the Big Top
+
+
+A very weary and dust-covered couple trudged to the top of the last hill
+just before sundown and paused, with Lou's hand instinctively clutching
+Jim's arm.
+
+"Is that it; the Hudson?" She pointed over the fringe of treetops below
+them to the broad, winding ribbon of sparkling gray-blue, touched here
+and there with the reflection of the fleecy pink clouds drifting far
+overhead.
+
+Jim turned to look at her, wondering what reaction the view would have
+upon the emotions of this child who, until a brief week ago, had known
+only the "brick house with a high fence and a playground where never a
+blade of grass grew."
+
+Her big eyes followed the river's course until it was lost in a creeping
+mist behind high hills, and she drew a deep breath.
+
+"How far does it go?" she asked.
+
+"To New York; to the sea," he responded. "The ocean, you know."
+
+"My!" There was wonder and a certain regret in her tone. "What a waste
+of good wash-water!"
+
+Jim emitted an inarticulate remark, and added hastily:
+
+"Let us get along down into Highvale. I must try to find a place for you
+to sleep, and remember, Lou, you're my sister if anyone starts to
+question you."
+
+"All right; I don't mind, if you don't." She gave the floppy hat a yank
+that slued the ridiculous green bow to a more rakish angle, and then
+stopped suddenly in the road. "O-oh, look!"
+
+A barn had been built close up to the side of the fence, and freshly
+pasted upon it was the vividly colored poster of a circus. The
+enthusiastic admiration which she had denied to her first view of the
+great river glowed now in Lou's eyes, and she stood transfixed.
+
+"What is it, Jim? The pretty lady on the horse an' the other one up on
+the swing thing without--without any skirt to her, and the man with the
+funny pants an' the big hat that's shootin'----"
+
+"There must be a circus in Highvale--yes, the date says to-night," Jim
+replied.
+
+"'Trimble & Wells Great Circus & Sideshow,'" she read slowly. "I heard
+about them circuses; some of the children seen them before they came
+to--to where I was, an' once one come to town an' sent free tickets to
+us, but the deaconesses said it was sinful an' so we couldn't go. It
+don't look sinful to me; it looks just grand--grand!"
+
+She could have stood for an hour drinking in all the wonders of the
+poster, but Jim hurried her on although he was filled with sympathy.
+Poor little kid! What a rotten, black sort of life she must have had,
+and how he wished that he might take her to this tawdry, cheap affair
+and watch her naïve enjoyment.
+
+But their combined capital would not have covered the price of the
+tickets, and there was supper to be thought of, and the hazards of the
+immediate future. For the present the circus must remain an unattained
+dream to Lou.
+
+The steep little hill down to the village seemed very long, and twilight
+was almost upon them when they came to a big, open lot upon which a
+circular tent was in process of erection, with lesser oblong ones
+clustered at one side.
+
+A fringe of small boys and village loungers lined the roadway watching
+the corps of men who were working like beavers within the lot, urged on
+by a bawling, cursing voice which seemed to proceed from a stout,
+choleric man who bounded about, alternately waving his arms and cupping
+his hands to improvise a megaphone.
+
+Jim was tired, and his side throbbed dully, but a sudden inspiration
+came to him, and he drew Lou over to the other side of the road.
+
+"Sit down here and wait for me," he told her. "I won't be long. That's
+where the circus is going to be, and perhaps I can fix it for you to see
+it."
+
+Turning, he shouldered his way through the knot of loungers, and
+entering the lot, approached the stout gentleman.
+
+"Want an extra hand?" he asked. "Anything from a ballyhoo to a
+rough-rider?"
+
+The stout man wheeled and surveyed him in momentarily speechless wrath
+at the interruption. Then his eyes narrowed appraisingly as he noted the
+tall, lean, well-knit figure before him, and he demanded:
+
+"How the h--l did you know that the Wild West act was all knocked to
+pieces?"
+
+"It isn't now," Jim smiled. "Lend me a horse and a pair of chaps, and
+I'll show you in five minutes what's going to be your star act
+to-night."
+
+"You're no circus man, nor a Westerner, neither." The boss still stared.
+"And you don't look like a bum. What's your game, anyway?"
+
+"To pick up a little loose change and get a horse between my knees
+again."
+
+The thought of the forlorn little figure which he had left by the
+roadside kept Jim's smile steady, and added a desperate artificial
+buoyancy to his tired tones:
+
+"Never mind who I am or where I came from; I can ride, and that's what
+you want, isn't it?"
+
+There was an instant's pause, and then the boss bawled a stentorian
+order and grabbed him by the arm.
+
+"Come on. I'll give you a chance to show me what you can do, but if
+you're takin' up my time on a bluff I'll break every bone in your ----
+---- body!"
+
+He led Jim to an open space behind the tents where presently there
+appeared a living convulsion in the shape of a bucking, squealing bronco
+seemingly held down to earth by two sweating, shirtless men.
+
+As Jim surveyed that wickedly lowered head with its small eyes rolling
+viciously, his heart misgave him for a moment. What if he should fail?
+It was long since he had practiced those rough-riding stunts that had
+made him in demand for those society circuses of the ante-bellum days,
+and longer yet since he had learned to break a bronco on the ranch,
+which had been Bill Hollis's hobby for a season.
+
+What if that devil of a pony should best him in the struggle, and he
+should be thrown ignominiously from the lot before the eyes of the girl
+who was waiting patiently for him?
+
+The next instant he had vaulted lightly into the high, Western saddle,
+the two men had jumped back, and the fight was on. The bronco lashed out
+viciously with his heels, leaped sidewise, and then, after a running
+start, attempted to throw his rider over his head, but Jim clung to him
+like a burr; he flung himself down and rolled over, but the young man
+jumped clear and was back into the saddle as the enraged animal regained
+his feet.
+
+The struggle was strenuous but brief, and Jim found himself rejoicing
+that none of the old tricks had failed him, and that the wicked little
+brute was realizing that he had at length been mastered.
+
+When the bronco was thoroughly subjected, Jim rode quietly up to where
+the boss stood with the two other men.
+
+"Want me to pick up a handkerchief for you, or any other of the old
+stunts, now?" he asked. "Don't want to tire this old plug too much for
+the show."
+
+The boss chuckled.
+
+"Get down and talk business with me, young feller," he said. "You won't
+ride Jazz in the ring to-night; he's the rottenest, most treacherous
+little wretch with the outfit, and I only put you on him to call your
+bluff. Want to join the show? We had to leave our rough-rider back in
+the last town with a broken leg."
+
+Jim shook his head.
+
+"Only for to-night," he replied. "My sister and I are beating it South."
+
+"Well, I'll give you five dollars----"
+
+"No, you won't," Jim smiled. "I'll work for you to-night for just
+twenty-five cents."
+
+"Say, you ain't bughouse, are you?" The boss stared again.
+
+"The fourth part of a dollar, two bits!" Jim replied doggedly. Then his
+gaze wandered as though casually over to the cook tent, and he added:
+"However, if you could suggest anything to two hungry people, and
+something else for a little girl who has never seen a circus, Mr.
+Trimble-and-Wells, and who is waiting for me in the road----"
+
+The boss roared.
+
+"D--d if I don't think you're dippy, but you certainly can ride like
+h--l!" he exclaimed. "I'll take you up on that; go get the kid and bring
+her in to supper, and I'll see that she gets a reserved seat for the
+show. Holy smoke! A feller that can stick on Jazz, and wants to work for
+a quarter!"
+
+Thus it was that when the clown came tumbling into the ring to the
+blaring of the band that night, a girl with the green bow all askew upon
+her hat and her violet-blue eyes a shade darker and snapping with
+excitement was perched on one of the front row planks which served as
+seats, clutching a bag of peanuts and waiting in an ecstasy for the
+wonders about to be unfolded.
+
+The ride in the pedler's van, the hours of currant-picking, and the hot,
+hilly, eight-mile trudge were forgotten, and she felt like pinching
+herself to see if she would wake up all of a sudden to find herself once
+more back in the attic at the Hess farm.
+
+The beautiful lady with the fluffy skirts rode round the ring on tiptoe
+and jumped through the flaming hoops at the behest of the gentleman with
+the high silk hat and the long whip; the other lady "without any skirt
+to her" flew dizzily through the air from one trapeze to the other, and
+the performing elephant went through his time-worn tricks with the air
+of a resigned philosopher, and still Lou sat entranced.
+
+Then the dingy curtains parted, and a man loped easily into the ring on
+a wiry, little Western horse. He was the same man she had seen in the
+poster that afternoon; the one with the funny pants and the big hat and
+the red handkerchief knotted around his throat, and he proceeded to do
+marvelous things.
+
+It is highly probable that many a better exhibition of rough-riding had
+been given beneath the big top, but to Lou, as to the villagers
+surrounding her in densely packed rows, it was a supreme display of
+horsemanship, and they expressed themselves with vociferous applause
+when he uncoiled a rope from the peak of his saddle and dexterously
+brought down the bewildered steer which had been chivvied into the ring.
+
+In the row directly in front of Lou sat a quartet who were obviously out
+of place among their bucolic neighbors, but as obviously bent on amusing
+themselves. The ladies of the party wore brilliant sweaters beneath
+their long silk motor coats, and veils floated from their small round
+hats, and the gentlemen wore long coats, too, and had goggles pushed up
+on their caps.
+
+Bits of their chatter, and low-voiced, well-bred laughter drifted back
+to the girl's ears between pauses in the louder comments of her
+immediate neighbors and the intermittent din of the band, and Lou was
+amazed.
+
+Could it be that they were laughing at this glorious, wonderful thing
+that was called a "circus?" Were they ridiculing it, trying to pretend
+that they had seen anything more marvelous in all the world?
+
+They didn't laugh at the rough-rider, she noticed. The ladies applauded
+daintily, and once the stouter of the two gentlemen called out: "Good
+work!" as the rider executed a seemingly daring feat, and the other
+gentleman consulted his flimsy play bill.
+
+Then all thought of the four was banished from Lou's mind, for the rider
+had cantered from the ring and dropped a large white handkerchief upon
+the sawdust of the outer circle just before her. Wasn't that bit of
+color in a corner of a handkerchief an American flag? Jim had told her
+that he was to do some work outside for the circus people that night,
+and the boss had kindly offered her a seat, but that handkerchief----
+
+Suddenly the rider swept by with his horse at a dead run, and swooping
+down, seized the square of white in his teeth, and while the tent rang
+with applause, Lou sat very still. It was Jim! It was he, her "partner,"
+whom the people were all clapping their hands at, who was doing all
+these wonderful things! But his face had looked somewhat pale beneath
+that big hat, and his smile sort of fixed.
+
+The bandage was gone from his head, and the plaster which had replaced
+it was hidden, but she could not have been mistaken. What if he were
+suffering, if his back and side were paining him again? She recalled the
+exhaustion with which he had slept at noontime, and the long, weary hike
+that followed it, and her heart contracted within her. It was for her
+that he was doing this, so that she might see the show!
+
+One of the ladies in the seats before her leaned forward and exclaimed:
+
+"Didn't he look like Jimmie Abbott? If we didn't know that he was on a
+fishing trip up in Canada----"
+
+Lou did not catch the rest of the remark. Her eyes were glued upon the
+rider and her ears stilled to everything around her. With a final
+flourish he dashed for the dingy curtain at the exit and it parted to
+let him pass. It did not close quickly enough behind him, however; not
+quickly enough to conceal from the gaping audience his lurching fall
+from the saddle into the group of acrobats waiting to come on in their
+turn.
+
+Then it was that a small, pink-checked cyclone whirled through the rows
+of closely packed humanity and half-way round the arena to the curtain,
+while above the clamor of the band arose a shrill cry; "Jim! Jim!"
+
+"Did you see her?" The lady who had commented upon the rider's
+appearance demanded of the gentleman beside her. "She called him Jim,
+too; isn't that odd? Do you suppose, Jack, that she is with the circus;
+that little country girl?"
+
+"Oh, it was only part of the show," the stout gentleman replied in a
+bored tone. "Or else the chap was tight. He certainly rode as if he had
+some red-eye tucked under his belt; wonder where he got it around here?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+Concerning an Omelet
+
+
+There was a confused babel of sound in Jim's ears when he awoke
+Wednesday morning; hammering and clanging and the squeak of ropes,
+shouting and cursing, and now and then the roar or yell of some
+protesting animal.
+
+He was lying on a narrow bunk in a tent, and opposite him a
+husky-looking individual was climbing into a pair of checked trousers
+and yawning vociferously.
+
+Jim's head ached confoundedly, and he was stiff and sore, but his mind
+cleared rapidly from the mists of slumber. What sort of a place was
+this, and how had he got there? Then all at once he remembered, and
+there came a horrifying thought. What had become of Lou?
+
+"Where's Lou? M--my sister?" he demanded, sitting bolt upright.
+
+"Hello, there! Come out of it all right, did you?" The occupant of the
+tent hitched a suspender over one shoulder and grinned cheerfully. "The
+kid's took care of! She's with Ma Billings. That was a nasty header you
+took last night. O. K. now? We gotter pull out in an hour."
+
+"Oh, I'm all right; but say, did I pull that bonehead stuff out there
+before all of them?" Jim reddened beneath his tan at the thought. "Fall
+off the horse like that, I mean?"
+
+"In the ring? No, you made a grand exit, and then slumped; nobody saw it
+but the little girl, and she beat it right down to the ring and out
+after you. Fit like a wildcat, too, when we tried to keep her away from
+you till we could find out what had struck you." The other grinned once
+more.
+
+"Some sister, ol'-timer! When we found that big muscle bruise on your
+side, and she told us that you had been tossed by a bull a couple of
+days ago, we didn't wonder you keeled over."
+
+Jim sat up dizzily.
+
+"It was mighty good of you people to take us in for the night," he said.
+"Who is Ma Billings?"
+
+"Marie LaBelle she used to be; worked up on the flyin' rings until she
+got too hefty," his companion explained. "Now she takes care of the
+wardrobes and sort of looks out that the Human Doll don't get lost in
+the shuffle; the midget, you know. Now peel, and I'll give you a
+rub-down with some liniment."
+
+Jim tried to protest, but the husky individual only grinned the broader.
+
+"You may be some boy when it comes to bronco-bustin', but I'm the Strong
+Man in the sideshow, and you haven't a chance."
+
+Meekly Jim submitted to his companion's kindly ministrations, and then
+dressing quickly, made his way out into the glare of the early morning
+sun.
+
+The big top was down, and poles and animal cages were being loaded on
+long trucks as he emerged. An appetizing odor of fried pork floated upon
+the air from the direction of the cook tent, and people seemed to be
+rushing all over the lot in wildest confusion, but Jim caught a glimpse
+of a bit of pink-and-white check through the mêlée, and headed for it.
+
+Lou was sitting on the grass in cordial confab with a
+melancholy-looking, lantern-jawed man, but at his approach she jumped up
+precipitately and ran to him.
+
+"Oh, Jim, you feelin' all right?" There was a little tremble in her
+voice. "I knew it was you the minute you rode past an' picked up that
+handkerchief Mr. Perkins give you yesterday, an' when you pitched off
+that horse I thought you was dead. You hadn't no call to take any chance
+like that with your back hurt an' that long tramp an' all; but it was
+splendid."
+
+She paused, breathless, and he patted her shoulder. Somehow she didn't
+look so downright homely this morning, or else he was growing used to
+her little, turned-up nose. Her tow-colored hair was looser about her
+face, and where the sun struck a strand of it, it shone like spun gold.
+
+"I'm fine," he assured her. "But who was that man you were talking to
+just now?"
+
+"Him? Oh, that was the clown," Lou replied. "He says the old man is just
+crazy 'bout your ridin', an' if you'll stay along with the show he can
+teach me to stand still for the knife-thrower; the last girl got scared,
+an' quit just because she got a little scratch on the neck. The clown
+says I got the nerve for it, an' I guess I have, only they ain't goin'
+towards New York."
+
+She added the last almost reluctantly, and Jim shuddered. The
+knife-thrower! What wouldn't the little dare-devil be willing to try
+next?
+
+"I guess you have got the nerve," he admitted grimly. "But we're going
+to be in New York by Saturday night, remember. As soon as I get my
+quarter from the stout gentleman over there with the striped vest, we'll
+be on our way."
+
+But it was nearly an hour before they took to the road again. The boss
+insisted on starting them off with a hearty breakfast, and there were
+good-bys to be said to the rough, kindly folk who had taken them in as
+friends. Except for the litter of hand-bills and peanut-shells, the last
+vestiges of the circus were being removed from the lot as they finally
+departed, and what had been to Lou a wondrous, glittering pageant had
+become but a memory.
+
+"I dunno but I'd as lief join a circus," she observed, meditatively,
+after they had traveled a mile or more. "Maybe I could learn in New York
+how to do some of them tricks. I could git the hang of that business up
+on them swings in no time, only I don't like the way that girl
+dressed----"
+
+"Nonsense!" Jim snapped, and wondered at his own indignation. "We'll
+find something suitable for you to do, or you can go to school----"
+
+"School!" she interrupted him in her turn. "I--I'd like to learn things
+an' be like other folks, but I ain't--I mean I'm not--goin' to any
+institootion."
+
+He glanced at her curiously. This was the first time she had made any
+conscious effort to correct herself, the first evidence she had given
+that she had noted the difference between his speech and hers.
+
+"I didn't mean an institution, but a real school, Lou," he explained
+gently. "One where you'll have no uniform to wear, and no work to do
+except to learn."
+
+"I quit learnin' when I was twelve." There was an unconscious note of
+wistfulness in her tones. "I kin read an' do a little figgerin', but I
+don't know much of anythin' else. I couldn't go to school an' begin
+again where I left off, Jim; I'd be sort of ashamed. Oh, look at that
+big wagon drivin' out of that gate! Maybe we'll git a lift."
+
+She had turned at the creak of wheels, and now, as the cart loaded with
+crates and pulled by two lean, sorry-looking horses passed, she gazed
+expectantly at the driver. He was as lean as his team, with a sharp nose
+and a tuft of gray hair sticking out from his chin, and his close-set
+eyes straight ahead of him, as though he were determined not to see to
+the two wayfarers.
+
+"He looks kinder mean, don't he?" Lou remarked. Then impulsively she ran
+after the wagon: "Say, mister, will you give us a lift?"
+
+The old man pulled in his horses and regarded her sourly.
+
+"What'll you pay?" he demanded.
+
+"What's in them crates," she parried.
+
+"Eggs." The response was laconic. "What you gittin' at, sis?"
+
+"Who unloads them when you git to where you're goin'?" Lou persisted.
+
+"At the Riverburgh dock? I do, unless I'm late, an' then I have to give
+a couple o' them loafers around there a quarter apiece to help. I'm late
+to-day, an' if you ain't got any money to ride--Giddap!"
+
+But Lou halted him determinedly.
+
+"If you'll give me and Jim--I mean my brother--a ride, he'll unload the
+crates for you for nothin' when we git there. You'll be savin' fifty
+cents, and the ride won't cost you nothin'."
+
+"Well"--the old man considered for a moment--"I'll do it, if it's only
+to spite them fellers that's allus hangin' 'round the docks. Reg'lar
+robbers, they be. Quarter apiece, an' chicken-feed gone up the way't is.
+Git in."
+
+Jim had overtaken the wagon in time to hear the end of the brief
+conversation, and he wasted no further time in parley, but hoisted Lou
+up over the wheel and climbed in beside her.
+
+As the reluctant horses started off once more the driver turned to him:
+
+"Hope you're a hustler, young man; got to git them eggs off the wagon in
+a jiffy when we git to Riverburgh, in time to ketch the boat. Don't you
+try no scuttlin' off on me after I give you the ride; Riverburgh's a
+reg'lar city, an' they's a policeman on the docks."
+
+"I'll keep the bargain my sister made for me," Jim answered shortly. He
+had observed the poultry-farm from which the old man had started, with
+its miserable little hovel of a house and immense spread of
+chicken-runs, and drawn his own conclusions as to the character of its
+owner. "You needn't be afraid I'll shirk."
+
+"Well," grumbled the other, "I don't hold with pickin' up tramps in the
+road, but I'm sick of handin' out good money to them loafers at the dock
+to unload, an' I ain't got a hired man to take along no more; they're
+allus lazy, good-for-nothin' fellers that eat more'n they work out, let
+alone their wages goin' sky-hootin'!"
+
+"But you must be making a handsome profit, with the price of eggs going
+up, too, all the time," Jim remarked.
+
+The old man gave him a sly glance.
+
+"That's how you look at it," he replied. "They oughter go up twice the
+price they be. My wife's doin' the hired man's work now, an' she's allus
+pesterin' me to git an incubator, but them things cost a powerful sight
+of money, an' I don't hold with new-fangled notions; too much resk to
+them. You can allus sell hens when they git too old to set or lay, but
+what're you going to do with a wore-out incubator?"
+
+He cackled shrilly at his own witticism and then grew morose again. "The
+way things is, there ain't no profit skeercely in nothin'."
+
+They jogged along drowsily through the slumberous heat, while the old
+man continued his harangue against the cost of everything except his own
+commodity, and the underfed horses strained to drag their burden over
+the hilly road. The mountains had been left behind, and all over the
+rolling hillsides about them on either hand the vineyards stretched in
+undulating lines, each heavy with the load of purpling grapes.
+
+Mile after mile passed slowly beneath the creaking wheels of the wagon;
+noon came, and still Riverburgh remained tantalizingly ahead. At last,
+on the rise of a hill, the old man pulled up and pointed with his whip
+to the spreading sweep of brick buildings fronting on the river's edge
+below.
+
+"There's the town," he announced, adding, with a touch of regret: "We're
+ahead of time, after all, an' I could have unloaded by myself. Well, it
+don't matter noways except for the extra drag on the horses. Giddap!"
+
+"There's--there's an ottermobile comin' up behind," Lou ventured. "They
+been tootin' at you for some time, mister."
+
+"Let 'em," the old man cackled shrilly once more. "I've been drivin' on
+these roads afore them things was heard of, an' I don't calc'late to
+turn out for 'em."
+
+The warning of the siren sounded again disturbingly close, and the rush
+of the oncoming car could be plainly heard. Jim glanced at the old man,
+and, noting the stubborn set of his jaw, said nothing; but Lou spoke
+again, and her voice held no note of alarm, but rather indignation at
+the obvious lack of fair play.
+
+"But they got a right; you're on their side of the road," she exclaimed.
+"If you'd give them their half, mister, they could pass easy."
+
+"Don't calc'late to let 'em," he responded obstinately. "Ain't goin' to
+take their dust if I kin help it."
+
+Deliberately he tugged on the left reins and headed the team straight
+across the road. Lou gave a quick glance over the side of the wagon and
+behind, and then gripped Jim's arm. He turned and caught one glimpse of
+her set face, and then with a roar and a grinding crash they both felt
+themselves lifted into the air and landed in some golden, slimy fluid in
+the ditch.
+
+"Lou, are you hurt?" Jim tried to wipe the clinging stuff from his eyes
+and ears with his sleeve. "Where are you?"
+
+The rapidly diminishing clatter of horses' hoofs down the hill, and the
+old man's vigorously roared recriminations assured him of the safety of
+the rest of the entourage even before Lou replied.
+
+"Not hurt a mite, but I'm laughin'!" she exclaimed breathlessly. "Oh,
+Jim, you--you should have seen it. That ottermobile hit square in the
+middle of the wagon, and there ain't--isn't--a single egg----"
+
+"Here, you!" the old man, dripping from head to foot with the golden
+slime, rushed up and tugged excitedly at Jim's arm. "Come on an' help me
+to ketch them horses! What'd I bring you along for? Let the girl be, I
+don't ker if her neck's broke! I got to lodge a complaint against them
+rascals, an' have 'em stopped! You're my witnesses that they run into
+me, an' I'll make 'em pay a pretty penny----"
+
+"I care whether my sister's neck is broken or not!" Jim retorted grimly.
+"Go after your own horses. I engaged to unload eggs, and it looks as if
+the job was finished. Lou, are you sure you're all right?"
+
+The old man danced up and down in the road, spattering flecks of egg
+about him.
+
+"We'll see about that," he shrilled. "You come along with me! You're my
+witnesses----"
+
+"We'll be your witnesses that you were on the wrong side of the road,
+and knew it," Jim helped Lou to her feet. "They warned you, and you
+wouldn't turn out."
+
+With an outburst of inarticulate rage the old man dashed off down the
+road, and Lou, helpless with laughter, clung to Jim's slippery sleeve.
+
+"Don't mind him," she gasped. "Old skinflint! Oh, Jim, you l-look like
+an omelet."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+The Red Note-Book
+
+
+For a moment Jim laughed with her; then the seriousness of their
+situation was borne in upon him, and his face sobered.
+
+"It's the kind of an omelet that won't come off in a hurry, I'm afraid,"
+he said. "How on earth are we going to walk into Riverburgh like this?"
+
+It was the first time that he had appealed to her, and Lou's laughter
+ceased also, but her cheerful confidence did not fail her.
+
+"We gotter find some place where we can git cleaned up, that's all," she
+replied practically. "Most anybody would let you do that, I guess, if
+you told them what happened, an' if you can't ask--why, I kin. Anybody
+'cept a mean old thing like that! I s'pose I ought to be sorry that his
+wagon's broke an' his eggs are all over us instead of where they was
+goin', but I'm not a mite. Long's he wasn't hurt, I'm kinder glad."
+
+"Still, those people in the car ought to have stopped to see the extent
+of the damage they had done, even if they did have the right-of-way,"
+Jim observed. "The old fellow had his grievance, but he got my goat when
+he said he didn't care if your neck was broken or not, and I wouldn't
+have helped him if I could."
+
+"'Goat'?" Lou repeated.
+
+Jim had no opportunity to explain, for at that moment a woman in a faded
+gingham gown toiled hurriedly over the brow of the hill, and, on seeing
+them, stopped, with one hand at her breast.
+
+"Oh!" she gasped. "There's wasn't anyone hurt, was there? I saw the
+accident from my porch, and I came just as quick as I could."
+
+Jim explained, and the woman listened, wide-eyed.
+
+"You both come straight along with me," she invited when he had
+finished. "I'll lend you some overalls, and you and the little girl can
+just sit around while your clothes dry."
+
+She led the way back to a tiny but very neat cottage, with flowers
+blooming in the door-yard and a well-tended truck-garden in the rear.
+Broad hay-fields stretched on either side, but only two little boys were
+visible, tossing the hay awkwardly with pitchforks almost bigger than
+they were themselves.
+
+The woman left them standing for a minute on the back porch, and then
+came out to them, bearing a cake of soap, a towel, and a pair of
+overalls and shirt, which, although immaculately clean, bore many
+patches and darns, and were deeply creased, as though they had been laid
+away a long time.
+
+"Take these down to the barn." She handed them to Jim. "You'll find a
+spigot there, and cold water's best for egg-stains. I left some rags in
+the empty box-stall that you can use to clean your shoes, and then, if
+you'll give me your clothes that you've got on now, I'll soak them and
+get them out while the sun's high; corduroy takes a long time to dry."
+
+When Jim had expressed his gratitude and departed for the barn, the
+woman led Lou into the kitchen, and, providing her also with clean
+garments, she dragged a wash-tub out on the porch.
+
+"I--if you'll let me, I'd like to wash my own things and Jim's." Lou
+appeared shyly in the door in a gown several sizes too large for her.
+"He'd like it, too, I think, and he can help with the hayin' till the
+things git dried out enough, so's we kin go on."
+
+"Oh, would he?" the woman asked quickly. "I'd pay him well if he's
+looking for work; I can't get any hands, though I've tried, and the hay
+is rotting for want of being turned. I didn't think I'd seen you two
+around here before, but I've known old Mr. Weeble always."
+
+"You mean that--that with the egg-wagon? He was givin' us a lift into
+Riverburgh; we're just traveling through," Lou added shortly.
+
+"Did he pick you up back near his place?" At Lou's nod the woman
+exclaimed: "Then you two haven't had a bite of dinner! You put your
+things to soak and I'll go right in the house and get you up a little
+something; it's past two."
+
+Lou started to protest, but the woman disappeared into the kitchen, and
+Jim appeared from the barn. He was attired in a shirt which strained at
+his broad shoulders, and overalls which barely reached his shoe-tops.
+
+The girl noticed something else also as he turned for a moment to look
+toward the field where the little boys were so valiantly at work; a
+red-leather note-book, which she had never known that he carried, bulged
+now from the all too small overall-pocket.
+
+"You can bet I'll pitch hay for her till sundown," he declared, when Lou
+had explained the situation to him. He dropped beside the tub the bundle
+of egg-soaked clothing which he carried, and added: "It is mighty good
+of her to do all this for us, isn't it? I tell you, Lou, the credit side
+of the list is going up even if it did have a bit of a jolt this
+morning, and you're the biggest item on it."
+
+This speech was wholly unintelligible to the girl, but she bent over the
+tub without reply, and Jim went on hurriedly, aware that he had made a
+slip of some sort.
+
+"I wonder where all the men of the family are? She can't get any
+hands----"
+
+"_There_ are all the men of the family." The woman had reappeared
+in time to catch his last remark, and she pointed out toward the two
+small toilers with a faint smile. "There was another, their father--my
+son--but he died; so we're doin' the best we can by ourselves. But
+there's a little bite ready for you on the end of the kitchen-table, and
+it's getting cold."
+
+The food tasted good, and the little red cloth beneath the dishes was
+clean, but the signs of carefully concealed poverty were everywhere
+visible to Jim's eyes, and he suspected another reason for the lack of
+farm-hands than scarcity of labor. He hurried through his meal, and went
+at once to the hay-field, while Lou, after insisting on clearing the
+dishes away, went back to the wash-tub, and their hostess returned to
+her own belated ironing.
+
+Upon the girl's usually serene brow there was a frown of perplexity as
+she worked, and her thoughts were far afield, for in that backward
+glance which she had given from the egg-wagon to the approaching car
+just before the crash came she had recognized in its occupants the
+quartet who sat in front of her at the circus the previous evening. The
+ladies were closely swathed in their veils, but she remembered the
+distinctive plaids of their silk coats, and the stout gentleman who sat
+between them in the tonneau, with goggles and hat snatched off in the
+excitement of the impending smash-up, was unmistakably the one who had
+called out "Good work!" when Jim was performing on the horse.
+
+The other gentleman who had made up the quartet was the one who drove
+the car, and her quick glance showed her that he was even then trying to
+avoid the crash.
+
+The details had been photographed upon her brain with instantaneous
+clarity, but it was not with these that her thoughts were busied; the
+remark which the younger lady had made at the circus just before Jim
+rode toward the exit-flap of the curtain had returned and could not be
+banished from her mind:
+
+"Didn't he look like Jimmie Abbott?"
+
+Her companion had told the girl that his name was Botts, but beyond
+that, and the fact that he was on the way to New York, he had vouchsafed
+no further information about himself, nor had Lou asked. She could not
+understand why his journey was hedged about with so many silly rules,
+nor why he chose to obey them; that was his affair, and he was just a
+part of this wonderful adventure which had started with her departure
+from the Hess farm.
+
+Yet away down in her heart was a little hurt feeling for which she could
+not have assigned a cause even to herself. Of course she trusted him,
+and he would not have lied to her, but could there really be another
+"Jim" in the world who looked quite like him, and whose name was so
+nearly the same?
+
+She had sensed instinctively, and the more clearly perhaps because of
+her lack of worldly experience, that he was different, not only from
+herself, but from all whom they had encountered upon their journey, yet
+could he really be that grand young lady's "Jimmie," after all?
+
+As she stepped aside to lift the basket into which the sodden garments
+had fallen from the wringer, her foot chanced to crunch upon something
+that yielded with a crisp rustle, and she glanced down. It was the
+little red note-book which she had seen in Jim's overall-pocket when he
+came from the barn; it must have fallen out as he crossed the porch to
+go to the hay-field.
+
+It had opened, and the front cover was pressed back, with the stamp of
+her heel, showing plainly upon the first page, and as she stooped slowly
+and picked it up Lou could not help reading the three words which were
+written across it in a bold, characteristic hand:
+
+                        JAMES TARRISFORD ABBOTT
+
+There was something else, an address, no doubt, written below, but Lou
+closed the book quickly and dropped it upon a near-by bench, as though
+it burned her fingers. For a moment she stood very still with her eyes
+closed and her little water-shriveled hands tightly interlocked, and in
+that instant of time the happy, careless co-adventurer of the last two
+marvelous days vanished, and in his place there appeared a stranger, a
+man of the world, in which that young lady of the motor-car moved.
+
+For the first time in Lou's life a panic seized her, a desperate longing
+to run away. She opened her eyes and looked across the hay-fields to
+where that tall, stalwart figure worked beside the two smaller ones.
+Even from that distance he looked different, somehow; he wasn't the same
+Jim.
+
+Slowly, with a mist before her eyes she picked up the heavy basket, and,
+descending the steps of the porch, spread the garments upon the
+bleaching grass to dry. The glittering glories of the circus had turned
+all at once to a black shadow in her memory, and she wished fervently
+that she had never seen it nor those rich people who had come to make a
+mock of it, but had stayed to applaud Jim.
+
+But why shouldn't they, even if they hadn't recognized him? He belonged
+to their world, not hers. Then a new, inexpressibly forlorn thought came
+to her; what was her world, anyway? She didn't belong anywhere; there
+was no place for her unless she made one for herself, some time.
+
+With that, in spite of this strange, new weariness which dragged at her
+heart, Lou's indomitable spirit reasserted itself, and her small teeth
+clamped together. She _would_ make herself a place somewhere,
+somehow.
+
+Returning to the house, she took the ironing from her tired hostess's
+hands, and worked steadily until at sundown the high treble of childish
+voices came to her ears, and Jim's merry, laughing tones in reply sent a
+quick stab through her, but she put down the iron and went determinedly
+out on the porch.
+
+The two little boys came shyly on up the steps, but Jim had paused to
+feel of his coat, as it lay on the grass, and looked ruefully at her.
+
+"It's wet still, I'm afraid," she remarked composedly, as she picked up
+the red note-book and held it out to him. "Is this yourn? It looks as
+though it must have dropped out of your pocket an' somebody stepped on
+it."
+
+If the girl noted the swift change which came over his face she gave no
+sign as he came forward and took the book from her hands.
+
+"Yes, it's mine." He opened and closed it again, and then looked up
+uncertainly into her face as she stood on the steps above him, but Lou
+was gazing in seeming serenity out over the fields, which were still
+shimmering in the last rays of the sun. "I--I'll tell you about this
+some time, Lou. It's funny."
+
+"What's funny?" she asked, with a little start, as though he had
+interrupted some train of thought of her own, far removed from hateful
+little red books.
+
+"If you think it's goin' to be funny to travel in wet clothes to-night,
+just wait till you git started."
+
+But they did not start upon their journey again that night, after all.
+Their kindly hostess insisted upon their remaining until the morning, at
+least, and when the supper dishes were cleared away Lou wandered off by
+herself down the little lane which led to the pasture.
+
+There would be three days more, and then their journey's end. Upon one
+thing she had decided: there would be no school for her! She was going
+to work as quickly as she could find something to do. Mr. James Abbott
+must be paid back for the little pink-checked frock and the hat with the
+green bow, and then she would drop from his sight. Surely in that great
+city, with its hundreds and hundreds of people, she would be able to
+disappear.
+
+Reaching the pasture, she stood at the gate with her arms resting upon
+the topmost rail, and was so deep in reflection that she did not hear a
+step behind her until a hand touched her shoulder, and Jim's voice asked
+quietly:
+
+"What are you doing off here by yourself, Lou? Mrs. Bemis didn't know
+what had become of you, and I've been looking everywhere."
+
+"I dunno," Lou answered truthfully enough. "I been thinkin' 'bout the
+institootion where I come from; it was seein' them little boys put me in
+mind of it, I reckon. I was kinder wonderin' what it would be like to
+really belong to anybody."
+
+There was neither pathos nor self-pity in her tone, but rather a cold,
+dispassionate speculation that froze the words of awkward sympathy which
+rose to his lips, and he remained silent.
+
+"I did once, you know," she continued, "belong to some--body, I mean. I
+had on a white dress all trimmed with lace when they found me in the
+station at the junction an' took me up to the institootion; it was the
+only white dress I ever had."
+
+"Where was this institution, Lou?" Jim asked. "You've never told me, you
+know."
+
+Lou shrugged.
+
+"Oh, it was 'way up at a place called Mayfield's Corners; I was most
+three hours on the train before I got to the station nearest Hess's
+farm."
+
+A vicious desire came over her to shock and repulse that inexplicable
+thing in him which set him apart from her and made him one with the
+world in which those others moved; that stout gentleman and the young
+lady who had called him Jimmie. She added deliberately:
+
+"I told you what I did there--at the institootion, I mean: scrubbed an'
+cooked an' washed an' tended babies an' wore a uniform, just like any
+other norphin, I guess. Slep' in the garret with the rats runnin' over
+the floor, an' got up in the mornin' to the same old work. It warn't a
+State institootion, you see; just a kind of a charity one, run by the
+deacons of the church; I ain't got much use for charity."
+
+"I shouldn't think you would have," he exclaimed. "But it's all behind
+you now, Lou. We made fourteen miles to-day from Highvale--or will have
+when we walk down the hill to Riverburgh to-morrow, and it is only sixty
+miles further to New York."
+
+"That's good," Lou said, but without enthusiasm. "Do we start at
+sun-up?"
+
+"I thought I'd like to work for Mrs. Bemis for a couple of hours first
+and get the hay turned in that south field," Jim answered. "She's been
+so good to us, and she'll need the stuff this winter for those two old
+plugs out there."
+
+He pointed out into the pasture, where two horses made mere blotches of
+deeper shadow beneath a tree.
+
+Lou laughed suddenly, softly, but it seemed to him that the rippling,
+liquid note had vanished.
+
+"What's funny?" he asked.
+
+"Oh, nothin'. I was just thinkin' of you last night in that circus. You
+rode so--so wonderfully. I wasn't laughin' at that, but it just come to
+me how funny it would have been if any of your friends was to have seen
+you!"
+
+Jim glanced at her sharply, but in the starlight her face seemed merely
+amused as at a whimsical thought.
+
+"Why would it have been funny?" he insisted. "Of course I never rode in
+a real circus before, and I guess I was pretty rotten, but why would my
+friends have laughed?"
+
+"I dunno." Lou dropped her arms from the fence-rail and turned away.
+"Let's go back to the house. I--I'm pretty tired."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+Revelations
+
+
+The next morning was a trying one for them both. Jim felt dully that
+something was the matter, but the girl's manner baffled him, and he
+could not make up his mind as to whether she had glanced in the
+note-book or not. It did not seem like her to do so deliberately, but if
+she had he could only make things worse by broaching the subject, since
+he was not at the moment in a position to explain.
+
+As for Lou, she was trying her best to appear her old self with him, but
+dissimulation was an art in which she was as yet unversed, and her whole
+nature rebelled against playing a part. Only her pride kept her from
+betraying her disappointment in him and running away. She told herself
+fiercely that he didn't care what she thought of him; they were only
+partners met by chance on the road, and perhaps never to see each other
+again after the city was reached.
+
+If he had lied to her about his name that was his own business, and she
+would not admit even to herself that this deception was not the only
+reason for the strange, hurt feeling about her heart.
+
+She rose at dawn, and, creeping down from the clean little room which
+Mrs. Bemis had given her, she had the stove going and breakfast on the
+table by the time the little family was awake, and Jim appeared from the
+barn, where he had slept in the loft.
+
+While he worked in the field during the early morning hours, she
+finished the ironing, and by ten o'clock they were ready once more to
+start upon their way.
+
+Mrs. Bemis insisted upon paying them both for their work, but it was
+only out of consideration for her pride that Jim would accept fifty
+cents of the two dollars she offered him.
+
+"I only work for a quarter a time," he told her gravely. "One for
+yesterday and one for this morning; my sister can tell you that. I--I
+would like to write to you if I may when we reach home, Mrs. Bemis. Will
+you tell me what address will find you? You see, I want to thank you
+properly for all your kindness to us, and I don't know whether this is
+the township of Riverburgh or not."
+
+"It's the Stilton post-office," the little woman stammered. "Of course,
+I'd like to hear from both of you, but you mustn't thank me! I don't
+know what I should have done without your help with the hay! And your
+sister, too; I do hope you both find work where you're going."
+
+To Lou's amazement Jim produced the little red note-book and wrote the
+address carefully in it, adding what appeared to be some figures at one
+side. Then he thanked their good Samaritan and they took their leave.
+
+"That makes a dollar and ten cents!" he remarked confidentially as he
+and Lou went down the hill road together toward the bustling little city
+nestled at the river's edge. "Quite a fortune, isn't it?"
+
+"She gave me a quarter for helping with the ironing, too, so that's
+thirty-five that I've got." Lou exhibited a hard knot tied in the corner
+of her handkerchief. "I couldn't get all of the egg out of my hat, but
+it's good enough. Where do we go from Riverburgh?"
+
+Jim gave a groan of mock despair.
+
+"That's the dev--I mean, the deuce of it!" he exclaimed. "We've got to
+cross the river there someway, and go on down on the other side. We
+can't keep on this, or we will run into New Jersey and--and I mustn't
+leave the State."
+
+He blurted the last out in a dogged, uncomfortable way, but Lou did not
+appear to notice his change of tone.
+
+"Well, there look to be plenty of boats goin' back an' forth," she
+observed placidly. "I guess we can get over."
+
+"But you don't understand. I--I can't pay our way over; that's another
+of the things I mustn't do." Jim flushed hotly.
+
+"I wish I could tell you all about it."
+
+"It don't make any difference." Lou kept her eyes fixed straight ahead
+of her. "There ought to be some way for you to work your way across."
+
+The road dipped sharply, and became all at once a pleasant, tree-lined
+street with pretty suburban cottages on either hand. To the east and
+north hung the smoke cloud of countless factories, but their way led
+them through the modest residential quarter. The street presently turned
+into a paved one, and trolley lines appeared; then brick buildings and
+shops, and before they knew it they were in the busy, crowded business
+thoroughfare.
+
+Lou would have paused, gaping and wondering if New York could be
+anything like this, but Jim hurried her down the steep, cobbled way
+which led to the ferry. Once there, he took her to a seat in the
+waiting-room.
+
+"Sit here and wait for me," he directed. "I'm going to run back up to
+the shops and get some provisions for us to carry along, and then I'll
+arrange about getting across. I shan't be long."
+
+When he came down the hill again some twenty minutes later laden with
+packages, he found Lou waiting for him at the door of the ferry-house,
+with a little exultant smile about her lips.
+
+"Come on," she commanded shortly. "I've fixed it for us to get over, but
+we gotta hurry. The boat's a'most ready to start."
+
+"How in the world----" he began, but without deigning to explain she led
+him to the gate. It was only after he had perforce preceded her that he
+saw her hand two tickets to the officials at the turnstile.
+
+"Lou!" he exclaimed reproachfully.
+
+"Well, it's all right, isn't it?" she demanded. "You kin ride if anybody
+asks you, can't you? I'm invitin' you to ride on this boat with me, Mr.
+Botts!"
+
+In spite of her assumed gaiety, however, the trip across the river was a
+silent one, and when the landing was reached and they hurried out of the
+settlement to the open country once more, both were acutely aware that
+the intangible rift was widening. It was as though they walked on
+opposite sides of the road, and neither could bridge the distance
+between.
+
+Both doggedly immersed in their own reflections, they walked on rapidly
+in spite of the heat and with no thought of time or distance until Jim
+realized that his companion was lagging, and glanced up to see that the
+sun had started well upon the western trail.
+
+"By Jove! You must be almost starved!" he cried. "I never thought--why
+didn't you wake me out of this trance I seem to have been in, and tell
+me it was long past time for chow? We must have walked miles!"
+
+"I didn't think, either." Lou glanced about her wearily. "I don't see
+any house, but I kinder think I hear a little brook somewhere, don't
+you? Let's find it, an' then hurry on; if we've got to do sixty miles by
+the day after to-morrow we got to be movin' right steady."
+
+They found the little brook, and ate of their supplies and drank
+heartily, for they were both famished by the long walk, but all the
+carefree joyousness seemed to have gone out of the adventure, and when
+Lou discovered that the knot in the corner of her handkerchief had
+become untied and the remainder of her capital was gone, it appeared to
+be the last cloud needed to immerse her in gloom.
+
+Her feet were blistered and every muscle ached with fatigue, but she
+shook her head when Jim asked if she were too tired to go on, and limped
+determinedly out into the road after him. She had accepted his
+companionship to New York, and she would drop in her tracks before she
+would be a drag on him and prevent his reaching there in the time which
+was so mysteriously important to him.
+
+A mile farther on, however, an empty motor van picked them up, and
+seated at the back with her feet hanging over, Lou promptly fell asleep,
+her head sagging unconsciously against Jim's shoulder. He did not touch
+her, but moved so that her head should fall into a more comfortable
+position, and looked down with new tenderness at the tow-colored hair.
+The ridiculous, outstanding braid was gone, and instead, a soft knot
+appeared low on the slender, sun-burned neck, with tiny tendrils of
+curls escaping from it.
+
+What a game little sport she had proved herself to be! He wondered how
+many girls of his own set would have had the courage and endurance for
+such a test. Then to his own amazement he found himself thinking of them
+with a certain sense of disparagement, almost contempt. They would not
+have had the moral courage, let alone physical endurance.
+
+Of course, this sort of vagabondage would be outrageous and utterly
+impossible from a conventional standpoint, but with Lou it had been a
+mere venture into Arcady, as innocent as the wanderings of two children.
+And Saturday it must end!
+
+At the outskirts of Parksville he called to the good-natured truckman
+who sat behind the wheel, and the latter obligingly put on the brakes.
+
+"My sister and I don't want to go right into the town, so we'll get out
+here if you don't mind," Jim said. "This lift has been a godsend, and I
+can't thank you, but I've got the name of the company you're working for
+in New York and I'll drop around some night when I'm flush and you're
+knocking off, and we'll see if the old burg is as dry as it's supposed
+to be."
+
+"You're on!" The driver grinned. "Got a job waitin' for yer? We need
+some helpers."
+
+"I've got a job." Jim thought of that "job" in the mahogany-lined suite
+of offices which bore his name on the door, but he did not smile. "I'll
+look you up soon. Come on, Lou; here's where we change cars."
+
+She rubbed her eyes and gazed about her bewilderedly in the gathering
+darkness as he lifted her to the ground and the truck rumbled off.
+
+"Where--where are we now?" she asked sleepily.
+
+"Just outside Parksville; see those lights over there?" he replied. "We
+must have walked more than ten miles before that motor van came along,
+so it isn't any wonder that you were tired, even if you wouldn't admit
+it. Just think, nineteen miles to-day!"
+
+He was wondering, even as he spoke, what they were to do for the night.
+He had not enough money to secure even the humblest of lodgings for her,
+and he knew that if they ventured as vagrants into the town they would
+be in danger of apprehension by the authorities. But Lou solved the
+question quite simply.
+
+"Isn't that big thing stickin' up in that field a haystack? I--I'd like
+a piece of that sponge cake that's left from what we ate at noon, and
+then crawl in there an' sleep straight through till to-morrow," she
+declared. "Did you want to go on any further to-night?"
+
+"Heavens, no. I was just wondering--I don't see why it couldn't be
+done," he replied somewhat haltingly. "There isn't any house near, and I
+don't think anything will hurt you."
+
+The latter probability seemed of no moment to Lou. She fell asleep again
+with her sponge cake half eaten, and he picked her up and nestled her in
+the hay as though she were in very truth a child. Then, as on the first
+night at the deserted mill near Hudsondale, he sat down at the foot of
+the haystack, on guard.
+
+It was well for them, however, that the haying was done in that
+particular field, and no farmer appeared from the big white house just
+over the hill, for in spite of his most valiant efforts Jim, too,
+slumbered, and it was broad day when he awoke.
+
+Lou had vanished from the haystack, but he found her at a little spring
+in a strip of woodland on the other side of the road, and they
+breakfasted hastily, conserving the last fragments of food for their
+midday meal, and started off.
+
+They had left the last chimney of Parksville well behind them when Jim
+suddenly observed:
+
+"You're limping, Lou. Let me see your shoes."
+
+She drew away from him.
+
+"It's nothin'," she denied. "My shoes are all right. I--I must've slept
+too long last night an' got sort of stiffened up."
+
+The freckles were swamped in a deep flood of color, but Jim repeated
+insistently: "Hold up your foot, Lou."
+
+Reluctantly she obeyed, disclosing a battered sole through the worn
+places of which something green showed.
+
+"I--I stuffed it with leaves," she confessed, defensively. "They're real
+comfortable, honestly. I'm just stiff----"
+
+Jim groaned.
+
+"I suppose they will have to do until we reach the next town, but you
+should have told me."
+
+"I kin take care of myself," Lou asserted. "I've walked in pretty near
+as bad as these in the institootion. We'd better get along to where
+there's some houses 'cause it looks to me like a storm was comin' up."
+
+The sun was still blazing down upon them, but it was through a murky
+haze, and the air seemed lifeless and heavy. Great, white-crested
+thunder heads were mounting in the sky, and behind them a dense
+blackness spread.
+
+"You're right; I never noticed----" Jim paused guiltily. After leaving
+the vicinity of Parksville he had purposely led her on a detour back
+into the farming country to avoid the main highway, for along the river
+front were the estates of some people he knew and he shrank from meeting
+them in his tramplike condition if they should motor past. There was
+Lou, too, to be considered. He might have offered some possible
+explanation for his own appearance, but no interpretation could be
+placed upon her presence at his side save that which he must prevent at
+all costs.
+
+Rolling fields and woodland stretched away illimitably on both sides of
+the road, and not even a cow shed appeared as they hurried onward, while
+the clouds mounted higher, and the rumble of thunder grew upon the air.
+The sun had vanished, and a strange, anticipatory stillness enveloped
+them, broken only by that hollow muttering.
+
+"It's comin' up fast." Lou broke the silence with one of her seldomly
+volunteered remarks. "Shall we git into the woods? I'd as lief dodge
+trees as be drowned in the road."
+
+"No!" Jim shook his head. "There is some kind of a shack just ahead
+there; I think we can make it before the storm comes."
+
+They were fairly running now, but the darkness was settling fast and a
+fork of lightning darted blindingly across their path. The object which
+Jim had taken for a shack proved to be merely a pile of rotting
+telegraph poles, but no other shelter offered, and they crouched in the
+lee of it, awaiting the onslaught of rain.
+
+"Take this, Lou." Jim wrapped his coat about her in spite of her
+protestations. "You're not afraid, are you?"
+
+"No, I ain't--I'm not--but you're goin' to get soaked through! I heard
+you coughin' once or twice at the bottom of that haystack last night."
+He thrilled unconsciously to the motherliness in her tone. Then she
+added reflectively: "I don't guess I'm afraid of anythin' I've seen yet,
+but I ain't--I haven't seen much."
+
+She ended with a sharp intake of her breath as a sudden gust of wind
+whirled the dust up into their faces and another streak of white light
+flashed before their eyes. Then with a rush and roar the storm burst.
+
+The woods marched straight down to the roadside at this point, and the
+trees back of the heap of poles moaned and writhed like tortured
+creatures while great branches lashed over their heads with now and then
+an ominous crackle, but it was lost in the surge of the winds and the
+ceaseless crash and roar of the thunder. Jagged forks of lightning
+played all about them like rapiers of steel, and at last the rain came.
+
+The brim of Lou's hat, hopelessly limp since its cleansing of the
+previous day, now flopped stringily against her face until she tore it
+off and gasping, buried her head in her arms as the sheets of rain
+pelted down. Jim's coat was sodden, and the thin cotton gown beneath
+clung to her drenched body, but she crouched closer to the poles while
+each volley of thunder shook her as with invisible hands.
+
+Her lashes were glued to her cheeks, but she forced them open and turned
+to see how Jim was faring. He had flattened himself against the poles at
+their farther end, and just as she looked his way a flash of lightning
+seemed to split the air between them and the huge old tree which reared
+its branches just above his head, snapped like a dry twig beneath some
+giant heel.
+
+Lou saw the great oak totter and then sway, while a sickening swirl of
+branches filled the air, and scarcely conscious of her own act she
+hurled herself upon Jim. With all the strength borne of her terror she
+pushed him from the heap of poles, sending him rolling out into the
+middle of the road, to safety. Then she tried to spring after him, but a
+hideous, waiting lethargy seemed to encompass her, and then with a
+mighty crash the tree fell athwart the poles.
+
+Half stunned by the unexpected onslaught upon him and the rending blast
+of the falling tree, Jim lay motionless for an instant, then with a
+sharp cry sprang to his feet and turned to look for Lou, but the pile of
+telegraph poles was hidden beneath a broad sweep of branches and across
+the place where she had crouched the great trunk of the tree lay prone.
+
+"Lou!" The cry burst from his very heart as he sprang forward and began
+to tear frantically at the stout limbs which barred his way. "Oh, God,
+she isn't crushed! Don't take her now, she's so little and young, and I
+want her, I need her so! God!"
+
+He was unconscious that he was praying aloud, unconscious of the words
+which issued sobbingly from his lips. He tugged and tore at the branches
+while the skin ripped like ribbons from his hands and the boughs whipped
+back to raise great welts upon his face.
+
+He was unconscious, too, of a stir at the other side of the fallen tree
+and a rustle of sodden leaves, as, very much after the manner of a
+prairie dog emerging from his hole, Lou crawled out into the rain, and
+sitting up, sneezed.
+
+At the sound of that meek sternutation Jim whirled about.
+
+"Lou!"
+
+"Jim! Oh, Jim! You're not killed!" A muddy, bedraggled little figure
+that once had been pink and white flew straight to him, and two soft
+arms swept about him and clung convulsively. "I seen it comin', an'--an'
+I tried to shove you out of the way----"
+
+"Thank God, little girl! Thank God you aren't hurt!" he murmured
+brokenly. "I thought the tree had fallen on you!"
+
+"Only the boughs of it, but they held me down. Oh, Jim, if you'd been
+killed I wouldn't 'a' cared what happened to me!"
+
+His heart leaped, and his own arms tightened about her at the naïve,
+unconscious revelation which had issued from her lips. Then all at once
+he realized what it had meant, that hideous feeling of loss when he
+thought that she lay buried beneath the tree. It had come to them both,
+revealed as by a flash of the lightning which was now traveling toward
+the east, and in the wonder and joy of it he held her close for a moment
+and then put her gently from him.
+
+Sternly repressing the words which would have rushed from his heart, he
+said quietly:
+
+"Thank God we were both spared. Come, little Lou, we must find shelter."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+Journey's End
+
+
+The rain had ceased, and as they walked down the muddy road the sun came
+out even before the final mutterings of the thunder had died away in the
+distance, and so they came at last upon a little house which sat well
+back among a group of dripping trees.
+
+"Take your coat, Jim," Lou said, breaking a long silence which had
+fallen between them. "That porch is so wet now that we can't get it any
+wetter an' I'm goin' to ask for a chance to get dry."
+
+But they had scarcely passed through the gate when the front door opened
+and a young woman rushed out.
+
+"Oh! Will you run to the next house for me and telephone for the
+doctor?" she cried, all in one breath. Her eyes were staring and her
+breast heaved convulsively.
+
+Jim quickened his pace.
+
+"Where is the next house, and what doctor shall I send for?" he asked
+pleasantly.
+
+"It's just over the ridge there; the Colberts. They know Dr. Blair's
+number. My husband would go himself but he can't step on his hurt foot
+and I don't dare leave. Tell the Colberts that it's the baby! He's
+dying, and I don't know what to do!"
+
+Jim turned, and hurried off over the ridge, but Lou took a step forward.
+
+"Baby! I've been takin' care of babies all my life, seems like. You let
+me look at it, ma'am."
+
+"Oh, do you think you could do anything, a little thing like you?"
+
+The young woman eyed the forlornly drenched figure before her rather
+doubtfully, but something she read in Lou's steady, confident gaze
+seemed to reassure her, and she threw wide the door. "Come in, please!
+He's all blue."
+
+Lou unceremoniously pushed past her down the clean little hallway and
+paused for a moment upon the threshold of the room at its end. It was a
+kitchen, small, but as immaculately clean as the hall, and in a
+rocking-chair near the window sat an anxious-eyed young man with his
+bandaged foot up on another chair before him, and in his arms a tiny,
+rigid little form.
+
+Lou went straight to him and unceremoniously possessed herself of the
+baby.
+
+Its small face was waxen, with a bluish tinge about the mouth, and
+half-closed, glazing eyes.
+
+"How long's it been like this?" Lou demanded sharply.
+
+"Only just a few minutes. It--it seemed like a sort of fit that he had."
+The young woman turned to her husband. "Jack, this little girl stopped
+by and said she knew all about babies, and the man with her, he's gone
+for----"
+
+"I want some hot water, quick!" Lou interrupted the explanations
+brusquely. "Boiling hot, and a tub or a big pan. Have you got the kettle
+on?"
+
+"Y-yes, but I'm afraid I've let the fire go out," the woman faltered. "I
+was so worried----"
+
+With an exclamation of impatience Lou rewrapped the baby which she had
+been examining and thrust it into the man's arms. Then turning to the
+woman with exasperation in her eyes and voice she demanded:
+
+"I s'pose you can find some dry chips, somewhere, can't you? If I don't
+get this baby into a hot bath right away it'll be all up with him."
+
+The woman gasped, and ran out of the back door while the young man in
+the chair groaned:
+
+"It's awful to sit here helpless and watch him suffer! If I could only
+put my foot to the floor----"
+
+"How old is he, anyway?" Lou, who was busily searching the shelf of
+groceries, asked over her shoulder. "He looks to be under a year."
+
+"Ten months, miss," he answered. "What do you think is the matter with
+him?"
+
+"Convulsion," Lou replied succinctly, as the woman rushed in once more
+with her apron full of chips. "Git some more, it don't matter how you
+clog the stove with wood ashes; we gotta git boilin' water as quick as
+we kin."
+
+Meanwhile Jim found the Colbert house, explained his mission, and having
+accomplished it, hastened back. He pulled the bell, but no one came, and
+knocking, found that the door yielded to his touch. Entering, he went
+down the hall and paused at the kitchen door just as the woman
+stammered:
+
+"I d-don't think there are any dry kindlings left."
+
+"Then chop some! Ain't you got any old boxes? Oh, Jim!" Lou caught sight
+of him in the doorway. "Find a hatchet and some light, dry wood, will
+you?"
+
+The fire was roaring in the stove at last, but the water was long in
+boiling, and the little figure in the man's arms seemed to be undergoing
+a subtle but inevitable change. His lips were still parted, but no
+faintest stir of breath emanated from them, and the rigidity had taken
+on a marble-like cast.
+
+The mother bent over him, moaning once more, but Lou turned upon her in
+swift scorn.
+
+"For goodness' sake, where's that tub or pan I asked you for? He's got a
+chance, a _good_ chance if you don't waste any more time! What you
+been givin' him, anyway?" she added, as the woman flew to do her
+bidding.
+
+"Nothing but a little green corn. He relishes it, and it's so cute to
+see him try to chew it----"
+
+"Green corn!" Lou repeated, as she seized the heavy kettle and began
+pouring its steaming contents into the tub. "Ain't _nobody_ in your
+family ever had any babies before?"
+
+She hastily added to the tub a quantity of yellowish powder from a can
+which she had found upon the shelf of groceries, and marched
+determinedly over to the man who was seated in the chair.
+
+"Give me that baby!" she demanded.
+
+"But, miss, that water's boiling!" he gasped.
+
+"You're not going to put my baby in that?" The woman came quickly from
+her apathy of dismay and sprang forward, while Jim, too, advanced, his
+anxiety for another reason.
+
+"Lou! You'll blister yourself horribly----"
+
+"Let me alone, all of you!" Lou turned upon them even as she stripped
+the wrappings from the child. "Haven't I done this a hundred times? He
+ain't even goin' to feel the heat of the mustard, he's so far gone! I
+guess I know what I'm doin'!"
+
+The woman buried her face in her hands with a sob, and even Jim turned
+away his eyes, but no one thought to interfere further with the assured
+little nurse. There was a splash of water, a little gasp from Lou, and
+then after a period which seemed interminable her matter-of-fact voice
+remarked:
+
+"He's comin' round."
+
+The tiny body was scarcely tinged with pink, but it had lost its
+dreadful rigidity, and a faint cry came from it as Lou wrapped it in a
+shawl and laid it in its mother's arms.
+
+"He'll do now, anyway till that doctor comes."
+
+Amid the rejoicing of the parents Jim advanced to Lou and demanded:
+
+"Let me see your arms."
+
+"They're all right--" She tried to put them behind her as she spoke, but
+he drew them forward. A network of blisters covered them almost to the
+shoulders.
+
+"Oh, Lou! Lou!" he murmured brokenly. "What won't you do next?"
+
+She smiled faintly.
+
+"You said I'd do anything once, but I've done this lots of times
+before----"
+
+"Well, well, good people! What's going on here?" A kindly voice sounded
+from the doorway, and the woman turned with a little cry.
+
+"Oh, Dr. Blair, she saved the baby! Put him down in that scalding water
+and held him right there with her hands, and she's burned herself
+something terrible, but she saved him! I never saw a braver----"
+
+"Let me see."
+
+The doctor examined the baby with professional gravity and then looked
+up.
+
+"I should say you did save him, young woman! I couldn't have done better
+for him myself! Now let me have a look at those arms of yours."
+
+After he had bandaged her blisters the woman prepared food and coffee
+for them all and then took Lou upstairs with her, while Jim dried his
+soaking clothes by the kitchen fire and the three men talked in a
+desultory way of the topics of the countryside.
+
+Dr. Blair had just ascertained that Jim and his "sister" were strangers,
+traveling toward New York, and had offered to drive them both to the
+trolley line in his little car, when the woman of the house reappeared
+with Lou, and Jim stared with all his eyes.
+
+Could this be the little scarecrow of a girl he had met on the road only
+five days before; this unbelievably tall, slender young woman in the
+dark blue silk gown with filmy ruffles falling about her neck and
+wrists, and soft puffs of blond hair over her ears?
+
+"It's me, though I kin hardly believe it myself!" Lou answered his
+unspoken thought. Then drawing him aside she added: "Mis' Tooker--that's
+her name--gave me a pair of shoes, too, an' a hat an' five whole
+dollars! Are we goin' to a place called Pelton?"
+
+Jim nodded.
+
+"That is where I hoped we would be by to-night, but it must be at least
+twelve miles away."
+
+"Well, Mis' Tooker says the trolley goes right into Pelton, and she gave
+me a letter to a friend of hers there who'll take us in for the
+night----"
+
+The doctor interrupted with an intimation of another patient to be
+visited, and they bade farewell to the grateful young couple and started
+away. The sun was still high, and save for the mud which splashed up
+with each turn of the wheels, all traces of the storm had vanished.
+
+"Jennie Tooker always was a fool!" Dr. Blair grumbled. "How many babies
+have you taken care of, young woman?"
+
+"More'n twenty, I guess, off an' on," Lou responded. "I--I used to work
+in an institootion up-State."
+
+Fearing further revelations, Jim hastily took a hand in the
+conversation, and he and the doctor chatted until the trolley line was
+reached. There, when they had descended from the little car Lou turned
+to Jim and asked a trifle shyly:
+
+"You--you're goin' to let me ask you to ride, aren't you? You bought all
+the food in Riverburgh, you know."
+
+"And you seem to have financed all the rest of the trip," he said with a
+rueful laugh. "I thought, when you suggested that we should travel
+together, I would be the one to take care of you, but it has been the
+other way around. Oh, Lou, I've so much to say to you when we reach our
+journey's end!"
+
+They arrived at Pelton before dark and found Mrs. Tooker's friend, who
+ran a small boarding-house for store employees, and was glad to take
+them in at a dollar a head. Lou disappeared after supper, and although
+Lou waited long for him on the little porch, he did not return until
+through sheer fatigue she was forced to go to bed.
+
+In the morning, however, when they met before breakfast in the lower
+hall he jingled a handful of silver in his pocket.
+
+"However did you git it?" she demanded.
+
+"Garage," he responded succinctly. "Didn't know I was a chauffeur, did
+you, Lou?"
+
+A peculiar little smile hovered for a moment about her lips, but she
+merely remarked:
+
+"I thought you wouldn't only take a quarter----"
+
+"For each job," he interrupted her. "A lot of cars came in that needed
+tinkering with after the storm, and they were short of hands. I made
+more than two dollars, and we'll ride in state into Hunnikers!"
+
+Lou made no reply, but after breakfast she drew him out on the little
+porch.
+
+"Jim, I--I'm not goin' on."
+
+"What!" he exclaimed.
+
+"The woman that runs this place, she--she wants a girl to help her, an'
+I guess I'll stay." Lou's tones were none too steady, and she did not
+meet his eyes. "I--I don't believe I'd like New York."
+
+"You, a servant here?" He took one of her hands very gently in his. "I
+didn't mean to tell you until we were nearly there, and as it is, there
+is a lot that I can't tell you even now, but this much I want you to
+know. You're not going to work any more, Lou. You're going to a lovely
+old lady who lives in a big house all by herself, and there you are
+going to study and play until you are really grown up, and know as much
+as anybody."
+
+She smiled and shook her head.
+
+"This is the sort of place for me, Jim. I wasn't meant for anythin'
+else, an' if I should live to be a hundred I could never know as much as
+that lady at the circus who called you 'Jimmie Abbott.'"
+
+"What--" Jim exploded for the second time.
+
+"At least, she said you looked like him, and if she didn't know you were
+in Canada----"
+
+"Good Lord! What was she doing there?"
+
+"She was with another lady an' two gentlemen, an' I guess they come in
+an ottermobile," Lou explained. "They was in one the next day,
+anyway--the one that slammed into the egg-wagon."
+
+She described in detail the two occurrences, and added miserably:
+
+"I didn't mean to tell you, Jim, but as long as I'm not goin' on with
+you I might as well. It was me that walked on your note-book back there
+on Mrs. Bemis's porch. It had fallen open on the floor, an' when I
+picked it up I couldn't help seein' the name that was written across the
+page. It was your own business, of course, if you didn't want to give
+your real name to anybody----"
+
+"Listen, Lou." He had caught her other hand now and was holding them
+both very tightly. "You _are_ going on with me! I can't explain now
+about my name, but it doesn't matter; nothing matters except that you
+are not going to be a quitter! You said that you would go on to New York
+with me, and you're going to keep your word."
+
+"I know better now," she replied quietly. "It's--it's been a wonderful
+time, but I've got to work an' earn my keep an' try to learn as I go
+along. It isn't just exactly breakin' my word; I didn't realize----"
+
+"Realize what?" he demanded as she hesitated.
+
+"I thought at first that you were kinder like me; it wasn't until I saw
+that lady an' found you were a friend of hers, that I knew you were
+different."
+
+Her eyes were still downcast, and now a tinge of color mounted in her
+cheeks. "I couldn't bear to have you take me to that other lady in the
+city and be a-ashamed of me----"
+
+"Ashamed of you!" he repeated, and something in his tone deepened the
+color in her cheeks into a crimson tide. "Lou, look at me!"
+
+Obediently she raised her eyes for an instant; then lowered them again
+quickly, and after a pause she said in a very small voice:
+
+"All right, Jim. I--I'll go. I guess I wouldn't just want to be a--a
+quitter, after all."
+
+It was mid-afternoon when they walked into Hunnikers and although they
+had come ten long miles with only a stop for a picnic lunch between,
+they bore no traces of fatigue. Rather they appeared to have been
+treading on air, and although Jim had scrupulously avoided any further
+reference to the future, there was a certain buoyant assurance about him
+which indicated that in his own mind, at least, there remained no room
+for doubt.
+
+He needed all the assurance he could muster as, after ensconcing Lou at
+the soda counter in the drug-store, he approached the telephone booth
+farthest from her ears and closed the door carefully behind him. Lou
+consumed her soda to its last delectable drop, glanced down anxiously at
+the worn, but spotless, little silk gown to see if she had spilled any
+upon it, and then wandered over to the showcase.
+
+Jim's voice came to her indistinguishably once or twice, but it was a
+full half-hour before he emerged from the booth. He looked wilted but
+triumphant, and he beamed blissfully as he came toward her, mopping his
+brow. He suspected that at the other end of the wire a certain
+gray-haired, aristocratic old lady was having violent hysterics to the
+immediate concern of three maids and an asthmatic Pekinese, but it did
+not disturb his equanimity.
+
+"It's all right," he announced. "Aunt Emmy expects you; I didn't tell
+you, did I, that the lady I'm taking you to is my aunt? No matter. She's
+awfully easy if you get on the right side of her; I've always managed
+her beautifully ever since I was a kid, and you'll have her rolling over
+and playing dead in no time. Fifteen miles more to go, Lou, and we'll
+be----"
+
+"Hello, there, Jim." An oil-soaked and greasy glove clapped his shoulder
+and as he turned, the same voice, suddenly altered, stammered: "Oh, I
+beg your pardon----"
+
+"'Lo, Harry!" Jim turned to greet a tall, lean individual more tanned
+than himself, with little, fine, weather lines about his eyes and an
+abrupt quickness of gesture which denoted his hair-triggered nerves.
+"What are you doing in this man's town?"
+
+"Motoring down from the Hilton's," the other responded. "Pete was coming
+with me, but at the last minute he decided to stay over the week-end.
+I'm off to Washington to-night to see about my passport; sailing next
+Wednesday for Labrador, you know."
+
+"Then you're alone?" Jim turned. "Miss Lacey, let me present Mr. Van
+Ness; he spends his time trailing all over the earth to find something
+to kill. Miss Lacey is a young friend of my aunt's; I'm taking her down
+to her for a visit."
+
+The explanation sounded somewhat involved, but Mr. Van Ness seemed to
+grasp it, and bowed.
+
+"You're motoring, too?" he asked.
+
+"No. I--The fact is--" Jim stammered in his turn. "We were thinking of
+taking the train----"
+
+"Why not let me take you both down in the car?" The other rose to the
+occasion with evident alacrity. "Miss Lacy will like it better than the
+train, I'm sure, and I haven't seen you for an age, old man."
+
+Jim accepted with a promptitude which proclaimed a mind relieved of its
+final burden, and he turned to Lou. Mr. Van Ness had gone out to see to
+his car, and they were alone at a far corner of the counter.
+
+"How about it, Lou? The last lap! The last fifteen miles. It's been a
+long pull sometimes, and we've had some rough going, but it was worth
+it, wasn't it?"
+
+Her eyes all unconsciously gave him answer even before she repeated
+softly:
+
+"'The last lap.' Oh, Jim, shall I see you some time, at this lady's
+house where you are takin' me?"
+
+"Every day," he promised, adding with cheerful mendacity: "I dine with
+her nearly all the time; have for years. Come on, Lou. Harry's waving at
+us."
+
+Through the village and the pleasant rolling country beyond; past huge,
+wide-spreading estates and tiny cottages, and clusters of small shops
+with the trolley winding like a thread between, the big maroon car sped,
+while the two men talked together of many things, and the girl sat back
+in her corner of the roomy tonneau and gave herself up to vague dreams.
+
+Then the cottages gave place to sporadic growths of brick and mortar
+with more open lots between, but even these gaps finally closed, and Lou
+found herself being borne swiftly through street after street of
+towering houses out upon a broad avenue with palaces such as she had
+never dreamed of on one side, and on the other the seared, drooping
+green of a city park in late summer.
+
+It was still light when the big car swept into an exclusive street of
+brownstone houses of an earlier and still more exclusive period, and
+stopped before the proudest of these.
+
+Jim alighted and held out his hand.
+
+"Come, Lou," he said. "Journey's end."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+The Long, Long Trail
+
+
+Three hours later, in that same proudly exclusive house, an elderly lady
+with gray hair and an aristocratically high, thin nose paced the floor
+of her drawing-room with a vigor which denoted some strong emotion.
+
+"I must say, John, that I think the whole affair, whatever it may be, is
+highly reprehensible. I supposed James to be up in Canada on a fishing
+trip when he telephoned me this morning from somewhere near town with
+a--a most extraordinary message----"
+
+She broke off, glancing cautiously toward a room across the hall, and
+added: "He said he had something to tell me, and he would be here this
+evening. Now you come, and you appear to know something about it, but I
+cannot get a word out of you!"
+
+"All I can tell you, Mrs. Abbott, is that if Jimmie does come to-night,
+I've got to pay him a thousand bones--dollars, I mean. It was a sort of
+a wager, and that must be what he wants to tell you about."
+
+It was an exceedingly stout young man with a round, cherubic countenance
+standing by the mantel who replied to her, and the old lady glanced at
+him sharply.
+
+"A wager? H-m! Possibly." She paused suddenly. "There's the bell."
+
+A moment later James Tarrisford Abbott, in the most immaculate of dinner
+clothes, entered and greeted his aunt, halting with a slight frown as he
+encountered the beaming face of the young man who fell upon him.
+
+"Good boy, Jimmie! You made it, after all!"
+
+"With a few hours to spare." Jim darted a questioning glance at his
+aunt, and seemed relieved at her emphatic shake of the head.
+
+"I knew we'd lost when Mrs. Abbott told me that you had telephoned to
+her from just a little way out of town to-day," Jack Trimble responded.
+"I ran over on my way to the club to give her a message from my mother.
+Did you have a hard time of it, old man?"
+
+"Hard?" Jim smiled. "I've been a rough-rider in a circus----"
+
+Mrs. Abbott groaned, but Jack Trimble's eyes opened as roundly and wide
+as his mouth.
+
+"Thundering--So it was you after all!"
+
+"Me?" Jim demanded with ungrammatical haste.
+
+"You--rough-rider--circus!" Jack exclaimed. "Vera said the chap looked
+like you, but it never occurred to me that it could possibly be!"
+
+"So it was Vera, was it?" Jim smiled. "I heard what she said--I mean, it
+was repeated to me. You were one of that party?"
+
+"Yes. We were with the Lentilhons in their car, and the funniest thing
+happened the next day on the way home! Crusty old farmer wouldn't turn
+out on the road, and Guy Lentilhon lost control and smashed straight
+through his wagon!" Jack laughed. "W-what do you think it was loaded
+with?"
+
+"Eggs!" responded Jim crisply. "I happened to be on it at the time, my
+boy, and your sense of humor--I hope you all got what I did! But I must
+explain to Aunt Emmy here, or she will think that we are both quite
+mad!"
+
+"And I must be off to the club," Jack announced. "I'll break the news to
+Billy Hollis that we've lost. See you later, and we'll all settle up.
+Good evening, Mrs. Abbott."
+
+When the stout young man had taken his departure, Mrs. Abbott turned to
+her nephew between laughter and tears.
+
+"James, this is the maddest of all mad things that you have ever done!"
+
+"Jack doesn't know anything about Lou?" Jim demanded anxiously.
+
+"Certainly not. He has only been here a quarter of an hour, and I kept
+her out of the way. But, James, you cannot be serious! You cannot mean
+to marry this nameless waif?"
+
+"Stop right there, Aunt Emmy," he interrupted her firmly. "I'm going to
+marry, if she will have me, your ward whom you have legally adopted; I
+mean, you will have adopted her by the time she has grown up. But I
+don't intend to be nosed out by any of these debutante-grabbers; I'm
+going to have everything settled before her studies are finished and you
+bring her out. I saw her first!"
+
+"H-m. We shall see," Aunt Emmy remarked dryly, adding: "But that can
+wait for the moment. What was this ridiculous wager all about, and how
+did you get into such horrible scrapes?"
+
+"The whole thing came out of an idle discussion Jack Trimble, Billy
+Hollis and I had at the club one night concerning human nature. It
+drifted into a debate about charity in general and the kindness shown
+toward strangers by country folk in particular, with myself in the
+minority, of course," Jim explained.
+
+"They each wagered me a thousand against my five hundred that I couldn't
+walk from Buffalo to New York in twenty-five days with only five dollars
+in my pocket to start with, and work my way home without begging nor
+accepting more than a quarter for each job I managed to secure in any
+one time.
+
+"The idea was to see how many of these hard-boiled up-State farmers we
+hear so much about would offer you the hospitality reputed to be
+extended only by the rural population of the South and West, and how
+many would give a foot-sore and weary traveler a lift upon the way.
+There were other conditions, too; I was not to use my own surname, not
+to go a foot out of the State into either Pennsylvania or New Jersey. I
+was not to beg, borrow, or steal, and for the occasional twenty-five
+cents I might earn I could only purchase food or actual necessities, not
+use it for transportation, and I must not beat my way by stealing rides
+on boats or trains or any other conveyances."
+
+While Aunt Emmy sat staring at him in speechless amazement, Jim produced
+his little red note-book and laid it before her.
+
+"There's the route I chose over the mountains, my expense account for
+each day, and the names and addresses of the people who helped to prove
+my contention that, take them by and large, the people of my own State
+are as big-hearted as any in the Union, and Jack's money and Billy's
+says that they are!
+
+"I'm going to return some of that kindness, Aunt Emmy. There are two
+little boys near Riverburgh whose father is dead and who are trying to
+do the farm work of men. They are going to a good school this winter,
+and there are a few other people who are going to be surprised! By Jove,
+I never realized what money was for until now! But best of all, I found
+Lou!"
+
+"And what makes you so sure that I am going to adopt her and educate her
+and bring her out?" demanded Aunt Emmy. "My dear boy, when you started
+on this Canadian fishing trip of yours I knew that something
+extraordinary would come of it, but I did not anticipate anything so
+bizarre as this! Why do you think that I will interest myself in this
+child?"
+
+"Because you won't be able to help it." His face had sobered, and there
+was a note in his voice that his aunt had never heard before. "You won't
+be able to help loving her when you find out how courageous she is, and
+sincere and true! She is the biggest-hearted, most candid, naïve
+little----"
+
+"She is quite that!" Aunt Emmy interrupted in her turn, with emphasis.
+"How I am ever to hide her away until I've had her coached not to drop
+her g's, and to realize that there is a 'u' in the alphabet I don't
+know, but I'll try. James--I think there are distinct possibilities
+there."
+
+"I knew it!" Jim cried. "I knew you wouldn't be able to resist her! For
+the Lord's sake, Aunt Emmy, don't let them spoil her! She's so sweet and
+simple-hearted, don't let them make her cynical and worldly-wise! I'll
+promise not to speak to her, not to let her know how I feel until you
+say that I may."
+
+"Will you, James?" There was a faint smile about the delicately lined
+lips. "She is a child in many ways, a blank page for most impressions to
+be made upon, but in other things she is very much of a woman, and I
+rather fancy that what you have to tell her will not be so much of a
+surprise."
+
+"You old dear!" Jim sprang to his feet and folded his aunt in his
+embrace which threatened her coiffure. "Where is she?"
+
+"In the library waiting for you, Jamie!"
+
+She used the old nursery name, and caught his arm. "She is very young,
+but the heart sometimes breaks easily then. Don't speak unless you
+yourself are very sure."
+
+Jim smiled, and throwing back his head looked straight into the kindly
+old eyes. Then without a word he turned and disappeared through the
+door.
+
+                   *       *       *       *       *
+
+"And you're going to be happy here?" It was some time later when Jim had
+explained about the wager, and they were sitting together in the
+window-seat.
+
+"Happy? Why, Jim, I can't believe I'm awake! I'm going to study an' work
+an' try my best to be like her. Seems to me it'll take the rest of my
+life, but she says that in a year or two there won't anybody hardly tell
+the difference."
+
+"And then, Lou, when the time is past? What then?"
+
+"I don't know." Her tone was serenely unconcerned.
+
+"That trail we've followed together for the last week wasn't so bad, was
+it?" he asked. "You were happy in spite of the hardships?"
+
+"It was wonderful!" She drew a deep breath. "I--I wish we could start
+again, Jim, and do it all over again, every step of the way!"
+
+"If you feel like that, dear, perhaps some day when you have finished
+your studies we will start again on a longer trail." He took one of the
+little toil-worn hands in his. "The long, long trail, Lou, only we will
+be together! When that day comes, will you take the new road with me?"
+
+She bowed her head, and somehow he found it nestling in the hollow of
+his shoulder, and his arms were about her. After a long minute, she
+stirred and smiled.
+
+"Well--" she hesitated. "You knew from the very beginning, Jim, that I'd
+do anything once!"
+
+                                THE END
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Anything Once, by Douglas Grant
+
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+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Anything Once, by Douglas Grant
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Anything Once
+
+Author: Douglas Grant
+
+Illustrator: Paul Stahr
+
+Release Date: December 9, 2009 [EBook #30640]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ANYTHING ONCE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<img src='images/anything-fpc.jpg' id="img001" alt='' />
+<p class='center caption'>
+He drank deeply, then struggled to a sitting posture, his face whitening beneath its tan.
+</p></div>
+
+<hr class='pb' />
+
+<div class='tp'>
+<p style='font-size:2.0em;margin-bottom:20px;'>ANYTHING ONCE</p>
+<p style=''>BY</p>
+<p style='font-size:1.4em;margin-bottom:10px;'>DOUGLAS GRANT</p>
+<p style='font-size:smaller;margin-bottom:40px;'>AUTHOR OF<br />&#8220;THE SINGLE TRACK,&#8221; &#8220;BOOTY,&#8221;&#8220;THE FIFTH ACE,&#8221; ETC.</p>
+<p style=''>Frontispiece by<br />PAUL STAHR</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<img src='images/anything-emb.png' id="img002" alt='' />
+</div>
+
+<div class='tp'>
+<p style='font-variant:small-caps;'>New York</p>
+<p style='font-variant:small-caps;'>W. J. Watt &amp; Company</p>
+<p style='font-size:smaller;'>PUBLISHERS</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr class='pb' />
+
+<p class='tp' style='font-size:smaller;margin-bottom:20px;'>COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY<br />W. J. WATT &amp; COMPANY</p>
+<p class='tp' style='font-size:smaller;'>PRESS OF<br />BRAUNWORTH &amp; CO.<br />BOOK MANUFACTURERS<br />BROOKLYN, N. Y.</p>
+
+<hr class='pb' />
+
+<table summary='TOC'>
+<tr><td colspan='3' style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em;'>CONTENTS</td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tcol1' style='font-size:smaller;'>CHAPTER</td><td></td><td class='tcol3' style='font-size:smaller;'>PAGE</td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tcol1'>I.</td><td class='tcol2'>A Roadside Meeting</td><td class='tcol3'><a href='#link_1'>1</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tcol1'>II.</td><td class='tcol2'>Partners</td><td class='tcol3'><a href='#link_2'>17</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tcol1'>III.</td><td class='tcol2'>The Vendor Of Everything</td><td class='tcol3'><a href='#link_3'>41</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tcol1'>IV.</td><td class='tcol2'>Under The Big Top</td><td class='tcol3'><a href='#link_4'>55</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tcol1'>V.</td><td class='tcol2'>Concerning An Omelet</td><td class='tcol3'><a href='#link_5'>69</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tcol1'>VI.</td><td class='tcol2'>The Red Note-Book</td><td class='tcol3'><a href='#link_6'>83</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tcol1'>VII.</td><td class='tcol2'>Revelations</td><td class='tcol3'><a href='#link_7'>99</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tcol1'>VIII.</td><td class='tcol2'>Journey&#8217;s End</td><td class='tcol3'><a href='#link_8'>118</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tcol1'>IX.</td><td class='tcol2'>The Long, Long Trail</td><td class='tcol3'><a href='#link_9'>138</a></td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<hr class='pb' />
+
+<h1>ANYTHING ONCE</h1>
+
+<hr class='pb' />
+
+<p class='tp' style='font-size:1.6em;'><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_1'></a>1</span>ANYTHING ONCE</p>
+
+<h2><a id='link_1'></a>CHAPTER I<br /><span class='h2fs'>A Roadside Meeting</span></h2>
+
+<p>The white dust, which lay thick upon the wide road between rolling fields of
+ripened grain, rose in little spirals from beneath the heavy feet of the
+plodding farm-horses drawing the empty hay-wagon, and had scarcely settled again
+upon the browning goldenrod and fuzzy milkweed which bordered the rail fences on
+either side when Ebb Fischel&#8217;s itinerant butcher-jitney rattled past. Ebb
+Fischel&#8217;s eyes were usually as sharp as the bargains he drove, but the
+dust must have obscured his vision. Otherwise he would have seen the man lying
+motionless beside the road, <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a
+id='page_2'></a>2</span>with his cap in the ditch and the pitiless sun of
+harvest-time caking the blood which had streamed from an ugly cut upon his
+temple.</p>
+
+<p>But the meat-cart jolted on and out of sight, and for a long time nothing
+disturbed the stillness except the distant whirring of a reaper and nearer
+buzzing of a fat, inquisitive bluebottle fly, which paused to see what this
+strange thing might be, and then zoomed off excitedly to tell his
+associates.</p>
+
+<p>At length there came a dry rustling in the tall standing wheat in the field
+on the opposite side of the road, and a head and shoulders appeared above the
+topmost fence-rail. It was a small head covered with tow-colored hair, which had
+been slicked back and braided so tightly that the short, meager cue curled
+outward and up in a crescent, as though it were wired, and the shoulders beneath
+the coarse blue-and-white striped cotton gown were thin and peaked.</p>
+
+<p>The girl darted a swift, furtive glance up and down the road, and suddenly
+thrust a bundle tied in a greasy apron between the rails, letting it fall in the
+high, dusty weeds <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_3'></a>3</span>by
+the roadside. Next she climbed to the top of the fence, and for a moment perched
+there, displaying a slim length of coarse black stocking above clumping,
+square-toed shoes at least two sizes too large for her.</p>
+
+<p>She looked like a very forlorn, feminine <i>Monte Cristo</i> indeed, as she
+scanned the world from her vantage-point, and yet there was a look of quiet
+satisfaction and achievement in her incongruously dark eyes which told of a
+momentous object accomplished.</p>
+
+<p>Then all at once they stared and softened as she caught sight of that still
+figure lying across the road, and in two bounds she was beside him and lifted
+his head against her sharp knees. She noted only casually that he was a
+clean-shaven, tanned young man with brown hair bleached by the sun to a warm
+gold, and that he wore shabby, weather-beaten clothes.</p>
+
+<p>Had she realized that those same worn, faded garments bore the stamp of one
+of New York&#8217;s most exclusive tailors! that the boots were London-made, and
+the golf-stockings which met the corduroy knickerbockers came <span
+class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_4'></a>4</span>from one of Scotland&#8217;s
+famous mills, it would have meant just exactly nothing in her young life.</p>
+
+<p>Her immediate attention was concentrated upon the jagged gash which ran
+unpleasantly close to his temple, and which had begun to bleed afresh as she
+raised his head.</p>
+
+<p>The girl looked about her again and saw that a short distance ahead the road
+was bisected by a bridge of planks with willows bordering it at either side. She
+pulled at the strings which held a blue sunbonnet dangling between her narrow
+shoulder-blades, regarded the sleazy headgear ruefully, and then spying the cap
+in the ditch, she deposited her burden gently upon the grass once more and
+scrambled over to investigate her find.</p>
+
+<p>The cap had an inner lining of something which seemed to be like rubber, and
+the girl flew off down the road to return with her improvised bowl filled with
+clear, cold spring water. Dropping on her knees beside the unconscious figure,
+she poured the contents of the cap over his face and head.</p>
+
+<p>The young man sputtered, gasped, moaned <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a
+id='page_5'></a>5</span>a little, and opened astonished brown eyes upon her.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;How&#8211;how the devil did you come here?&#8221; he asked
+ungallantly.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Over the fence.&#8221; Her reply was laconic, but it bore an
+unmistakable hint that further query along that line would be highly unwelcome.
+&#8220;Just you lay still while I git some more water, an&#8217; I&#8217;ll tie
+up that head of yourn.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The young man&#8217;s hand went unsteadily to his aching brow and came away
+brightly pink, so he decided to take this uncomely vision&#8217;s advice, and
+remained quiescent, wondering how he himself had come to be there, and what had
+happened to him.</p>
+
+<p>According to the map, he had surely been on the right road, yet it had as
+assuredly not looked like this one; the other had been a broad, State highway,
+while this&#x2500;</p>
+
+<p>He closed his burning eyes to shield them from the glare of the sun, and a
+confused memory returned to him of that invitingly green, shady pasture which
+had tempted him as a short cut toward the next village, and of something which
+thundered down upon <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_6'></a>6</span>him
+from behind and lifted him into chaos. Good Lord, and he had only six days
+left!</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;d better take a drink of this first an&#8217; I kin use the
+rest on your head.&#8221; A composed, practical voice advised by his side, and
+he looked up gratefully into the snub-nosed, freckled face of his benefactress
+as she held the brimming cap to his lips.</p>
+
+<p>He drank deeply, then struggled to a sitting posture, his face whitening
+beneath its tan at the sudden wrench of pain which twisted the muscles of his
+back.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Kin you hold the cap steady?&#8221; The girl thrust it into his hands
+without waiting for a reply, and, sitting down with her back to him, calmly
+turned back the hem of her gown and tore a wide strip from the coarse but
+immaculately white cambric petticoat beneath.</p>
+
+<p>Dipping it into the water, she bandaged his head not unskilfully, and then
+rose.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;There! I gotta git you over to the shade of them trees, or
+you&#8217;ll have sunstroke. Wait till I fetch somethin&#8217;.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She ran across the road and returned with her greasy bundle under one arm,
+offering the <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_7'></a>7</span>other to
+him with a gesture as frank as it was impersonal.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Lean on me, an&#8217; try to git along&#8211;and please kinder
+hurry!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She added the last with a note of sudden urgency in her tones and the same
+furtively darting glance with which she had swept the road from the fence-top,
+but the young man was too deeply engrossed with his painful effort to rise to
+observe the look, although her change of tone aroused his curiosity. Was this
+scrawny but good-natured kid afraid some of her people would catch her talking
+to a stranger by the roadside?</p>
+
+<p>Somehow he managed to hobble, with her aid, across the little bridge and down
+the bank of the swiftly racing brook at its farther side to a nest in the dense
+thicket of willow-shoots which completely screened them from the road.</p>
+
+<p>The girl eased him down then upon the sward, and, seating herself beside him,
+unrolled the apron she had carried.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s the ham that&#8217;s greased it all up like that,&#8221;
+she remarked. &#8220;I&#8217;d have brought a <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a
+id='page_8'></a>8</span>pail, only I didn&#8217;t want to take any more &#8217;n I had
+to.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The young man gasped with astonishment as the contents of the apron-bundle
+were exposed: a whole ham glistening with the brown sugar in which it had been
+baked, a long knife, a huge loaf of bread, and, wrapped separately in a piece of
+newspaper, a bar of soap, a box of matches, and a bit of broken comb.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;When there&#8217;s lots of them, ham sandwiches, together with spring
+water, ain&#8217;t so bad, an&#8217; it&#8217;s near noon,&#8221; the girl
+observed, beginning to cut the loaf into meager slices with a practised hand.
+&#8220;I should&#8217;ve made them thicker, but I forgot.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>A starving gleam had come into the young man&#8217;s eyes at the sight of
+food, but he paused with the sandwich half-way to his lips to glance keenly at
+his companion.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;ve enough here for an army,&#8221; he declared. &#8220;Were
+you taking it to men working in the fields somewhere?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No,&#8221; she replied without hesitation, but with the same air of
+finality with which she <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a
+id='page_9'></a>9</span>had responded to his first question. &#8220;You can rest
+easy here till sundown, when the men begin to come in from the harvestin&#8217;,
+an&#8217; then if you holler real loud some of them will maybe stop an&#8217;
+give you a lift on your way. There&#8217;s a railroad about four miles from
+here, an&#8217; the slow freight goes by along about ten.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The slow freight! So the girl thought he was a tramp! The young man smiled,
+and glanced down ruefully at his shabby attire. Well, so had others thought,
+whom he had encountered in his journey.</p>
+
+<p>But who and what was the girl herself? She had asked no questions as to how
+he had come to the condition in which she found him, but had nursed his hurt,
+brought him to this cool resting-place; and was sharing her food with him as
+unconcernedly as though she had known him all her life.</p>
+
+<p>That quantity of provisions, the package of humble toilet articles, and her
+furtiveness and haste to get away from the open road all pointed to one
+fact&#8211;the girl was running away. But from whom or what? She had taken him
+at his face value, and he had no <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a
+id='page_10'></a>10</span>right in the world to question her, at least without
+giving some sort of account of himself.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I have no intention of traveling by rail,&#8221; he assured her.
+&#8220;A little while before you found me&#8211;I don&#8217;t quite know how
+long&#8211;I was crossing that pasture which adjoins the wheat-field, thinking
+that this road might be a short cut to Hudsondale, when something came after me
+from behind and butted me over the fence. I think my head must have been cut
+open by striking against a stone, for I don&#8217;t remember anything more until
+you poured that water over my face.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The girl nodded.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I seen the stone with blood on it right near you; you must have bumped
+off it an&#8217; turned over,&#8221; she averred. &#8220;Anybody who goes
+traipsin&#8217; through old Terwilliger&#8217;s pasture is apt to meet up with
+that bull of his.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>So she had reasoned his predicament out without asking any of the questions
+that another girl would have heaped upon him.</p>
+
+<p>He turned to her suddenly with a fresh spark of interest in his eyes.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_11'></a>11</span>&#8220;How did you
+know that I didn&#8217;t belong here?&#8221; he demanded.</p>
+
+<p>The corners of her lips curled upward in a comical little grimace of
+amusement, and he realized that before they had been set in a straight line far
+too mature for her evident youth.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No grown men &#8217;round these parts wears short pants, an&#8217;, anyhow,
+I knew you were different from the way you talk; somethin&#8217; like the
+welfare workers, with the hell an&#8217; brimstone left out,&#8221; the girl
+replied soberly. &#8220;I&#8217;m goin&#8217; to talk like you some
+day.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>It was the first remark she had made voluntarily concerning herself, and he
+was quick to seize his advantage.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Who are you, young lady? You&#8217;ve been awfully kind to me, and I
+don&#8217;t know to whom my gratitude is due.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Not to anybody.&#8221; She turned her head away slightly, but not
+before he saw a flush mount beneath the superficial coating of freckles, and
+marveled at the whiteness of her skin. Hers was not the leathery tan of the
+typical farmer&#8217;s daughter, inured to all <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a
+id='page_12'></a>12</span>weathers, yet her hands, although small, were
+toil-worn, and there was an odd incongruity between her dark eyes and the pale,
+flaxen hue of that ridiculous wisp of a braid.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I didn&#8217;t do any more for you than I&#8217;d do for a dog if I
+found him lyin&#8217; there.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Her naïve sincerity robbed the statement of its uncomplimentary suggestion,
+and the young man chuckled, but persisted.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What is your name? Mine is James&#8211;er&#8211;Botts.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Lou Lacey. It was &#8217;L&#8217; day, you know, an&#8217; there was a teeny
+bit of lace on my dress. I ain&#8217;t ever had any since.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She added the last with unconscious pathos in her tones, but in his
+increasing interest and mystification the man who called himself
+&#8220;Botts&#8221; was unaware of it. What on earth could she mean about L day,
+and if she were running away why did she appear so serenely unconcerned about
+the future as her manner indicated?</p>
+
+<p>He felt that he must draw her out, and he seemed to have hit upon the right
+method by giving confidence for confidence; but just how <span class='pagenum
+pncolor'><a id='page_13'></a>13</span>much could he tell her about himself?
+James Botts&#8217;s own face reddened.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m walking to my home in New York,&#8221; he explained.
+&#8220;But I&#8217;m late; I ought to make it by a certain date, and I
+don&#8217;t think I&#8217;ll be able to, since my encounter with
+Terwilliger&#8217;s bull. Where do you live? I mean, where are you going? Where
+is your home?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Nowheres,&#8221; Lou Lacey replied offhandedly, following with her
+eyes the graceful swoop of a dragonfly over the tumbling waters of the little
+stream.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Great Scott!&#8221; The astounded young man sat up suddenly, with his
+hand to his head. &#8220;Why, everybody has a home, you know!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Not everybody,&#8221; the girl dissented quietly.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But&#8211;but surely you haven&#8217;t been walking the
+roads?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>There was genuine horror in his tones. &#8220;Where did you come from this
+morning when you found me?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;From Hess&#8217;s farm, back up the road a piece,&#8221; she replied
+with her usual unemotional literalness. &#8220;I been there a week, but <span
+class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_14'></a>14</span>I didn&#8217;t like it, so
+I came away. The welfare workers got me that place when my time was
+up.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Her time! Good Heavens, could this little country girl with her artless
+manner and candid eyes be an ex-convict? Surely she was too young, too simple.
+Yet the gates of hideous reformatories had clanged shut behind younger and more
+innocent-appearing delinquents than she.</p>
+
+<p>His eyes wandered over her thin, childish figure as she sat there beside him,
+still intent upon the movements of the glittering dragonfly, and he shuddered.
+Those horrible, shapeless shoes might very well have been prison-made, and the
+striped dress was exactly like those he had seen in some pictures of female
+convicts. Her freckles, too, might have been the result of only a few
+days&#8217; exposure to the sun, and he had already observed the whiteness of
+the skin beneath; that whiteness which resembled the prison pallor.</p>
+
+<p>Could it be that her very gawkiness and frank simplicity were the result not
+of bucolic nature, but of dissimulation? Every instinct <span class='pagenum
+pncolor'><a id='page_15'></a>15</span>within the man cried out against the
+thought, but a devil of doubt and uncertainty drove him on.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I thought that didn&#8217;t look like the dress of a farmer&#8217;s
+daughter!&#8221; He essayed to laugh, but it seemed to him that there was a
+grating falsetto in his tones. &#8220;You haven&#8217;t worked in the garden
+much, either, have you?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Garden!&#8221; Lou sniffed. &#8220;They promised the welfare workers
+that they&#8217;d give me outdoor chores to build me up, but when I got there I
+found I had to cook for eighteen farm-hands, as well as the family, an&#8217;
+wait on them, an&#8217; clean up an&#8217; all. Said they&#8217;d pay me twelve
+dollars a month, an&#8217; I could take the first month&#8217;s money out by the
+week in clothes, an&#8217; for the first week all they gave me was this
+sunbonnet an&#8217; apron. I left them the other dress an&#8217; things I had,
+an&#8217; I figgered the rest of the money they owed me would just about pay for
+this ham an&#8217; bread an&#8217; the knife an&#8217; soap. The comb was
+mine.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She added the last in a tone of proud possession, and James Botts asked very
+soberly:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The welfare workers found this position <span class='pagenum
+pncolor'><a id='page_16'></a>16</span>for you, Lou Lacey? But where did they
+find you?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Why, at the institootion,&#8221; she responded, as though surprised
+that he had not already guessed. &#8220;I ain&#8217;t ever been anywhere else;
+I&#8217;ve always been a orphin.&#8221;</p>
+
+<hr class='pb' />
+<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_17'></a>17</span><a id='link_2'></a>CHAPTER II<br /><span class='h2fs'>Partners</span></h2>
+
+<p>For a moment James Botts turned his head away lest she see the deep red flood
+of shame which had suffused his face. Poor little skinny, homely, orphan kid,
+thrown out to buck the world for herself, and stopping in her first flight from
+injustice to help a stranger, only to have him think her a possible criminal! He
+was glad that his back twinged and his head throbbed; he ought to be kicked out
+into the ditch and left to die there for harboring such thoughts.</p>
+
+<p>He was a cur, and she&#8211;hang it! There was something appealing about her
+in spite of her looks. Perhaps it was the sturdy self-reliance, which in itself
+betrayed her utter innocence and ignorance of the world, that made a fellow want
+to protect her.</p>
+
+<p>In his own circle James Botts had never <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a
+id='page_18'></a>18</span>been known as a <i>Sir Galahad</i>, but he had been
+away from his own circle for exactly nineteen eventful days now, and in that
+space of time he had learned much. His heart went out in sympathy as he turned
+once more to her.</p>
+
+<p>But at the moment Lou Lacey seemed in no momentary need of sympathetic
+understanding. She was pursuing a hapless frog with well-directed shots of small
+pebbles, and there was an impish grin upon her face.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;How old are you?&#8221; he asked suddenly.</p>
+
+<p>Lou shrugged.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t know. About seventeen or eighteen, I reckon; at least,
+they told me six years ago that I was twelve, an&#8217; I&#8217;ve kept track
+ever since. When I was sixteen, though, and it was time for me to be got a place
+somewhere, the matron put me back a couple of years; we were gettin&#8217; more
+babies from the poor-farm than usual, an&#8217; I was kinder handy with them.
+She had to let me go now because one of the visitin&#8217; deaconesses let out
+that she&#8217;d seen me there sixteen years ago herself, an&#8217; I was
+toddlin&#8217; round then. Oh, I missed him!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The frog, with a triumphant <i>plop</i>, had disappeared <span class='pagenum
+pncolor'><a id='page_19'></a>19</span>beneath a flat, submerged stone, and Lou
+turned to note her companion&#8217;s pain-drawn face.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m goin&#8217; to fix that bandage on your head again,&#8221;
+she declared as she sprang to her feet. &#8220;Is your back hurtin&#8217; you
+very much?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Not very.&#8221; He forced a smile, but his face was grave, for,
+despite his suffering, the problem which this accidental meeting had forced upon
+him filled his thoughts. What was he to do with this girl? In spite of the
+statement that she had &#8220;kept track&#8221; of her last few years he could
+not credit the fact that she was approximately eighteen; fourteen would be
+nearer the guess he would have made, and it was unthinkable that a child like
+that should wander about the country alone.</p>
+
+<p>He could not bear the thought of betraying her innocent confidences by
+handing her over to the nearest authorities; it would mean her being held as a
+vagrant and possibly sent to the county poor-farm. Perhaps the people with whom
+she had been placed were not so bad, after all; if he took her back and reasoned
+with them, insisted upon their keeping to <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a
+id='page_20'></a>20</span>their bargain, and giving her lighter tasks to
+perform.</p>
+
+<p>Then he remembered his own appearance, and smiled ruefully. Instead of
+listening they would in all probability set the dog on him. Perhaps he could
+persuade her to return of her own accord.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The people you were working for; their name was &#8216;Hess&#8217;?&#8221;
+he asked.</p>
+
+<p>She nodded as she finished fastening the cool compress about his
+forehead.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Henry Hess an&#8217; his wife, Freida, an&#8217;&#8211;an&#8217;
+Max.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Something in the quality of her tone more than her hesitation made him demand
+sharply:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Who is Max?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Their son.&#8221; Her voice was very low, but for the first time it
+trembled slightly.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You don&#8217;t like him, do you?&#8221; He waited a moment, and then
+added abruptly: &#8220;Why not?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Because he&#8217;s a&#8211;a beast! I don&#8217;t want to talk about
+him! I don&#8217;t want even to remember that such <i>things</i> as he is can be
+let live!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_21'></a>21</span>James Botts turned
+and looked at her and then away, for the childish figure had been drawn up
+tensely with a sort of instinctive dignity which sat not ill upon it, and from
+her dark eyes insulted womanhood had blazed.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;d like to go back and lick him to a standstill!&#8221; to his
+own utter amazement Botts heard his own voice saying thickly.</p>
+
+<p>The fire had died out of Lou&#8217;s face and she replied composedly:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What for? He don&#8217;t matter any more, does he? We&#8217;re
+goin&#8217; on.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The last sentence recalled his problem once more to his mind. What in the
+world was he to do with this young creature whom fate had thrust upon his hands?
+Four quarters and a fifty-cent piece represented his entire capital at the
+moment, and if he did put her into the hands of the county authorities until his
+journey was completed and he could make other arrangements for her, it would
+mean a delay on his part now, when every hour counted for so much just now.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_22'></a>22</span>&#8220;Do you know
+how far we are from Hudsondale?&#8221; he asked.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Not more&#8217;n two miles, the farm-hands used to walk there often of
+an evenin&#8217; to the movies.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The girl had cleaned her knife in the brook and was now wrapping it in the
+apron, together with the remains of their repast.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;They say that not more&#8217;n twenty miles from there you can see the
+big river, but I ain&#8217;t ever been.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s the way I was going,&#8221; he observed thoughtlessly.
+&#8220;From Hudsondale to Highvale, and right on down the west bank of the river
+to New York.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Lou sat back on her heels reflectively.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;All right,&#8221; she said at last. &#8220;I ain&#8217;t ever figgered
+on goin&#8217;s far as New York, but I might as well go there as anywhere, and I
+guess I kin keep up with you now your back&#8217;s kinder sprained. We&#8217;ll
+go along together.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>James Botts gulped.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Certainly not!&#8221; he retorted severely, when he could articulate.
+&#8220;It&#8217;s utterly out of the question! You&#8217;re not a little child
+any longer, <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_23'></a>23</span>and
+I&#8217;m not old enough to pose as your father. You must think what people
+would say!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Why must I?&#8221; Her clear eyes shamed him. &#8220;What&#8217;s it
+matter? I guess two kin puzzle out the roads better than one, an&#8217; if I
+have been in a brick house with a high fence an&#8217; a playground between
+where never a blade of grass grew, for about eighteen years, it looks to me as
+if I could take care of myself a lot better &#8217;n you kin!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But you don&#8217;t understand!&#8221; he groaned. &#8220;There are
+certain conditions that I can&#8217;t very well explain, and if I did
+you&#8217;d think I had gone crazy.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Maybe,&#8221; Lou observed non-committally, but she settled herself on
+the bank once more with such an air of resigned anticipation that he felt forced
+to continue.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You know an army has to obey orders, don&#8217;t you?&#8221; he
+floundered on desperately. &#8220;Well, I&#8217;m like a one-man army; there are
+a lot of rules I&#8217;ve got to follow. This is Monday afternoon, and I must
+reach New York by midnight on Saturday; that&#8217;s ninety miles or more, and
+you never could make it in the <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a
+id='page_24'></a>24</span>world. I&#8217;ve got just a dollar and a half, and I
+mustn&#8217;t beg, borrow, or steal food or a lift or anything, but work my way,
+and never take any job that&#8217;ll pay me more than twenty-five cents.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Of course, if people invite me to get up and ride with them for a
+little I can accept, or if they offer me food, but I can&#8217;t ask. Even the
+money I earn in quarters here and there I mustn&#8217;t use for traveling, but
+only to buy food or medicine or clothes with. And the worst of it is that I
+cannot explain to a soul why I&#8217;m doing all this.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Lou regarded him gravely, and opened her lips to speak, but closed them again
+and for an appreciable moment there was silence.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, I don&#8217;t see anythin&#8217; in that that says you
+can&#8217;t have somebody travelin&#8217; along with you,&#8221; she remarked,
+and that odd little smile flashed again across her face. &#8220;It don&#8217;t
+make any difference to me what you can or can&#8217;t do.
+<i>I&#8217;m</i> foot-loose!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Not until later was the meaning of that final statement to be made manifest
+to her companion; the one fact upon his mind was <span class='pagenum
+pncolor'><a id='page_25'></a>25</span>that nothing he had said had moved her an
+iota from her original decision. They would go along together.</p>
+
+<p>Well, why not? It was obvious that he could not send her back to the Hess
+farm nor hand her over to the authorities. His own appearance would not be
+conducive to confidence in his assurances if he attempted to leave her in the
+care of some country woman until he could return and make proper arrangements
+for her, and the only alternative was that she must tramp the roads by herself
+until she found work, and that was out of the question.</p>
+
+<p>At least, he could protect her, and she looked wiry in spite of her
+skinniness; it was as possible that she might make the distance as he, with his
+aching back. But on one point he was determined: when they neared the suburbs of
+New York he would telephone to a certain gray-haired, aristocratically
+high-nosed old lady and persuade her to send out her car for this waif.</p>
+
+<p>The child had been kind to him, and he would protect her from all harm, but
+not for <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_26'></a>26</span>all the
+gilt-edged securities in Wall Street would he have the story of his
+knight-errantry get abroad, nor the unprepossessing heroine of it revealed to
+his friends.</p>
+
+<p>The old lady would find some suitable position for her, and, as she evidently
+possessed no reputation of any sort at the moment, a six-day journey in his
+company could harm it no more if the truth became known than if she had tramped
+upon her way alone.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;All right,&#8221; he said. &#8220;We&#8217;ll be partners, and
+I&#8217;ll do my best to look out for you.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She laughed outright, a merry, tinkling little laugh like the brook rippling
+over the pebbles at her feet, and the man involuntarily stared. It was the sole
+attractive thing about her that he had observed.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Reckon it&#8217;ll be me that&#8217;ll look after you!&#8221; she
+retorted. &#8220;Oh, there&#8217;s somethin&#8217; comin&#8217;! Duck in here,
+quick!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Seizing her bundle, she wiggled like an eel through the willow thicket until
+she was completely hidden from view, and Botts followed as well as he was able,
+with one hand fending <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a
+id='page_27'></a>27</span>off the supple young shoots from whipping back upon
+his wounded forehead.</p>
+
+<p>He had heard nothing, yet the girl&#8217;s quick ears had caught the faint
+creaking of a cart along the road, and now a cheerful but somewhat shrill
+whistle came to him in a vaguely reminiscent strain.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s Lem Mattles,&#8221; Lou whispered as she reached behind
+him and drew the willows yet more screeningly about their trail.
+&#8220;He&#8217;s whistlin&#8217; &#8216;Ida-Ho&#8217;; it&#8217;s the only tune he
+can remember.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Who is he?&#8221; demanded her companion.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The Hess&#8217;s next-door neighbor. She&#8217;ll stop him right away
+an&#8217; ask if he&#8217;s seen me on the road, an&#8217; they&#8217;ll all be
+after me, but they&#8217;ll never think of the old cow-trail; one of the hands
+showed it to me an&#8217; told me it led clear to Hudsondale, an&#8217; came out
+by the freight-yards.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>For a moment she paused with a little catch in her breath. &#8220;Think you
+kin make it, Mr. Botts?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Sure!&#8221; He smiled and held out his hand. <span class='pagenum
+pncolor'><a id='page_28'></a>28</span>&#8220;We&#8217;re partners now, and
+I&#8217;m &#8216;Jim&#8217; to my friends, Lou.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;All right, Jim,&#8221; she responded indifferently, but she laid her
+little work-worn hand in his for a brief minute. &#8220;Come on.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>With the bundle under her arm once more she led the way, and her partner
+followed her to where the brook dwindled and the thicket gave place to a stretch
+of woodland, between the trees of which a faint, narrow trail could be
+discerned.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re all right now if we kin keep on goin&#8217;,&#8221;
+announced Lou. &#8220;Nobody comes this way any more, an&#8217; the feller said
+that the tracks runs through the woods clear to the Hunkie settlement by the
+yards. Feelin&#8217; all right, Jim?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I guess so.&#8221; Jim put his hand to his side, where each breath
+brought a stab of pain, but brought it down again quickly lest her swift glance
+catch the motion. &#8220;It&#8217;s pretty in here, isn&#8217;t it?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s longer,&#8221; replied Lou practically. &#8220;An&#8217;
+the sun&#8217;s gittin&#8217; low. Let&#8217;s hurry.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>There was little further talk between them, <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a
+id='page_29'></a>29</span>for Jim had already discovered that his companion was
+not one to speak unless she had something to say, and he was breathing in short
+snatches to stifle the pain. The track wound endlessly in and out among the
+trees, and in the dim light he would have lost it altogether more than once had
+it not been for her light touch upon his arm.</p>
+
+<p>At length the track turned abruptly through the thinning trees and led down
+to a rough sort of road, on either side of which ramshackle wooden tenements
+leaned crazily against each other, with dingy rags hanging from lines on the
+crooked porches. Slatternly, dark-skinned women gazed curiously at them as they
+passed.</p>
+
+<p>From somewhere came the squalling of a hurt child and a man&#8217;s oath
+roughly silencing it, while through and above all other sounds came the bleating
+of a harmonica ceaseless reiterating a monotonous, foreign air.</p>
+
+<p>The sun had set, and from just beyond the squalid settlement came the crash
+and clang of freight-cars being shunted together. In spite of his pain, Jim
+realized that nowhere <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a
+id='page_30'></a>30</span>in this vicinity could his self-constituted companion
+rest for the night; open fields or dense woodland were safer far for her.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Let us cross the tracks and push on up that hill road a little,&#8221;
+he suggested. &#8220;We can&#8217;t stay here, and they&#8217;ll think we are
+tramps if they catch us by the railroad.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I guess that&#8217;s what we are.&#8221; Lou wrinkled her already
+upturned nose. &#8220;But the country would be nicer again, if you ain&#8217;t
+give out.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He assured her doggedly that he had not, and they crossed the tracks and
+started up the steep hill road past the coal-dump and the few scattered cottages
+to where the woodland closed in about them once more.</p>
+
+<p>Jim picked up a stout stick and leaned heavily upon it as they plodded along,
+while the twilight deepened to darkness and the stars appeared. The girl&#8217;s
+step lagged now, but she kept up in little spurts and set her lips
+determinedly.</p>
+
+<p>At length they came to another stream, a rushing mill-race this time, with an
+old mill, moss-covered and fallen into decay beside it, <span class='pagenum
+pncolor'><a id='page_31'></a>31</span>and by tacit consent they sank down on the
+worn step.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t believe we can go any farther,&#8221; Jim panted.
+&#8220;I guess this is as good a place as any to camp for the night, and you can
+sleep in there.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He indicated the sagging door behind him, and Lou followed his gesture with a
+reluctant eye. Jim noted the glance and, misunderstanding it, added hastily:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t believe there are any rats in there, but if you&#8217;ll
+lend me your matches I&#8217;ll see.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Rats!&#8221; she repeated in withering scorn. &#8220;There was plenty
+of them in the insti&#8211;where I come from. I was just thinkin&#8217; maybe
+somebody else was sleepin&#8217; there already.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She handed over the matches and Jim pushed open the door and entered, feeling
+carefully for rotten boards in the decayed flooring. A prolonged survey by the
+flickering light of the matches assured him that the ancient, cobwebbed place
+was deserted, and he turned again to the door, but its step was unoccupied and
+nowhere in the starlight <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a
+id='page_32'></a>32</span>could he discern a flutter of that blue-and-white
+striped dress.</p>
+
+<p>Could she have run away from him? At the thought a forlorn sense of
+loneliness swept over him greater than he had known since he had started upon
+his tramp. She was tired out; could he in some way have frightened her, or had a
+mad spirit of adventure sent her on like a will-o&#8217;-the-wisp into the
+night?</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Lou!&#8221; he called, and his voice echoed back.
+&#8220;Lou!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>All at once he noticed what he had not observed before&#8211;a single light
+by the roadside in a clearing ahead. Perhaps she had gone there for more secure
+shelter.</p>
+
+<p>His cogitations were abruptly interrupted by a dog&#8217;s excited barking,
+subdued by distance, but deep-throated. The sound came from the direction of the
+clearing, and, taking up his heavy stick, Jim hobbled to the road. If Lou had
+got into any trouble&#x2500;</p>
+
+<p>The barking turned to growls; horrible, crunching growls which brought his
+heart up into his throat as he broke into a run, forgetting his pain. He had not
+gained the top <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_33'></a>33</span>of the
+rise in the road, however, when the growls gave place to wild yelps and howls
+which rapidly diminished in the distance and presently Lou appeared holding
+carefully before her something round and white which gleamed in the
+starlight.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Good Heavens!&#8221; he exclaimed when she neared him. &#8220;What on
+earth have you been doing?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Git on back &#8217;round the other side of the mill!&#8221; ordered Lou.
+&#8220;I gotta go slow or I&#8217;ll spill it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What is it?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>But she vouchsafed him no reply until they reached a ledge of rock over the
+tumbling stream, well out of sight of that light on the hill. Then she set down
+the object she was carrying and he saw that it was a bright tin pan, filled
+almost to the brim with milk.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I thought it would go good with our bread an&#8217; ham,&#8221; she
+explained ingenuously. &#8220;I figgered from what I learned at that Hess place
+that they&#8217;d leave some out in the summer cellar to cream, for they
+ain&#8217;t got any spring-house, an&#8217; they won&#8217;t be likely to miss
+one <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_34'></a>34</span>pan out of
+fifteen. Besides, there&#8217;s nothin&#8217; in them rules you told me that
+stops <i>me</i> from beggin&#8217; or borrowin&#8217;, or stealin&#8217;,
+either, an&#8217; if I <i>give</i> you some of this you ain&#8217;t got any call
+to ask me where it come from.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>This feminine logic left Jim almost speechless, but he managed to gasp
+out:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The dog! Didn&#8217;t he attack you?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I guess that was what he intended, but I put down the pan an&#8217;
+fit him off.&#8221; She added, with evident pride. &#8220;I never spilled a
+drop, either!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Good Lord!&#8221; Jim ejaculated. &#8220;I believe you&#8217;d do
+anything once!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I b&#8217;lieve I would, provided I wanted to,&#8221; Lou agreed placidly.
+Then her tone changed. &#8220;There&#8217;s somebody comin&#8217; up the road
+from Hudsondale like all in creation was after &#8217;em.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Indeed, the sound of a horse&#8217;s mad gallop up the steep road by which
+they had come was plainly to be heard increasing in volume, and the grating jar
+of wheels as though a wagon were being thrown from side to side.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Think it&#8217;s a runaway?&#8221; Jim rose and <span class='pagenum
+pncolor'><a id='page_35'></a>35</span>strained his eyes into the darkness at the
+farther end of the bridge.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No; driver&#8217;s drunk, maybe,&#8221; Lou responded. &#8220;The
+horse&#8217;s dead beat an&#8217; he&#8217;s lashin&#8217; it on.
+Listen!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Jim heard the wild gallop falter and drop into a weary trot, only to leap
+forward again with a wild scramble of hoofs on the rocky road as though the
+wretched animal was spurred on by sudden pain, and he clenched his hands.</p>
+
+<p>As though reading his thoughts, Lou remarked:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Only a beast himself would treat a horse that way. The folks at the
+farm where I was treated theirs somethin&#8217; terrible. If he don&#8217;t look
+out he&#8217;ll go over the side of the bridge.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Jim had already started for the road in front of the mill, and Lou followed
+him, just as a perilously swaying lantern came to view, showing an old-fashioned
+carriage of the &#8220;buggy&#8221; type containing a single occupant and drawn
+by a horse which was streaked with lather.</p>
+
+<p>The light wagon hit the bridge with a <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a
+id='page_36'></a>36</span>bounce which almost sent it careening over into the
+rushing stream below, and at the same moment Lou uttered an odd exclamation,
+more of anger than fear, and straightened up to her full height.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s Max!&#8221; she informed Jim. &#8220;You git back behind
+the mill; you ain&#8217;t fit to fight&#x2500;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What do you take me for?&#8221; Jim demanded indignantly. &#8220;Max
+Hess, eh? The fellow who treated you so badly back at that farm? I wanted to get
+him this morning, the hound! You go straight back into the mill yourself, and
+leave me to handle him.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>But he was too late. The wagon had crossed the bridge and halted in front of
+them so suddenly that the horse slid along for a pace upon his haunches.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Got yer!&#8221; a thick voice announced triumphantly, as a burly
+figure wrapped the reins around the whip socket and lumbered to the ground.
+&#8220;Yah! I thought there was a feller in it, somewheres!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He approached them with menacingly clenched fists, but Jim asked coldly:</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_37'></a>37</span>&#8220;Are you
+addressing this young woman?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Young thief, you mean! She&#8217;s gotter come&#x2500;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>But Jim, too, had advanced a pace.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Take that back and get in your wagon and beat it,&#8221; he announced
+distinctly, with a calmness which the other mistook for mildness. &#8220;If your
+name is Hess, this young woman is not going back with you, and I warn you now to
+be off.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;So that&#8217;s it, is it?&#8221; the heavy voice sneered.
+&#8220;She&#8217;s my mother&#8217;s hired girl, an&#8217; she stole a lot
+o&#8217; food an&#8217; ran away this mornin&#8217;. Comes o&#8217; takin&#8217;
+in an asylum brat&#x2500;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Take that back, too, you blackguard!&#8221; Jim&#8217;s voice was
+beginning to shake.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Take nothin&#8217; back, &#8217;cept Lou! What&#8217;s she doin&#8217; with
+you, anyway? Might ha&#8217; knowed she was this sort&#x2500;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He got no further, for something landed like a hammer upon his nose and the
+blood streamed down between his thick lips, choking him. With an inarticulate
+roar of rage he lowered his bull neck and drove at the other man, but the other
+man wasn&#8217;t there! <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a
+id='page_38'></a>38</span>Then another light, stinging blow landed upon his fat
+face and he flailed out again with a force that turned him completely around,
+for again his adversary had danced out of his way.</p>
+
+<p>Every drop of bad blood in the lout was aroused now, for he was the bully and
+terror of his community, and he could not understand this way of fighting, nor
+why his own blows failed to land when this tramp could dodge in and punish him
+apparently whenever he chose.</p>
+
+<p>Jim was many pounds lighter, and although the science of boxing was not
+unknown to him, he was dog-tired and his wrenched back agonized him at every
+move. The sheer weight of the other man was bearing him down, and Hess seemed to
+realize it, for with a grunt of satisfaction he swung in and landed a stiff body
+blow which staggered his adversary.</p>
+
+<p>Hess&#8217;s left eye was closed, and his lips split, but he hammered at his
+man relentlessly, and at length caught him with a blow which brought him to his
+knees. All the bully&#8217;s blood-lust boiled at sight of his half-fallen <span
+class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_39'></a>39</span>victim, and he drew back
+his heavily shod foot for a murderous kick, but it was never delivered.</p>
+
+<p>Something caught that foot from behind and tripped him heavily into the dust,
+then landed upon him like a wildcat and bit and tore at him until with a scream
+of pain he managed to throw it off. Even as he struggled to his feet it sprang
+again upon him, kicking and clawing, and he turned quickly, and scrambling into
+the buggy seat, gathered up the reins.</p>
+
+<p>Lou stood where he had torn himself from her grasp, listening to the volley
+of oaths and clatter of horses&#8217;s feet until both had been swallowed up in
+the distance. Then she turned to where Jim stood swaying, with one hand pressed
+to his side, and the blood from the reopened cut upon his forehead making his
+face look ghastly in the starlight.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well,&#8221; she remarked with satisfaction. &#8220;I guess he got
+more &#8217;n he come for, an&#8217; we&#8217;ve seen the last of
+<i>him!</i>&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But Lou!&#8221; There was admiration and awe in his tones. &#8220;Your
+method of fighting <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a
+id='page_40'></a>40</span>isn&#8217;t in the Queensberry rules, although I must
+say it was effective. I was going to try to protect you, and it turned out the
+other way!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t know what queen you&#8217;re talkin&#8217; about, nor what
+rules she made, but when <i>I</i> fight, I fight with everything I&#8217;ve
+got,&#8221; Lou declared with finality. &#8220;Come and let me fix up your head
+again, an&#8217; we&#8217;ll have supper.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>An hour later and throughout the night, a slim little figure, rolled in a
+man&#8217;s shabby coat, lay sleeping peacefully in a corner of the mill, while
+on the doorstep in his shirt sleeves and with a stout cudgel across his knees, a
+weary man drowsed fitfully, on guard.</p>
+
+<hr class='pb' />
+<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_41'></a>41</span><a id='link_3'></a>CHAPTER III<br /><span class='h2fs'>The Vendor of Everything</span></h2>
+
+<p>When Lou awakened the next morning at dawn it was her turn to find herself
+deserted, but the fact failed to arouse any misgivings in her mind. She had
+found in her brief experience with menfolks that they were mostly queer, one way
+or another, but this one was dependable, and she felt no doubt that he would
+turn up when he got ready.</p>
+
+<p>Unwrapping her bundle, she took the apron, soap, and broken comb, and
+wandered down the bank of the stream until in the seclusion beneath the bridge
+she came upon a pool formed by outjutting rocks, where she performed her limited
+toilet. Then, scrubbing the greasy apron vigorously, she hung it on a bramble
+bush behind the mill to dry, and scuttling across the road, made for <span
+class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_42'></a>42</span>the woods back of the house
+where she had committed her nocturnal depredation.</p>
+
+<p>An hour later when Jim came slowly up the hill road from the direction of
+Hudsondale, he saw a tiny smudge of smoke rising from a rock well hidden in the
+rank undergrowth at the edge of the stream, and approaching it found Lou
+industriously brushing her coat with a broom which she had improvised of small
+twigs tied together. Beside her, carefully cradled in her sunbonnet, were half a
+dozen new-laid eggs.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Good morning.&#8221; He greeted her with a little bow, and sank down
+on the rock. &#8220;Were you frightened to find yourself left all
+alone?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh, no. I knew you would come back,&#8221; she replied serenely. Then,
+as she noted his glance fall upon the eggs she added in swift self-defense:
+&#8220;You needn&#8217;t think I stole those; I found them back in the woods a
+piece. O-oh!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He had carried a large paper package under his arm, and now as he unwrapped
+it her wonderment changed to swift rapture. It contained an overall apron of
+bright pink <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_43'></a>43</span>check, a
+cheap straw hat, and a remnant of green ribbon.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I ain&#8217;t had a pink dress since I was ten!&#8221; Her dark eyes
+were perilously glistening. &#8220;I&#8217;d almost have died for one, but you
+had to wear blue after that, &#8217;count of doin&#8217; work &#8217;round. Oh, an&#8217;
+that hat! I kin put that ribbon on it as easy as&#x2500;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She halted suddenly and lowered her eyelashes, adding:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But you hadn&#8217;t any call to buy them for me; I can&#8217;t pay
+you back right now.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Jim&#8217;s reply was irrelevant.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Why, your eyes aren&#8217;t black, after all! They&#8217;re
+violet-blue, the deepest blue I ever saw!&#8221; Then he caught himself up,
+reddening furiously, and after a moment said in a casual tone:
+&#8220;That&#8217;s all right about the things, Lou; you can pay me when you get
+some work to do. Now, go fix yourself up, and we&#8217;ll have
+breakfast.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>When she had disappeared into the mill he cursed himself for a fool. The
+child had trusted him as a comrade; what would she think if he began paying her
+compliments? <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_44'></a>44</span>What had
+come over him, anyway? He had seen women with violet-blue eyes in more countries
+than one; beautiful women with every enhancement which breeding and wealth could
+bestow. It must have been sheer surprise in discovering any attribute of
+prettiness at all about so uncompromisingly homely a girl as poor little
+Lou.</p>
+
+<p>With this reassuring reflection he set about replenishing the fire, and
+presently his companion reappeared. The large, flapping hat sat oddly upon her
+small head with its tightly drawn-back hair, but the straight lines of the
+all-enveloping pink gown brought out the slender curves of her childish figure,
+and she didn&#8217;t seem quite so gawky, after all, as she moved toward him
+over the rocks.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;My, you look nice!&#8221; he said cheerfully. &#8220;I&#8217;ve
+brought some rolls from&#x2500;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;We&#8217;ll keep them for later,&#8221; Lou interrupted him firmly.
+&#8220;There&#8217;s still the end of the bread left, and goodness knows where
+we&#8217;ll eat again!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>They breakfasted gaily, drinking the remainder of the milk first and then
+boiling the <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_45'></a>45</span>eggs in
+the pan, but Lou&#8217;s remark about their next meal had made Jim think
+seriously of the immediate future. He had assumed a responsibility which he must
+fulfill, and his progress thus far under the handicaps he had spoken of had been
+difficult enough alone.</p>
+
+<p>The little pink apron-frock had cost half of his capital, the hat twenty-five
+cents more, and the ribbon a dime. Five cents in addition for the rolls had left
+but thirty-five of the preciously hoarded pennies, and he was ninety miles from
+home, with a host of petty, but formidable, restrictions barring his way, and an
+adopted orphan on his hands.</p>
+
+<p>He had been forced to turn his head sharply away when he passed the village
+tobacco store, for every nerve cried out for the solace of a good pipe, but he
+felt more than repaid for the sacrifice by Lou&#8217;s honest rapture over the
+poor things he had been able to get for her.</p>
+
+<p>Breakfast finished, and the remainder of the ham stowed away in the milk-pan,
+they carefully skirted the house on the rise of the hill, and coming out once
+more upon the road, they forged ahead. The strained muscles of <span
+class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_46'></a>46</span>Jim&#8217;s back and side
+were still sore, but they troubled him less than the lack of a smoke, and for
+Lou it was as though a new world had opened before her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>The pleasant, wheat-growing valley had been left behind them, and the road
+from being hilly grew steeper and more steep until it became a mere rutted trail
+over the mountains. More or less dilapidated farm-houses, each with its patch of
+cleared ground, appeared now and then, and before the gate of one of these a
+huge, canvas-covered wagon stood, bearing the ambitious legend:</p>
+
+<p>TRAVELING DEPARTMENT STORE</p>
+
+<p>BENJ. PERKINS</p>
+
+<p>A genial-looking fat man in a linen duster and a wide-brimmed hat was just
+clambering in over the wheel when he spied the two pedestrians gazing at the
+turnout, and called good-naturedly:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Want a lift? I&#8217;m goin&#8217; inter New Hartz.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Thanks. That is just where we are going, <span class='pagenum
+pncolor'><a id='page_47'></a>47</span>too,&#8221; Jim replied promptly.
+&#8220;It&#8217;s awfully good of you to take us along.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Git right in; plenty of room with me on the front seat here,&#8221;
+the proprietor of the extraordinary department store responded heartily.
+&#8220;Yer sister &#8217;d be nigh tuckered out ef you tried ter walk her inter
+town on a hot day like this.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Jim hoisted Lou in over the big wheel and as he climbed up beside her the
+driver slapped the reins over the broad backs of the two horses, and they were
+off.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You are Mr. Perkins?&#8221; Jim asked, ignoring the assumption of
+Lou&#8217;s relationship to him.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s me!&#8221; The other glanced at the fresh bandage about
+the young man&#8217;s head which Lou had applied just before they started out,
+and inquired: &#8220;You git hurt, some ways?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Jim explained briefly, and changed the subject with a haste which would have
+been significant to a less obtuse host.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You seem to have a little of everything back here in the van, Mr.
+Perkins.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_48'></a>48</span>&#8220;Reckon I
+hev,&#8221; the other agreed complacently. &#8220;From a spool of thread to a
+pitchfork, and from a baby rattle to wax funeral wreaths, there ain&#8217;t
+nothin&#8217; the folk hereabout hev use for that I don&#8217;t carry. The big
+ottermobile order trucks don&#8217;t hurt my business none; I ben workin&#8217;
+up my trade around here fer twenty year.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Perkins paused to draw a pipe and tobacco sack from his pocket, and
+Jim&#8217;s throat twitched. After filling the pipe the genial pedler offered
+the sack. &#8220;Hev some?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Jim hesitated, and his face reddened, but at last he shook his head
+determinedly.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Thanks; I&#8211;I don&#8217;t smoke.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Lou, who had hunched about in her seat to stare at the assorted array of
+articles in the body of the van, turned and looked curiously at him. Surely that
+hard bulge in the coat upon which she had slept on the previous night had been
+the bowl of a pipe! The eyes which Jim had called &#8220;violet blue&#8221;
+narrowed for an instant in puzzled wonderment, then blurred as with swift
+understanding she glanced down at the new pink apron and <span class='pagenum
+pncolor'><a id='page_49'></a>49</span>stroked it softly. But Jim had gone on
+talking rather nervously.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You don&#8217;t get much trade around here, do you? Not many houses in
+these mountains.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh, here and thar,&#8221; Mr. Perkins replied easily. &#8220;Here and
+thar.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The conversation which ensued was all Greek to Lou, who took off her hat,
+leaned her head against the side of the van, and went peacefully to sleep.</p>
+
+<p>She was awakened by a hand gently shaking her shoulder and found that the van
+had been halted in the middle of a maple-lined street before a big house which
+bore a sign labeled: &#8220;Congress Hotel.&#8221; Busy little shops shouldered
+it on either side, and a band-stand stood in the open square.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Come down, Lou.&#8221; Jim stood on the sidewalk reaching up for her
+hands. &#8220;This is New Hartz.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Perkins was not in the van, but as Lou scrambled over the wheel he
+appeared from the door of the hotel.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Young man, I wish I was goin&#8217; further, but I ain&#8217;t, and I
+want ter talk a little business <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a
+id='page_50'></a>50</span>with you.&#8221; He drew Jim aside. &#8220;You and
+your sister wouldn&#8217;t ha&#8217; ben walkin&#8217; it in from Hudsonvale if
+you could ha&#8217; paid ter come any other way.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No, Mr. Perkins.&#8221; Jim backed away smilingly. &#8220;We
+couldn&#8217;t think of&#8211;of borrowing, but thanks for the ten-mile lift
+into New Hartz.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Glad ter hev your company.&#8221; Mr. Perkins suddenly dived around to
+the back of the van and his voice came to them muffled from the depths of its
+interior. &#8220;Wait jest a minute.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He emerged, red and perspiring, with a small package wrapped in a square of
+something shimmering and white in his hands, which he offered to the wondering
+Lou.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s jest a little present fer you, miss,&#8221; he said.</p>
+
+<p>Lou accepted it gravely.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Thank you, sir,&#8221; she said primly. &#8220;You ain&#8217;t got any
+call to give me this, not after bringin&#8217; us all the way from
+Hudsondale.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I guess I can make a little present if I&#8217;m a mind ter, ter a
+pretty little girl like you.&#8221; <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a
+id='page_51'></a>51</span>Mr. Perkins turned to Jim. &#8220;Wish yer both luck
+on your way.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>They took leave of the kindly little fat man and moved off up the village
+street and beyond the inevitable car tracks to the dwindling country road once
+more. In the shade of a big tree at a crossroads, Lou glanced up at her
+companion.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Could we set down here for a spell?&#8221; she asked. &#8220;I
+ain&#8217;t tired, Jim, but I feel like I&#8217;d die if I can&#8217;t open
+this!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She gestured with Mr. Perkins&#8217;s gift, and Jim dropped laughingly on the
+grass.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Of course. Let&#8217;s see what&#8217;s in it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Gravely she seated herself beside him and unknotted the square of white. It
+contained three little handkerchiefs with pink borders, a small bottle of
+particularly strong scent, and a string of beads remotely resembling coral. The
+square in which the articles had been wrapped proved to be a large white silk
+handkerchief with an American flag stamped in the corner.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That must be for you, Jim,&#8221; Lou said slowly. As in a trance she
+slipped the string <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_52'></a>52</span>of
+beads over her head, opened the bottle, and poured a few drops of its contents
+upon one of the little handkerchiefs, inhaling the rank odor in ecstasy.</p>
+
+<p>Jim watched her, amused but touched also. To that luxury-starved little soul
+the coarse handkerchiefs and cheap perfume meant rapture, and he resolved to see
+that the gray-haired lady in New York provided something better for Lou than a
+servant&#8217;s position. Education, perhaps&#x2500;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It must be past noon, for the shadows have started to go the other
+way.&#8221; Her voice broke in upon his meditations. &#8220;We&#8217;d better
+eat the rolls an&#8217; ham now. How far is it to where we&#8217;re
+goin&#8217;?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Eight miles; I&#8217;m afraid it is a long way for
+you&#x2500;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then the sooner we git started the better,&#8221; the girl
+interrupted. &#8220;I&#8217;ll take the pan an&#8217; run back to that yellow
+house we just passed for some water.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Without waiting for a reply she tilted the little scent bottle carefully
+against the tree-trunk and departed, while Jim stretched himself <span
+class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_53'></a>53</span>out luxuriously in the
+grateful shade. He was tired, and the still heat of noon had a stupefying
+effect. Lou seemed long in returning, and his thoughts grew nebulous until he
+finally drifted off into slumber.</p>
+
+<p>When he awakened the shadows had lengthened to those of mid-afternoon, and
+there was a delicious, unaccustomed aroma in the air. He gazed about him in a
+bewildered fashion to find Lou sitting cross-legged in the grass, and spread
+upon it on the apron between them were the rolls and ham, and a huckleberry pie,
+still warm, and fairly exuding juice.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Good Lord, where did you get it?&#8221; he demanded.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Remember that yellow house where I went to git water?&#8221; Lou
+laughed, but there was a new note of shyness in her voice. &#8220;When we passed
+it first I saw that the currant bushes were just loaded down, an&#8217; a woman
+was out pickin&#8217; them, though it&#8217;s ironin&#8217; day. I figgered if I
+pick for her she&#8217;d maybe pay me, an&#8217; she did. I&#8211;I guessed you
+was out of&#8211;this.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_54'></a>54</span>The freckles
+disappeared in a rosy blush as with a red-stained hand she held out a bag of
+tobacco.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Lou! Why, you&#8211;you precious kid!&#8221; Jim stammered. &#8220;You
+worked in all this heat, while I lay here and slept.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It wasn&#8217;t far back to New Hartz, an&#8217; I&#8217;d seen where
+the cigar-store was when we came by. The woman at the house, she give me the
+pie, an&#8217; I&#8217;ve got ten cents left besides. I never had ten cents of
+my own before!&#8221;</p>
+
+<hr class='pb' />
+<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_55'></a>55</span><a id='link_4'></a>CHAPTER IV<br /><span class='h2fs'>Under the Big Top</span></h2>
+
+<p>A very weary and dust-covered couple trudged to the top of the last hill just
+before sundown and paused, with Lou&#8217;s hand instinctively clutching
+Jim&#8217;s arm.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Is that it; the Hudson?&#8221; She pointed over the fringe of treetops
+below them to the broad, winding ribbon of sparkling gray-blue, touched here and
+there with the reflection of the fleecy pink clouds drifting far overhead.</p>
+
+<p>Jim turned to look at her, wondering what reaction the view would have upon
+the emotions of this child who, until a brief week ago, had known only the
+&#8220;brick house with a high fence and a playground where never a blade of
+grass grew.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Her big eyes followed the river&#8217;s course <span class='pagenum
+pncolor'><a id='page_56'></a>56</span>until it was lost in a creeping mist
+behind high hills, and she drew a deep breath.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;How far does it go?&#8221; she asked.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;To New York; to the sea,&#8221; he responded. &#8220;The ocean, you
+know.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;My!&#8221; There was wonder and a certain regret in her tone.
+&#8220;What a waste of good wash-water!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Jim emitted an inarticulate remark, and added hastily:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Let us get along down into Highvale. I must try to find a place for
+you to sleep, and remember, Lou, you&#8217;re my sister if anyone starts to
+question you.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;All right; I don&#8217;t mind, if you don&#8217;t.&#8221; She gave the
+floppy hat a yank that slued the ridiculous green bow to a more rakish angle,
+and then stopped suddenly in the road. &#8220;O-oh, look!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>A barn had been built close up to the side of the fence, and freshly pasted
+upon it was the vividly colored poster of a circus. The enthusiastic admiration
+which she had denied to her first view of the great river glowed now in
+Lou&#8217;s eyes, and she stood transfixed.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_57'></a>57</span>&#8220;What is it,
+Jim? The pretty lady on the horse an&#8217; the other one up on the swing thing
+without&#8211;without any skirt to her, and the man with the funny pants
+an&#8217; the big hat that&#8217;s shootin&#8217;&#x2500;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;There must be a circus in Highvale&#8211;yes, the date says
+to-night,&#8221; Jim replied.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;&#8216;Trimble &amp; Wells Great Circus &amp; Sideshow,&#8217;&#8221; she
+read slowly. &#8220;I heard about them circuses; some of the children seen them
+before they came to&#8211;to where I was, an&#8217; once one come to town
+an&#8217; sent free tickets to us, but the deaconesses said it was sinful
+an&#8217; so we couldn&#8217;t go. It don&#8217;t look sinful to me; it looks
+just grand&#8211;grand!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She could have stood for an hour drinking in all the wonders of the poster,
+but Jim hurried her on although he was filled with sympathy. Poor little kid!
+What a rotten, black sort of life she must have had, and how he wished that he
+might take her to this tawdry, cheap affair and watch her naïve enjoyment.</p>
+
+<p>But their combined capital would not have covered the price of the tickets,
+and there was <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_58'></a>58</span>supper
+to be thought of, and the hazards of the immediate future. For the present the
+circus must remain an unattained dream to Lou.</p>
+
+<p>The steep little hill down to the village seemed very long, and twilight was
+almost upon them when they came to a big, open lot upon which a circular tent
+was in process of erection, with lesser oblong ones clustered at one side.</p>
+
+<p>A fringe of small boys and village loungers lined the roadway watching the
+corps of men who were working like beavers within the lot, urged on by a
+bawling, cursing voice which seemed to proceed from a stout, choleric man who
+bounded about, alternately waving his arms and cupping his hands to improvise a
+megaphone.</p>
+
+<p>Jim was tired, and his side throbbed dully, but a sudden inspiration came to
+him, and he drew Lou over to the other side of the road.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Sit down here and wait for me,&#8221; he told her. &#8220;I
+won&#8217;t be long. That&#8217;s where the circus is going to be, and perhaps I
+can fix it for you to see it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_59'></a>59</span>Turning, he
+shouldered his way through the knot of loungers, and entering the lot,
+approached the stout gentleman.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Want an extra hand?&#8221; he asked. &#8220;Anything from a ballyhoo
+to a rough-rider?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The stout man wheeled and surveyed him in momentarily speechless wrath at the
+interruption. Then his eyes narrowed appraisingly as he noted the tall, lean,
+well-knit figure before him, and he demanded:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;How the h&#8211;l did you know that the Wild West act was all knocked
+to pieces?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It isn&#8217;t now,&#8221; Jim smiled. &#8220;Lend me a horse and a
+pair of chaps, and I&#8217;ll show you in five minutes what&#8217;s going to be
+your star act to-night.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;re no circus man, nor a Westerner, neither.&#8221; The boss
+still stared. &#8220;And you don&#8217;t look like a bum. What&#8217;s your
+game, anyway?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;To pick up a little loose change and get a horse between my knees
+again.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The thought of the forlorn little figure which he had left by the roadside
+kept Jim&#8217;s <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a
+id='page_60'></a>60</span>smile steady, and added a desperate artificial
+buoyancy to his tired tones:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Never mind who I am or where I came from; I can ride, and that&#8217;s
+what you want, isn&#8217;t it?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>There was an instant&#8217;s pause, and then the boss bawled a stentorian
+order and grabbed him by the arm.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Come on. I&#8217;ll give you a chance to show me what you can do, but
+if you&#8217;re takin&#8217; up my time on a bluff I&#8217;ll break every bone
+in your &#x2500; &#x2500; body!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He led Jim to an open space behind the tents where presently there appeared a
+living convulsion in the shape of a bucking, squealing bronco seemingly held
+down to earth by two sweating, shirtless men.</p>
+
+<p>As Jim surveyed that wickedly lowered head with its small eyes rolling
+viciously, his heart misgave him for a moment. What if he should fail? It was
+long since he had practiced those rough-riding stunts that had made him in
+demand for those society circuses of the ante-bellum days, and longer yet since
+he had learned to break a bronco on the ranch, <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a
+id='page_61'></a>61</span>which had been Bill Hollis&#8217;s hobby for a
+season.</p>
+
+<p>What if that devil of a pony should best him in the struggle, and he should
+be thrown ignominiously from the lot before the eyes of the girl who was waiting
+patiently for him?</p>
+
+<p>The next instant he had vaulted lightly into the high, Western saddle, the
+two men had jumped back, and the fight was on. The bronco lashed out viciously
+with his heels, leaped sidewise, and then, after a running start, attempted to
+throw his rider over his head, but Jim clung to him like a burr; he flung
+himself down and rolled over, but the young man jumped clear and was back into
+the saddle as the enraged animal regained his feet.</p>
+
+<p>The struggle was strenuous but brief, and Jim found himself rejoicing that
+none of the old tricks had failed him, and that the wicked little brute was
+realizing that he had at length been mastered.</p>
+
+<p>When the bronco was thoroughly subjected, Jim rode quietly up to where the
+boss stood with the two other men.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_62'></a>62</span>&#8220;Want me to
+pick up a handkerchief for you, or any other of the old stunts, now?&#8221; he
+asked. &#8220;Don&#8217;t want to tire this old plug too much for the
+show.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The boss chuckled.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Get down and talk business with me, young feller,&#8221; he said.
+&#8220;You won&#8217;t ride Jazz in the ring to-night; he&#8217;s the rottenest,
+most treacherous little wretch with the outfit, and I only put you on him to
+call your bluff. Want to join the show? We had to leave our rough-rider back in
+the last town with a broken leg.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Jim shook his head.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Only for to-night,&#8221; he replied. &#8220;My sister and I are
+beating it South.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, I&#8217;ll give you five dollars&#x2500;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No, you won&#8217;t,&#8221; Jim smiled. &#8220;I&#8217;ll work for you
+to-night for just twenty-five cents.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Say, you ain&#8217;t bughouse, are you?&#8221; The boss stared
+again.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The fourth part of a dollar, two bits!&#8221; Jim replied doggedly.
+Then his gaze wandered as though casually over to the cook tent, and he added:
+&#8220;However, if you could suggest anything to two hungry people, and <span
+class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_63'></a>63</span>something else for a little
+girl who has never seen a circus, Mr. Trimble-and-Wells, and who is waiting for
+me in the road&#x2500;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The boss roared.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;D&#8211;d if I don&#8217;t think you&#8217;re dippy, but you certainly
+can ride like h&#8211;l!&#8221; he exclaimed. &#8220;I&#8217;ll take you up on
+that; go get the kid and bring her in to supper, and I&#8217;ll see that she
+gets a reserved seat for the show. Holy smoke! A feller that can stick on Jazz,
+and wants to work for a quarter!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Thus it was that when the clown came tumbling into the ring to the blaring of
+the band that night, a girl with the green bow all askew upon her hat and her
+violet-blue eyes a shade darker and snapping with excitement was perched on one
+of the front row planks which served as seats, clutching a bag of peanuts and
+waiting in an ecstasy for the wonders about to be unfolded.</p>
+
+<p>The ride in the pedler&#8217;s van, the hours of currant-picking, and the
+hot, hilly, eight-mile trudge were forgotten, and she felt like pinching herself
+to see if she would wake up all of <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a
+id='page_64'></a>64</span>a sudden to find herself once more back in the attic
+at the Hess farm.</p>
+
+<p>The beautiful lady with the fluffy skirts rode round the ring on tiptoe and
+jumped through the flaming hoops at the behest of the gentleman with the high
+silk hat and the long whip; the other lady &#8220;without any skirt to
+her&#8221; flew dizzily through the air from one trapeze to the other, and the
+performing elephant went through his time-worn tricks with the air of a resigned
+philosopher, and still Lou sat entranced.</p>
+
+<p>Then the dingy curtains parted, and a man loped easily into the ring on a
+wiry, little Western horse. He was the same man she had seen in the poster that
+afternoon; the one with the funny pants and the big hat and the red handkerchief
+knotted around his throat, and he proceeded to do marvelous things.</p>
+
+<p>It is highly probable that many a better exhibition of rough-riding had been
+given beneath the big top, but to Lou, as to the villagers surrounding her in
+densely packed rows, it was a supreme display of horsemanship, and they
+expressed themselves with <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a
+id='page_65'></a>65</span>vociferous applause when he uncoiled a rope from the
+peak of his saddle and dexterously brought down the bewildered steer which had
+been chivvied into the ring.</p>
+
+<p>In the row directly in front of Lou sat a quartet who were obviously out of
+place among their bucolic neighbors, but as obviously bent on amusing
+themselves. The ladies of the party wore brilliant sweaters beneath their long
+silk motor coats, and veils floated from their small round hats, and the
+gentlemen wore long coats, too, and had goggles pushed up on their caps.</p>
+
+<p>Bits of their chatter, and low-voiced, well-bred laughter drifted back to the
+girl&#8217;s ears between pauses in the louder comments of her immediate
+neighbors and the intermittent din of the band, and Lou was amazed.</p>
+
+<p>Could it be that they were laughing at this glorious, wonderful thing that
+was called a &#8220;circus?&#8221; Were they ridiculing it, trying to pretend
+that they had seen anything more marvelous in all the world?</p>
+
+<p>They didn&#8217;t laugh at the rough-rider, she noticed. The ladies applauded
+daintily, and <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_66'></a>66</span>once
+the stouter of the two gentlemen called out: &#8220;Good work!&#8221; as the
+rider executed a seemingly daring feat, and the other gentleman consulted his
+flimsy play bill.</p>
+
+<p>Then all thought of the four was banished from Lou&#8217;s mind, for the
+rider had cantered from the ring and dropped a large white handkerchief upon the
+sawdust of the outer circle just before her. Wasn&#8217;t that bit of color in a
+corner of a handkerchief an American flag? Jim had told her that he was to do
+some work outside for the circus people that night, and the boss had kindly
+offered her a seat, but that handkerchief&#x2500;</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly the rider swept by with his horse at a dead run, and swooping down,
+seized the square of white in his teeth, and while the tent rang with applause,
+Lou sat very still. It was Jim! It was he, her &#8220;partner,&#8221; whom the
+people were all clapping their hands at, who was doing all these wonderful
+things! But his face had looked somewhat pale beneath that big hat, and his
+smile sort of fixed.</p>
+
+<p>The bandage was gone from his head, and the plaster which had replaced it was
+hidden, <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_67'></a>67</span>but she could
+not have been mistaken. What if he were suffering, if his back and side were
+paining him again? She recalled the exhaustion with which he had slept at
+noontime, and the long, weary hike that followed it, and her heart contracted
+within her. It was for her that he was doing this, so that she might see the
+show!</p>
+
+<p>One of the ladies in the seats before her leaned forward and exclaimed:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Didn&#8217;t he look like Jimmie Abbott? If we didn&#8217;t know that
+he was on a fishing trip up in Canada&#x2500;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Lou did not catch the rest of the remark. Her eyes were glued upon the rider
+and her ears stilled to everything around her. With a final flourish he dashed
+for the dingy curtain at the exit and it parted to let him pass. It did not
+close quickly enough behind him, however; not quickly enough to conceal from the
+gaping audience his lurching fall from the saddle into the group of acrobats
+waiting to come on in their turn.</p>
+
+<p>Then it was that a small, pink-checked cyclone whirled through the rows of
+closely <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_68'></a>68</span>packed
+humanity and half-way round the arena to the curtain, while above the clamor of
+the band arose a shrill cry; &#8220;Jim! Jim!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Did you see her?&#8221; The lady who had commented upon the
+rider&#8217;s appearance demanded of the gentleman beside her. &#8220;She called
+him Jim, too; isn&#8217;t that odd? Do you suppose, Jack, that she is with the
+circus; that little country girl?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh, it was only part of the show,&#8221; the stout gentleman replied
+in a bored tone. &#8220;Or else the chap was tight. He certainly rode as if he
+had some red-eye tucked under his belt; wonder where he got it around
+here?&#8221;</p>
+
+<hr class='pb' />
+<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_69'></a>69</span><a id='link_5'></a>CHAPTER V<br /><span class='h2fs'>Concerning an Omelet</span></h2>
+
+<p>There was a confused babel of sound in Jim&#8217;s ears when he awoke
+Wednesday morning; hammering and clanging and the squeak of ropes, shouting and
+cursing, and now and then the roar or yell of some protesting animal.</p>
+
+<p>He was lying on a narrow bunk in a tent, and opposite him a husky-looking
+individual was climbing into a pair of checked trousers and yawning
+vociferously.</p>
+
+<p>Jim&#8217;s head ached confoundedly, and he was stiff and sore, but his mind
+cleared rapidly from the mists of slumber. What sort of a place was this, and
+how had he got there? Then all at once he remembered, and there came a
+horrifying thought. What had become of Lou?</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Where&#8217;s Lou? M&#8211;my sister?&#8221; he demanded, sitting bolt
+upright.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_70'></a>70</span>&#8220;Hello,
+there! Come out of it all right, did you?&#8221; The occupant of the tent
+hitched a suspender over one shoulder and grinned cheerfully. &#8220;The
+kid&#8217;s took care of! She&#8217;s with Ma Billings. That was a nasty header
+you took last night. O. K. now? We gotter pull out in an hour.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh, I&#8217;m all right; but say, did I pull that bonehead stuff out
+there before all of them?&#8221; Jim reddened beneath his tan at the thought.
+&#8220;Fall off the horse like that, I mean?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;In the ring? No, you made a grand exit, and then slumped; nobody saw
+it but the little girl, and she beat it right down to the ring and out after
+you. Fit like a wildcat, too, when we tried to keep her away from you till we
+could find out what had struck you.&#8221; The other grinned once more.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Some sister, ol&#8217;-timer! When we found that big muscle bruise on
+your side, and she told us that you had been tossed by a bull a couple of days
+ago, we didn&#8217;t wonder you keeled over.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Jim sat up dizzily.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It was mighty good of you people to take <span class='pagenum
+pncolor'><a id='page_71'></a>71</span>us in for the night,&#8221; he said.
+&#8220;Who is Ma Billings?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Marie LaBelle she used to be; worked up on the flyin&#8217; rings
+until she got too hefty,&#8221; his companion explained. &#8220;Now she takes
+care of the wardrobes and sort of looks out that the Human Doll don&#8217;t get
+lost in the shuffle; the midget, you know. Now peel, and I&#8217;ll give you a
+rub-down with some liniment.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Jim tried to protest, but the husky individual only grinned the broader.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You may be some boy when it comes to bronco-bustin&#8217;, but
+I&#8217;m the Strong Man in the sideshow, and you haven&#8217;t a
+chance.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Meekly Jim submitted to his companion&#8217;s kindly ministrations, and then
+dressing quickly, made his way out into the glare of the early morning sun.</p>
+
+<p>The big top was down, and poles and animal cages were being loaded on long
+trucks as he emerged. An appetizing odor of fried pork floated upon the air from
+the direction of the cook tent, and people seemed to be rushing all over the lot
+in wildest confusion, but Jim caught a glimpse of a bit of pink-and-white <span
+class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_72'></a>72</span>check through the mêlée,
+and headed for it.</p>
+
+<p>Lou was sitting on the grass in cordial confab with a melancholy-looking,
+lantern-jawed man, but at his approach she jumped up precipitately and ran to
+him.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh, Jim, you feelin&#8217; all right?&#8221; There was a little
+tremble in her voice. &#8220;I knew it was you the minute you rode past
+an&#8217; picked up that handkerchief Mr. Perkins give you yesterday, an&#8217;
+when you pitched off that horse I thought you was dead. You hadn&#8217;t no call
+to take any chance like that with your back hurt an&#8217; that long tramp
+an&#8217; all; but it was splendid.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She paused, breathless, and he patted her shoulder. Somehow she didn&#8217;t
+look so downright homely this morning, or else he was growing used to her
+little, turned-up nose. Her tow-colored hair was looser about her face, and
+where the sun struck a strand of it, it shone like spun gold.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m fine,&#8221; he assured her. &#8220;But who was that man you
+were talking to just now?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Him? Oh, that was the clown,&#8221; Lou replied. <span class='pagenum
+pncolor'><a id='page_73'></a>73</span>&#8220;He says the old man is just crazy
+&#8217;bout your ridin&#8217;, an&#8217; if you&#8217;ll stay along with the
+show he can teach me to stand still for the knife-thrower; the last girl got
+scared, an&#8217; quit just because she got a little scratch on the neck. The
+clown says I got the nerve for it, an&#8217; I guess I have, only they
+ain&#8217;t goin&#8217; towards New York.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She added the last almost reluctantly, and Jim shuddered. The knife-thrower!
+What wouldn&#8217;t the little dare-devil be willing to try next?</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I guess you have got the nerve,&#8221; he admitted grimly. &#8220;But
+we&#8217;re going to be in New York by Saturday night, remember. As soon as I
+get my quarter from the stout gentleman over there with the striped vest,
+we&#8217;ll be on our way.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>But it was nearly an hour before they took to the road again. The boss
+insisted on starting them off with a hearty breakfast, and there were good-bys
+to be said to the rough, kindly folk who had taken them in as friends. Except
+for the litter of hand-bills and peanut-shells, the last vestiges of the circus
+were <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_74'></a>74</span>being removed
+from the lot as they finally departed, and what had been to Lou a wondrous,
+glittering pageant had become but a memory.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I dunno but I&#8217;d as lief join a circus,&#8221; she observed,
+meditatively, after they had traveled a mile or more. &#8220;Maybe I could learn
+in New York how to do some of them tricks. I could git the hang of that business
+up on them swings in no time, only I don&#8217;t like the way that girl
+dressed&#x2500;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Nonsense!&#8221; Jim snapped, and wondered at his own indignation.
+&#8220;We&#8217;ll find something suitable for you to do, or you can go to
+school&#x2500;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;School!&#8221; she interrupted him in her turn.
+&#8220;I&#8211;I&#8217;d like to learn things an&#8217; be like other folks, but
+I ain&#8217;t&#8211;I mean I&#8217;m not&#8211;goin&#8217; to any
+institootion.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He glanced at her curiously. This was the first time she had made any
+conscious effort to correct herself, the first evidence she had given that she
+had noted the difference between his speech and hers.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I didn&#8217;t mean an institution, but a real school, Lou,&#8221; he
+explained gently. &#8220;One <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a
+id='page_75'></a>75</span>where you&#8217;ll have no uniform to wear, and no
+work to do except to learn.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I quit learnin&#8217; when I was twelve.&#8221; There was an
+unconscious note of wistfulness in her tones. &#8220;I kin read an&#8217; do a
+little figgerin&#8217;, but I don&#8217;t know much of anythin&#8217; else. I
+couldn&#8217;t go to school an&#8217; begin again where I left off, Jim;
+I&#8217;d be sort of ashamed. Oh, look at that big wagon drivin&#8217; out of
+that gate! Maybe we&#8217;ll git a lift.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She had turned at the creak of wheels, and now, as the cart loaded with
+crates and pulled by two lean, sorry-looking horses passed, she gazed
+expectantly at the driver. He was as lean as his team, with a sharp nose and a
+tuft of gray hair sticking out from his chin, and his close-set eyes straight
+ahead of him, as though he were determined not to see to the two wayfarers.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;He looks kinder mean, don&#8217;t he?&#8221; Lou remarked. Then
+impulsively she ran after the wagon: &#8220;Say, mister, will you give us a
+lift?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The old man pulled in his horses and regarded her sourly.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What&#8217;ll you pay?&#8221; he demanded.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a
+id='page_76'></a>76</span>&#8220;What&#8217;s in them crates,&#8221; she
+parried.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Eggs.&#8221; The response was laconic. &#8220;What you gittin&#8217;
+at, sis?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Who unloads them when you git to where you&#8217;re
+goin&#8217;?&#8221; Lou persisted.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;At the Riverburgh dock? I do, unless I&#8217;m late, an&#8217; then I
+have to give a couple o&#8217; them loafers around there a quarter apiece to
+help. I&#8217;m late to-day, an&#8217; if you ain&#8217;t got any money to
+ride&#8211;Giddap!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>But Lou halted him determinedly.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;If you&#8217;ll give me and Jim&#8211;I mean my brother&#8211;a ride,
+he&#8217;ll unload the crates for you for nothin&#8217; when we git there.
+You&#8217;ll be savin&#8217; fifty cents, and the ride won&#8217;t cost you
+nothin&#8217;.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well&#8221;&#8211;the old man considered for a
+moment&#8211;&#8220;I&#8217;ll do it, if it&#8217;s only to spite them fellers
+that&#8217;s allus hangin&#8217; &#8217;round the docks. Reg&#8217;lar robbers, they be.
+Quarter apiece, an&#8217; chicken-feed gone up the way&#8217;t is. Git
+in.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Jim had overtaken the wagon in time to hear the end of the brief
+conversation, and he wasted no further time in parley, but hoisted <span
+class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_77'></a>77</span>Lou up over the wheel and
+climbed in beside her.</p>
+
+<p>As the reluctant horses started off once more the driver turned to him:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Hope you&#8217;re a hustler, young man; got to git them eggs off the
+wagon in a jiffy when we git to Riverburgh, in time to ketch the boat.
+Don&#8217;t you try no scuttlin&#8217; off on me after I give you the ride;
+Riverburgh&#8217;s a reg&#8217;lar city, an&#8217; they&#8217;s a policeman on the
+docks.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll keep the bargain my sister made for me,&#8221; Jim answered
+shortly. He had observed the poultry-farm from which the old man had started,
+with its miserable little hovel of a house and immense spread of chicken-runs,
+and drawn his own conclusions as to the character of its owner. &#8220;You
+needn&#8217;t be afraid I&#8217;ll shirk.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well,&#8221; grumbled the other, &#8220;I don&#8217;t hold with
+pickin&#8217; up tramps in the road, but I&#8217;m sick of handin&#8217; out
+good money to them loafers at the dock to unload, an&#8217; I ain&#8217;t got a
+hired man to take along no more; they&#8217;re allus lazy,
+good-for-nothin&#8217; fellers that eat more&#8217;n <span class='pagenum
+pncolor'><a id='page_78'></a>78</span>they work out, let alone their wages
+goin&#8217; sky-hootin&#8217;!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But you must be making a handsome profit, with the price of eggs going
+up, too, all the time,&#8221; Jim remarked.</p>
+
+<p>The old man gave him a sly glance.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s how you look at it,&#8221; he replied. &#8220;They
+oughter go up twice the price they be. My wife&#8217;s doin&#8217; the hired
+man&#8217;s work now, an&#8217; she&#8217;s allus pesterin&#8217; me to git an
+incubator, but them things cost a powerful sight of money, an&#8217; I
+don&#8217;t hold with new-fangled notions; too much resk to them. You can allus
+sell hens when they git too old to set or lay, but what&#8217;re you going to do
+with a wore-out incubator?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He cackled shrilly at his own witticism and then grew morose again.
+&#8220;The way things is, there ain&#8217;t no profit skeercely in
+nothin&#8217;.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>They jogged along drowsily through the slumberous heat, while the old man
+continued his harangue against the cost of everything except his own commodity,
+and the underfed horses strained to drag their burden over the hilly road. The
+mountains had been left behind, <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a
+id='page_79'></a>79</span>and all over the rolling hillsides about them on
+either hand the vineyards stretched in undulating lines, each heavy with the
+load of purpling grapes.</p>
+
+<p>Mile after mile passed slowly beneath the creaking wheels of the wagon; noon
+came, and still Riverburgh remained tantalizingly ahead. At last, on the rise of
+a hill, the old man pulled up and pointed with his whip to the spreading sweep
+of brick buildings fronting on the river&#8217;s edge below.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;There&#8217;s the town,&#8221; he announced, adding, with a touch of
+regret: &#8220;We&#8217;re ahead of time, after all, an&#8217; I could have
+unloaded by myself. Well, it don&#8217;t matter noways except for the extra drag
+on the horses. Giddap!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;There&#8217;s&#8211;there&#8217;s an ottermobile comin&#8217; up
+behind,&#8221; Lou ventured. &#8220;They been tootin&#8217; at you for some
+time, mister.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Let &#8217;em,&#8221; the old man cackled shrilly once more.
+&#8220;I&#8217;ve been drivin&#8217; on these roads afore them things was heard
+of, an&#8217; I don&#8217;t calc&#8217;late to turn out for &#8217;em.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The warning of the siren sounded again disturbingly close, and the rush of
+the oncoming <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_80'></a>80</span>car
+could be plainly heard. Jim glanced at the old man, and, noting the stubborn set
+of his jaw, said nothing; but Lou spoke again, and her voice held no note of
+alarm, but rather indignation at the obvious lack of fair play.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But they got a right; you&#8217;re on their side of the road,&#8221;
+she exclaimed. &#8220;If you&#8217;d give them their half, mister, they could
+pass easy.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t calc&#8217;late to let &#8217;em,&#8221; he responded
+obstinately. &#8220;Ain&#8217;t goin&#8217; to take their dust if I kin help
+it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Deliberately he tugged on the left reins and headed the team straight across
+the road. Lou gave a quick glance over the side of the wagon and behind, and
+then gripped Jim&#8217;s arm. He turned and caught one glimpse of her set face,
+and then with a roar and a grinding crash they both felt themselves lifted into
+the air and landed in some golden, slimy fluid in the ditch.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Lou, are you hurt?&#8221; Jim tried to wipe the clinging stuff from
+his eyes and ears with his sleeve. &#8220;Where are you?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The rapidly diminishing clatter of horses&#8217; hoofs <span class='pagenum
+pncolor'><a id='page_81'></a>81</span>down the hill, and the old man&#8217;s
+vigorously roared recriminations assured him of the safety of the rest of the
+entourage even before Lou replied.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Not hurt a mite, but I&#8217;m laughin&#8217;!&#8221; she exclaimed
+breathlessly. &#8220;Oh, Jim, you&#8211;you should have seen it. That
+ottermobile hit square in the middle of the wagon, and there
+ain&#8217;t&#8211;isn&#8217;t&#8211;a single egg&#x2500;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Here, you!&#8221; the old man, dripping from head to foot with the
+golden slime, rushed up and tugged excitedly at Jim&#8217;s arm. &#8220;Come on
+an&#8217; help me to ketch them horses! What&#8217;d I bring you along for? Let
+the girl be, I don&#8217;t ker if her neck&#8217;s broke! I got to lodge a
+complaint against them rascals, an&#8217; have &#8217;em stopped! You&#8217;re
+my witnesses that they run into me, an&#8217; I&#8217;ll make &#8217;em pay a
+pretty penny&#x2500;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I care whether my sister&#8217;s neck is broken or not!&#8221; Jim
+retorted grimly. &#8220;Go after your own horses. I engaged to unload eggs, and
+it looks as if the job was finished. Lou, are you sure you&#8217;re all
+right?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_82'></a>82</span>The old man danced
+up and down in the road, spattering flecks of egg about him.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;We&#8217;ll see about that,&#8221; he shrilled. &#8220;You come along
+with me! You&#8217;re my witnesses&#x2500;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;We&#8217;ll be your witnesses that you were on the wrong side of the
+road, and knew it,&#8221; Jim helped Lou to her feet. &#8220;They warned you,
+and you wouldn&#8217;t turn out.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>With an outburst of inarticulate rage the old man dashed off down the road,
+and Lou, helpless with laughter, clung to Jim&#8217;s slippery sleeve.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t mind him,&#8221; she gasped. &#8220;Old skinflint! Oh,
+Jim, you l-look like an omelet.&#8221;</p>
+
+<hr class='pb' />
+<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_83'></a>83</span><a id='link_6'></a>CHAPTER VI<br /><span class='h2fs'>The Red Note-Book</span></h2>
+
+<p>For a moment Jim laughed with her; then the seriousness of their situation
+was borne in upon him, and his face sobered.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s the kind of an omelet that won&#8217;t come off in a hurry,
+I&#8217;m afraid,&#8221; he said. &#8220;How on earth are we going to walk into
+Riverburgh like this?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>It was the first time that he had appealed to her, and Lou&#8217;s laughter
+ceased also, but her cheerful confidence did not fail her.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;We gotter find some place where we can git cleaned up, that&#8217;s
+all,&#8221; she replied practically. &#8220;Most anybody would let you do that,
+I guess, if you told them what happened, an&#8217; if you can&#8217;t
+ask&#8211;why, I kin. Anybody &#8217;cept a mean old thing like that! I s&#8217;pose I ought
+to be sorry that his wagon&#8217;s broke an&#8217; his eggs are all over us
+instead of where they <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a
+id='page_84'></a>84</span>was goin&#8217;, but I&#8217;m not a mite.
+Long&#8217;s he wasn&#8217;t hurt, I&#8217;m kinder glad.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Still, those people in the car ought to have stopped to see the extent
+of the damage they had done, even if they did have the right-of-way,&#8221; Jim
+observed. &#8220;The old fellow had his grievance, but he got my goat when he
+said he didn&#8217;t care if your neck was broken or not, and I wouldn&#8217;t
+have helped him if I could.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;&#8216;Goat&#8217;?&#8221; Lou repeated.</p>
+
+<p>Jim had no opportunity to explain, for at that moment a woman in a faded
+gingham gown toiled hurriedly over the brow of the hill, and, on seeing them,
+stopped, with one hand at her breast.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh!&#8221; she gasped. &#8220;There&#8217;s wasn&#8217;t anyone hurt,
+was there? I saw the accident from my porch, and I came just as quick as I
+could.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Jim explained, and the woman listened, wide-eyed.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You both come straight along with me,&#8221; she invited when he had
+finished. &#8220;I&#8217;ll lend you some overalls, and you and the little girl
+can just sit around while your clothes dry.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_85'></a>85</span>She led the way
+back to a tiny but very neat cottage, with flowers blooming in the door-yard and
+a well-tended truck-garden in the rear. Broad hay-fields stretched on either
+side, but only two little boys were visible, tossing the hay awkwardly with
+pitchforks almost bigger than they were themselves.</p>
+
+<p>The woman left them standing for a minute on the back porch, and then came
+out to them, bearing a cake of soap, a towel, and a pair of overalls and shirt,
+which, although immaculately clean, bore many patches and darns, and were deeply
+creased, as though they had been laid away a long time.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Take these down to the barn.&#8221; She handed them to Jim.
+&#8220;You&#8217;ll find a spigot there, and cold water&#8217;s best for
+egg-stains. I left some rags in the empty box-stall that you can use to clean
+your shoes, and then, if you&#8217;ll give me your clothes that you&#8217;ve got
+on now, I&#8217;ll soak them and get them out while the sun&#8217;s high;
+corduroy takes a long time to dry.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>When Jim had expressed his gratitude and departed for the barn, the woman led
+Lou into the kitchen, and, providing her also with <span class='pagenum
+pncolor'><a id='page_86'></a>86</span>clean garments, she dragged a wash-tub out
+on the porch.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8211;if you&#8217;ll let me, I&#8217;d like to wash my own things
+and Jim&#8217;s.&#8221; Lou appeared shyly in the door in a gown several sizes
+too large for her. &#8220;He&#8217;d like it, too, I think, and he can help with
+the hayin&#8217; till the things git dried out enough, so&#8217;s we kin go
+on.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh, would he?&#8221; the woman asked quickly. &#8220;I&#8217;d pay him
+well if he&#8217;s looking for work; I can&#8217;t get any hands, though
+I&#8217;ve tried, and the hay is rotting for want of being turned. I
+didn&#8217;t think I&#8217;d seen you two around here before, but I&#8217;ve
+known old Mr. Weeble always.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You mean that&#8211;that with the egg-wagon? He was givin&#8217; us a
+lift into Riverburgh; we&#8217;re just traveling through,&#8221; Lou added
+shortly.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Did he pick you up back near his place?&#8221; At Lou&#8217;s nod the
+woman exclaimed: &#8220;Then you two haven&#8217;t had a bite of dinner! You put
+your things to soak and I&#8217;ll go right in the house and get you up a little
+something; it&#8217;s past two.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_87'></a>87</span>Lou started to
+protest, but the woman disappeared into the kitchen, and Jim appeared from the
+barn. He was attired in a shirt which strained at his broad shoulders, and
+overalls which barely reached his shoe-tops.</p>
+
+<p>The girl noticed something else also as he turned for a moment to look toward
+the field where the little boys were so valiantly at work; a red-leather
+note-book, which she had never known that he carried, bulged now from the all
+too small overall-pocket.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You can bet I&#8217;ll pitch hay for her till sundown,&#8221; he
+declared, when Lou had explained the situation to him. He dropped beside the tub
+the bundle of egg-soaked clothing which he carried, and added: &#8220;It is
+mighty good of her to do all this for us, isn&#8217;t it? I tell you, Lou, the
+credit side of the list is going up even if it did have a bit of a jolt this
+morning, and you&#8217;re the biggest item on it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>This speech was wholly unintelligible to the girl, but she bent over the tub
+without reply, and Jim went on hurriedly, aware that he had made a slip of some
+sort.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_88'></a>88</span>&#8220;I wonder
+where all the men of the family are? She can&#8217;t get any
+hands&#x2500;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;<i>There</i> are all the men of the family.&#8221; The woman had
+reappeared in time to catch his last remark, and she pointed out toward the two
+small toilers with a faint smile. &#8220;There was another, their
+father&#8211;my son&#8211;but he died; so we&#8217;re doin&#8217; the best we
+can by ourselves. But there&#8217;s a little bite ready for you on the end of
+the kitchen-table, and it&#8217;s getting cold.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The food tasted good, and the little red cloth beneath the dishes was clean,
+but the signs of carefully concealed poverty were everywhere visible to
+Jim&#8217;s eyes, and he suspected another reason for the lack of farm-hands
+than scarcity of labor. He hurried through his meal, and went at once to the
+hay-field, while Lou, after insisting on clearing the dishes away, went back to
+the wash-tub, and their hostess returned to her own belated ironing.</p>
+
+<p>Upon the girl&#8217;s usually serene brow there was a frown of perplexity as
+she worked, and her thoughts were far afield, for in that backward <span
+class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_89'></a>89</span>glance which she had given
+from the egg-wagon to the approaching car just before the crash came she had
+recognized in its occupants the quartet who sat in front of her at the circus
+the previous evening. The ladies were closely swathed in their veils, but she
+remembered the distinctive plaids of their silk coats, and the stout gentleman
+who sat between them in the tonneau, with goggles and hat snatched off in the
+excitement of the impending smash-up, was unmistakably the one who had called
+out &#8220;Good work!&#8221; when Jim was performing on the horse.</p>
+
+<p>The other gentleman who had made up the quartet was the one who drove the
+car, and her quick glance showed her that he was even then trying to avoid the
+crash.</p>
+
+<p>The details had been photographed upon her brain with instantaneous clarity,
+but it was not with these that her thoughts were busied; the remark which the
+younger lady had made at the circus just before Jim rode toward the exit-flap of
+the curtain had returned and could not be banished from her mind:</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a
+id='page_90'></a>90</span>&#8220;Didn&#8217;t he look like Jimmie
+Abbott?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Her companion had told the girl that his name was Botts, but beyond that, and
+the fact that he was on the way to New York, he had vouchsafed no further
+information about himself, nor had Lou asked. She could not understand why his
+journey was hedged about with so many silly rules, nor why he chose to obey
+them; that was his affair, and he was just a part of this wonderful adventure
+which had started with her departure from the Hess farm.</p>
+
+<p>Yet away down in her heart was a little hurt feeling for which she could not
+have assigned a cause even to herself. Of course she trusted him, and he would
+not have lied to her, but could there really be another &#8220;Jim&#8221; in the
+world who looked quite like him, and whose name was so nearly the same?</p>
+
+<p>She had sensed instinctively, and the more clearly perhaps because of her
+lack of worldly experience, that he was different, not only from herself, but
+from all whom they had encountered upon their journey, yet could he <span
+class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_91'></a>91</span>really be that grand young
+lady&#8217;s &#8220;Jimmie,&#8221; after all?</p>
+
+<p>As she stepped aside to lift the basket into which the sodden garments had
+fallen from the wringer, her foot chanced to crunch upon something that yielded
+with a crisp rustle, and she glanced down. It was the little red note-book which
+she had seen in Jim&#8217;s overall-pocket when he came from the barn; it must
+have fallen out as he crossed the porch to go to the hay-field.</p>
+
+<p>It had opened, and the front cover was pressed back, with the stamp of her
+heel, showing plainly upon the first page, and as she stooped slowly and picked
+it up Lou could not help reading the three words which were written across it in
+a bold, characteristic hand:</p>
+
+<div class='center'>
+<p class='center'>JAMES TARRISFORD ABBOTT</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>There was something else, an address, no doubt, written below, but Lou closed
+the book quickly and dropped it upon a near-by bench, as though it burned her
+fingers. For a moment <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a
+id='page_92'></a>92</span>she stood very still with her eyes closed and her
+little water-shriveled hands tightly interlocked, and in that instant of time
+the happy, careless co-adventurer of the last two marvelous days vanished, and
+in his place there appeared a stranger, a man of the world, in which that young
+lady of the motor-car moved.</p>
+
+<p>For the first time in Lou&#8217;s life a panic seized her, a desperate
+longing to run away. She opened her eyes and looked across the hay-fields to
+where that tall, stalwart figure worked beside the two smaller ones. Even from
+that distance he looked different, somehow; he wasn&#8217;t the same Jim.</p>
+
+<p>Slowly, with a mist before her eyes she picked up the heavy basket, and,
+descending the steps of the porch, spread the garments upon the bleaching grass
+to dry. The glittering glories of the circus had turned all at once to a black
+shadow in her memory, and she wished fervently that she had never seen it nor
+those rich people who had come to make a mock of it, but had stayed to applaud
+Jim.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_93'></a>93</span>But why
+shouldn&#8217;t they, even if they hadn&#8217;t recognized him? He belonged to
+their world, not hers. Then a new, inexpressibly forlorn thought came to her;
+what was her world, anyway? She didn&#8217;t belong anywhere; there was no place
+for her unless she made one for herself, some time.</p>
+
+<p>With that, in spite of this strange, new weariness which dragged at her
+heart, Lou&#8217;s indomitable spirit reasserted itself, and her small teeth
+clamped together. She <i>would</i> make herself a place somewhere, somehow.</p>
+
+<p>Returning to the house, she took the ironing from her tired hostess&#8217;s
+hands, and worked steadily until at sundown the high treble of childish voices
+came to her ears, and Jim&#8217;s merry, laughing tones in reply sent a quick
+stab through her, but she put down the iron and went determinedly out on the
+porch.</p>
+
+<p>The two little boys came shyly on up the steps, but Jim had paused to feel of
+his coat, as it lay on the grass, and looked ruefully at her.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s wet still, I&#8217;m afraid,&#8221; she remarked
+composedly, as she picked up the red note-book <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a
+id='page_94'></a>94</span>and held it out to him. &#8220;Is this yourn? It looks
+as though it must have dropped out of your pocket an&#8217; somebody stepped on
+it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>If the girl noted the swift change which came over his face she gave no sign
+as he came forward and took the book from her hands.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, it&#8217;s mine.&#8221; He opened and closed it again, and then
+looked up uncertainly into her face as she stood on the steps above him, but Lou
+was gazing in seeming serenity out over the fields, which were still shimmering
+in the last rays of the sun. &#8220;I&#8211;I&#8217;ll tell you about this some
+time, Lou. It&#8217;s funny.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What&#8217;s funny?&#8221; she asked, with a little start, as though
+he had interrupted some train of thought of her own, far removed from hateful
+little red books.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;If you think it&#8217;s goin&#8217; to be funny to travel in wet
+clothes to-night, just wait till you git started.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>But they did not start upon their journey again that night, after all. Their
+kindly hostess insisted upon their remaining until the morning, at least, and
+when the supper <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a
+id='page_95'></a>95</span>dishes were cleared away Lou wandered off by herself
+down the little lane which led to the pasture.</p>
+
+<p>There would be three days more, and then their journey&#8217;s end. Upon one
+thing she had decided: there would be no school for her! She was going to work
+as quickly as she could find something to do. Mr. James Abbott must be paid back
+for the little pink-checked frock and the hat with the green bow, and then she
+would drop from his sight. Surely in that great city, with its hundreds and
+hundreds of people, she would be able to disappear.</p>
+
+<p>Reaching the pasture, she stood at the gate with her arms resting upon the
+topmost rail, and was so deep in reflection that she did not hear a step behind
+her until a hand touched her shoulder, and Jim&#8217;s voice asked quietly:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What are you doing off here by yourself, Lou? Mrs. Bemis didn&#8217;t
+know what had become of you, and I&#8217;ve been looking everywhere.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I dunno,&#8221; Lou answered truthfully enough. &#8220;I been
+thinkin&#8217; &#8217;bout the institootion <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a
+id='page_96'></a>96</span>where I come from; it was seein&#8217; them little
+boys put me in mind of it, I reckon. I was kinder wonderin&#8217; what it would
+be like to really belong to anybody.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>There was neither pathos nor self-pity in her tone, but rather a cold,
+dispassionate speculation that froze the words of awkward sympathy which rose to
+his lips, and he remained silent.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I did once, you know,&#8221; she continued, &#8220;belong to
+some&#8211;body, I mean. I had on a white dress all trimmed with lace when they
+found me in the station at the junction an&#8217; took me up to the
+institootion; it was the only white dress I ever had.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Where was this institution, Lou?&#8221; Jim asked. &#8220;You&#8217;ve
+never told me, you know.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Lou shrugged.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh, it was &#8217;way up at a place called Mayfield&#8217;s Corners; I was
+most three hours on the train before I got to the station nearest Hess&#8217;s
+farm.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>A vicious desire came over her to shock and repulse that inexplicable thing
+in him which set him apart from her and made him one <span class='pagenum
+pncolor'><a id='page_97'></a>97</span>with the world in which those others
+moved; that stout gentleman and the young lady who had called him Jimmie. She
+added deliberately:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I told you what I did there&#8211;at the institootion, I mean:
+scrubbed an&#8217; cooked an&#8217; washed an&#8217; tended babies an&#8217;
+wore a uniform, just like any other norphin, I guess. Slep&#8217; in the garret
+with the rats runnin&#8217; over the floor, an&#8217; got up in the
+mornin&#8217; to the same old work. It warn&#8217;t a State institootion, you
+see; just a kind of a charity one, run by the deacons of the church; I
+ain&#8217;t got much use for charity.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I shouldn&#8217;t think you would have,&#8221; he exclaimed.
+&#8220;But it&#8217;s all behind you now, Lou. We made fourteen miles to-day
+from Highvale&#8211;or will have when we walk down the hill to Riverburgh
+to-morrow, and it is only sixty miles further to New York.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s good,&#8221; Lou said, but without enthusiasm. &#8220;Do
+we start at sun-up?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I thought I&#8217;d like to work for Mrs. Bemis for a couple of hours
+first and get the hay turned in that south field,&#8221; Jim answered. <span
+class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_98'></a>98</span>&#8220;She&#8217;s been so
+good to us, and she&#8217;ll need the stuff this winter for those two old plugs
+out there.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He pointed out into the pasture, where two horses made mere blotches of
+deeper shadow beneath a tree.</p>
+
+<p>Lou laughed suddenly, softly, but it seemed to him that the rippling, liquid
+note had vanished.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What&#8217;s funny?&#8221; he asked.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh, nothin&#8217;. I was just thinkin&#8217; of you last night in that
+circus. You rode so&#8211;so wonderfully. I wasn&#8217;t laughin&#8217; at that,
+but it just come to me how funny it would have been if any of your friends was
+to have seen you!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Jim glanced at her sharply, but in the starlight her face seemed merely
+amused as at a whimsical thought.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Why would it have been funny?&#8221; he insisted. &#8220;Of course I
+never rode in a real circus before, and I guess I was pretty rotten, but why
+would my friends have laughed?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I dunno.&#8221; Lou dropped her arms from the fence-rail and turned
+away. &#8220;Let&#8217;s go back to the house. I&#8211;I&#8217;m pretty
+tired.&#8221;</p>
+
+<hr class='pb' />
+<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_99'></a>99</span><a id='link_7'></a>CHAPTER VII<br /><span class='h2fs'>Revelations</span></h2>
+
+<p>The next morning was a trying one for them both. Jim felt dully that
+something was the matter, but the girl&#8217;s manner baffled him, and he could
+not make up his mind as to whether she had glanced in the note-book or not. It
+did not seem like her to do so deliberately, but if she had he could only make
+things worse by broaching the subject, since he was not at the moment in a
+position to explain.</p>
+
+<p>As for Lou, she was trying her best to appear her old self with him, but
+dissimulation was an art in which she was as yet unversed, and her whole nature
+rebelled against playing a part. Only her pride kept her from betraying her
+disappointment in him and running away. She told herself fiercely that he <span
+class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_100'></a>100</span>didn&#8217;t care what
+she thought of him; they were only partners met by chance on the road, and
+perhaps never to see each other again after the city was reached.</p>
+
+<p>If he had lied to her about his name that was his own business, and she would
+not admit even to herself that this deception was not the only reason for the
+strange, hurt feeling about her heart.</p>
+
+<p>She rose at dawn, and, creeping down from the clean little room which Mrs.
+Bemis had given her, she had the stove going and breakfast on the table by the
+time the little family was awake, and Jim appeared from the barn, where he had
+slept in the loft.</p>
+
+<p>While he worked in the field during the early morning hours, she finished the
+ironing, and by ten o&#8217;clock they were ready once more to start upon their
+way.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Bemis insisted upon paying them both for their work, but it was only out
+of consideration for her pride that Jim would accept fifty cents of the two
+dollars she offered him.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I only work for a quarter a time,&#8221; he told <span class='pagenum
+pncolor'><a id='page_101'></a>101</span>her gravely. &#8220;One for yesterday
+and one for this morning; my sister can tell you that. I&#8211;I would like to
+write to you if I may when we reach home, Mrs. Bemis. Will you tell me what
+address will find you? You see, I want to thank you properly for all your
+kindness to us, and I don&#8217;t know whether this is the township of
+Riverburgh or not.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s the Stilton post-office,&#8221; the little woman stammered.
+&#8220;Of course, I&#8217;d like to hear from both of you, but you mustn&#8217;t
+thank me! I don&#8217;t know what I should have done without your help with the
+hay! And your sister, too; I do hope you both find work where you&#8217;re
+going.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>To Lou&#8217;s amazement Jim produced the little red note-book and wrote the
+address carefully in it, adding what appeared to be some figures at one side.
+Then he thanked their good Samaritan and they took their leave.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That makes a dollar and ten cents!&#8221; he remarked confidentially
+as he and Lou went down the hill road together toward the bustling little city
+nestled at the river&#8217;s edge. &#8220;Quite a fortune, isn&#8217;t
+it?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_102'></a>102</span>&#8220;She gave
+me a quarter for helping with the ironing, too, so that&#8217;s thirty-five that
+I&#8217;ve got.&#8221; Lou exhibited a hard knot tied in the corner of her
+handkerchief. &#8220;I couldn&#8217;t get all of the egg out of my hat, but
+it&#8217;s good enough. Where do we go from Riverburgh?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Jim gave a groan of mock despair.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s the dev&#8211;I mean, the deuce of it!&#8221; he
+exclaimed. &#8220;We&#8217;ve got to cross the river there someway, and go on
+down on the other side. We can&#8217;t keep on this, or we will run into New
+Jersey and&#8211;and I mustn&#8217;t leave the State.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He blurted the last out in a dogged, uncomfortable way, but Lou did not
+appear to notice his change of tone.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, there look to be plenty of boats goin&#8217; back an&#8217;
+forth,&#8221; she observed placidly. &#8220;I guess we can get over.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But you don&#8217;t understand. I&#8211;I can&#8217;t pay our way
+over; that&#8217;s another of the things I mustn&#8217;t do.&#8221; Jim flushed
+hotly.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I wish I could tell you all about it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It don&#8217;t make any difference.&#8221; Lou kept her eyes fixed
+straight ahead of her. &#8220;There <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a
+id='page_103'></a>103</span>ought to be some way for you to work your way
+across.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The road dipped sharply, and became all at once a pleasant, tree-lined street
+with pretty suburban cottages on either hand. To the east and north hung the
+smoke cloud of countless factories, but their way led them through the modest
+residential quarter. The street presently turned into a paved one, and trolley
+lines appeared; then brick buildings and shops, and before they knew it they
+were in the busy, crowded business thoroughfare.</p>
+
+<p>Lou would have paused, gaping and wondering if New York could be anything
+like this, but Jim hurried her down the steep, cobbled way which led to the
+ferry. Once there, he took her to a seat in the waiting-room.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Sit here and wait for me,&#8221; he directed. &#8220;I&#8217;m going
+to run back up to the shops and get some provisions for us to carry along, and
+then I&#8217;ll arrange about getting across. I shan&#8217;t be long.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>When he came down the hill again some twenty minutes later laden with
+packages, he <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_104'></a>104</span>found
+Lou waiting for him at the door of the ferry-house, with a little exultant smile
+about her lips.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Come on,&#8221; she commanded shortly. &#8220;I&#8217;ve fixed it for
+us to get over, but we gotta hurry. The boat&#8217;s a&#8217;most ready to
+start.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;How in the world&#x2500;&#8221; he began, but without deigning to
+explain she led him to the gate. It was only after he had perforce preceded her
+that he saw her hand two tickets to the officials at the turnstile.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Lou!&#8221; he exclaimed reproachfully.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, it&#8217;s all right, isn&#8217;t it?&#8221; she demanded.
+&#8220;You kin ride if anybody asks you, can&#8217;t you? I&#8217;m
+invitin&#8217; you to ride on this boat with me, Mr. Botts!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>In spite of her assumed gaiety, however, the trip across the river was a
+silent one, and when the landing was reached and they hurried out of the
+settlement to the open country once more, both were acutely aware that the
+intangible rift was widening. It was as though they walked on opposite sides of
+the road, and neither could bridge the distance between.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_105'></a>105</span>Both doggedly
+immersed in their own reflections, they walked on rapidly in spite of the heat
+and with no thought of time or distance until Jim realized that his companion
+was lagging, and glanced up to see that the sun had started well upon the
+western trail.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;By Jove! You must be almost starved!&#8221; he cried. &#8220;I never
+thought&#8211;why didn&#8217;t you wake me out of this trance I seem to have
+been in, and tell me it was long past time for chow? We must have walked
+miles!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I didn&#8217;t think, either.&#8221; Lou glanced about her wearily.
+&#8220;I don&#8217;t see any house, but I kinder think I hear a little brook
+somewhere, don&#8217;t you? Let&#8217;s find it, an&#8217; then hurry on; if
+we&#8217;ve got to do sixty miles by the day after to-morrow we got to be
+movin&#8217; right steady.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>They found the little brook, and ate of their supplies and drank heartily,
+for they were both famished by the long walk, but all the carefree joyousness
+seemed to have gone out of the adventure, and when Lou discovered that the knot
+in the corner of her handkerchief had become untied and the remainder <span
+class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_106'></a>106</span>of her capital was gone,
+it appeared to be the last cloud needed to immerse her in gloom.</p>
+
+<p>Her feet were blistered and every muscle ached with fatigue, but she shook
+her head when Jim asked if she were too tired to go on, and limped determinedly
+out into the road after him. She had accepted his companionship to New York, and
+she would drop in her tracks before she would be a drag on him and prevent his
+reaching there in the time which was so mysteriously important to him.</p>
+
+<p>A mile farther on, however, an empty motor van picked them up, and seated at
+the back with her feet hanging over, Lou promptly fell asleep, her head sagging
+unconsciously against Jim&#8217;s shoulder. He did not touch her, but moved so
+that her head should fall into a more comfortable position, and looked down with
+new tenderness at the tow-colored hair. The ridiculous, outstanding braid was
+gone, and instead, a soft knot appeared low on the slender, sun-burned neck,
+with tiny tendrils of curls escaping from it.</p>
+
+<p>What a game little sport she had proved herself to be! He wondered how many
+girls <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_107'></a>107</span>of his own
+set would have had the courage and endurance for such a test. Then to his own
+amazement he found himself thinking of them with a certain sense of
+disparagement, almost contempt. They would not have had the moral courage, let
+alone physical endurance.</p>
+
+<p>Of course, this sort of vagabondage would be outrageous and utterly
+impossible from a conventional standpoint, but with Lou it had been a mere
+venture into Arcady, as innocent as the wanderings of two children. And Saturday
+it must end!</p>
+
+<p>At the outskirts of Parksville he called to the good-natured truckman who sat
+behind the wheel, and the latter obligingly put on the brakes.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;My sister and I don&#8217;t want to go right into the town, so
+we&#8217;ll get out here if you don&#8217;t mind,&#8221; Jim said. &#8220;This
+lift has been a godsend, and I can&#8217;t thank you, but I&#8217;ve got the
+name of the company you&#8217;re working for in New York and I&#8217;ll drop
+around some night when I&#8217;m flush and you&#8217;re knocking off, and <span
+class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_108'></a>108</span>we&#8217;ll see if the
+old burg is as dry as it&#8217;s supposed to be.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;re on!&#8221; The driver grinned. &#8220;Got a job
+waitin&#8217; for yer? We need some helpers.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve got a job.&#8221; Jim thought of that &#8220;job&#8221; in
+the mahogany-lined suite of offices which bore his name on the door, but he did
+not smile. &#8220;I&#8217;ll look you up soon. Come on, Lou; here&#8217;s where
+we change cars.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She rubbed her eyes and gazed about her bewilderedly in the gathering
+darkness as he lifted her to the ground and the truck rumbled off.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Where&#8211;where are we now?&#8221; she asked sleepily.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Just outside Parksville; see those lights over there?&#8221; he
+replied. &#8220;We must have walked more than ten miles before that motor van
+came along, so it isn&#8217;t any wonder that you were tired, even if you
+wouldn&#8217;t admit it. Just think, nineteen miles to-day!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He was wondering, even as he spoke, what they were to do for the night. He
+had not enough money to secure even the humblest of <span class='pagenum
+pncolor'><a id='page_109'></a>109</span>lodgings for her, and he knew that if
+they ventured as vagrants into the town they would be in danger of apprehension
+by the authorities. But Lou solved the question quite simply.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Isn&#8217;t that big thing stickin&#8217; up in that field a haystack?
+I&#8211;I&#8217;d like a piece of that sponge cake that&#8217;s left from what
+we ate at noon, and then crawl in there an&#8217; sleep straight through till
+to-morrow,&#8221; she declared. &#8220;Did you want to go on any further
+to-night?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Heavens, no. I was just wondering&#8211;I don&#8217;t see why it
+couldn&#8217;t be done,&#8221; he replied somewhat haltingly. &#8220;There
+isn&#8217;t any house near, and I don&#8217;t think anything will hurt
+you.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The latter probability seemed of no moment to Lou. She fell asleep again with
+her sponge cake half eaten, and he picked her up and nestled her in the hay as
+though she were in very truth a child. Then, as on the first night at the
+deserted mill near Hudsondale, he sat down at the foot of the haystack, on
+guard.</p>
+
+<p>It was well for them, however, that the haying <span class='pagenum
+pncolor'><a id='page_110'></a>110</span>was done in that particular field, and
+no farmer appeared from the big white house just over the hill, for in spite of
+his most valiant efforts Jim, too, slumbered, and it was broad day when he
+awoke.</p>
+
+<p>Lou had vanished from the haystack, but he found her at a little spring in a
+strip of woodland on the other side of the road, and they breakfasted hastily,
+conserving the last fragments of food for their midday meal, and started
+off.</p>
+
+<p>They had left the last chimney of Parksville well behind them when Jim
+suddenly observed:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;re limping, Lou. Let me see your shoes.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She drew away from him.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s nothin&#8217;,&#8221; she denied. &#8220;My shoes are all
+right. I&#8211;I must&#8217;ve slept too long last night an&#8217; got sort of
+stiffened up.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The freckles were swamped in a deep flood of color, but Jim repeated
+insistently: &#8220;Hold up your foot, Lou.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Reluctantly she obeyed, disclosing a battered <span class='pagenum
+pncolor'><a id='page_111'></a>111</span>sole through the worn places of which
+something green showed.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8211;I stuffed it with leaves,&#8221; she confessed, defensively.
+&#8220;They&#8217;re real comfortable, honestly. I&#8217;m just
+stiff&#x2500;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Jim groaned.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I suppose they will have to do until we reach the next town, but you
+should have told me.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I kin take care of myself,&#8221; Lou asserted. &#8220;I&#8217;ve
+walked in pretty near as bad as these in the institootion. We&#8217;d better get
+along to where there&#8217;s some houses &#8217;cause it looks to me like a storm was
+comin&#8217; up.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The sun was still blazing down upon them, but it was through a murky haze,
+and the air seemed lifeless and heavy. Great, white-crested thunder heads were
+mounting in the sky, and behind them a dense blackness spread.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;re right; I never noticed&#x2500;&#8221; Jim paused
+guiltily. After leaving the vicinity of Parksville he had purposely led her on a
+detour back into the farming country to avoid the main highway, for along the
+river front <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_112'></a>112</span>were
+the estates of some people he knew and he shrank from meeting them in his
+tramplike condition if they should motor past. There was Lou, too, to be
+considered. He might have offered some possible explanation for his own
+appearance, but no interpretation could be placed upon her presence at his side
+save that which he must prevent at all costs.</p>
+
+<p>Rolling fields and woodland stretched away illimitably on both sides of the
+road, and not even a cow shed appeared as they hurried onward, while the clouds
+mounted higher, and the rumble of thunder grew upon the air. The sun had
+vanished, and a strange, anticipatory stillness enveloped them, broken only by
+that hollow muttering.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s comin&#8217; up fast.&#8221; Lou broke the silence with one
+of her seldomly volunteered remarks. &#8220;Shall we git into the woods?
+I&#8217;d as lief dodge trees as be drowned in the road.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No!&#8221; Jim shook his head. &#8220;There is some kind of a shack
+just ahead there; I think we can make it before the storm comes.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>They were fairly running now, but the darkness was settling fast and a fork
+of lightning <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_113'></a>113</span>darted
+blindingly across their path. The object which Jim had taken for a shack proved
+to be merely a pile of rotting telegraph poles, but no other shelter offered,
+and they crouched in the lee of it, awaiting the onslaught of rain.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Take this, Lou.&#8221; Jim wrapped his coat about her in spite of her
+protestations. &#8220;You&#8217;re not afraid, are you?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No, I ain&#8217;t&#8211;I&#8217;m not&#8211;but you&#8217;re
+goin&#8217; to get soaked through! I heard you coughin&#8217; once or twice at
+the bottom of that haystack last night.&#8221; He thrilled unconsciously to the
+motherliness in her tone. Then she added reflectively: &#8220;I don&#8217;t
+guess I&#8217;m afraid of anythin&#8217; I&#8217;ve seen yet, but I
+ain&#8217;t&#8211;I haven&#8217;t seen much.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She ended with a sharp intake of her breath as a sudden gust of wind whirled
+the dust up into their faces and another streak of white light flashed before
+their eyes. Then with a rush and roar the storm burst.</p>
+
+<p>The woods marched straight down to the roadside at this point, and the trees
+back of the heap of poles moaned and writhed like <span class='pagenum
+pncolor'><a id='page_114'></a>114</span>tortured creatures while great branches
+lashed over their heads with now and then an ominous crackle, but it was lost in
+the surge of the winds and the ceaseless crash and roar of the thunder. Jagged
+forks of lightning played all about them like rapiers of steel, and at last the
+rain came.</p>
+
+<p>The brim of Lou&#8217;s hat, hopelessly limp since its cleansing of the
+previous day, now flopped stringily against her face until she tore it off and
+gasping, buried her head in her arms as the sheets of rain pelted down.
+Jim&#8217;s coat was sodden, and the thin cotton gown beneath clung to her
+drenched body, but she crouched closer to the poles while each volley of thunder
+shook her as with invisible hands.</p>
+
+<p>Her lashes were glued to her cheeks, but she forced them open and turned to
+see how Jim was faring. He had flattened himself against the poles at their
+farther end, and just as she looked his way a flash of lightning seemed to split
+the air between them and the huge old tree which reared its branches just above
+his head, snapped like a dry twig beneath some giant heel.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_115'></a>115</span>Lou saw the
+great oak totter and then sway, while a sickening swirl of branches filled the
+air, and scarcely conscious of her own act she hurled herself upon Jim. With all
+the strength borne of her terror she pushed him from the heap of poles, sending
+him rolling out into the middle of the road, to safety. Then she tried to spring
+after him, but a hideous, waiting lethargy seemed to encompass her, and then
+with a mighty crash the tree fell athwart the poles.</p>
+
+<p>Half stunned by the unexpected onslaught upon him and the rending blast of
+the falling tree, Jim lay motionless for an instant, then with a sharp cry
+sprang to his feet and turned to look for Lou, but the pile of telegraph poles
+was hidden beneath a broad sweep of branches and across the place where she had
+crouched the great trunk of the tree lay prone.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Lou!&#8221; The cry burst from his very heart as he sprang forward and
+began to tear frantically at the stout limbs which barred his way. &#8220;Oh,
+God, she isn&#8217;t crushed! Don&#8217;t take her now, she&#8217;s so little
+and young, and I want her, I need her so! God!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_116'></a>116</span>He was
+unconscious that he was praying aloud, unconscious of the words which issued
+sobbingly from his lips. He tugged and tore at the branches while the skin
+ripped like ribbons from his hands and the boughs whipped back to raise great
+welts upon his face.</p>
+
+<p>He was unconscious, too, of a stir at the other side of the fallen tree and a
+rustle of sodden leaves, as, very much after the manner of a prairie dog
+emerging from his hole, Lou crawled out into the rain, and sitting up,
+sneezed.</p>
+
+<p>At the sound of that meek sternutation Jim whirled about.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Lou!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Jim! Oh, Jim! You&#8217;re not killed!&#8221; A muddy, bedraggled
+little figure that once had been pink and white flew straight to him, and two
+soft arms swept about him and clung convulsively. &#8220;I seen it comin&#8217;,
+an&#8217;&#8211;an&#8217; I tried to shove you out of the way&#x2500;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Thank God, little girl! Thank God you aren&#8217;t hurt!&#8221; he
+murmured brokenly. &#8220;I thought the tree had fallen on you!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_117'></a>117</span>&#8220;Only the
+boughs of it, but they held me down. Oh, Jim, if you&#8217;d been killed I
+wouldn&#8217;t &#8217;a&#8217; cared what happened to me!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>His heart leaped, and his own arms tightened about her at the naïve,
+unconscious revelation which had issued from her lips. Then all at once he
+realized what it had meant, that hideous feeling of loss when he thought that
+she lay buried beneath the tree. It had come to them both, revealed as by a
+flash of the lightning which was now traveling toward the east, and in the
+wonder and joy of it he held her close for a moment and then put her gently from
+him.</p>
+
+<p>Sternly repressing the words which would have rushed from his heart, he said
+quietly:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Thank God we were both spared. Come, little Lou, we must find
+shelter.&#8221;</p>
+
+<hr class='pb' />
+<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_118'></a>118</span><a id='link_8'></a>CHAPTER VIII<br /><span class='h2fs'>Journey&#8217;s End</span></h2>
+
+<p>The rain had ceased, and as they walked down the muddy road the sun came out
+even before the final mutterings of the thunder had died away in the distance,
+and so they came at last upon a little house which sat well back among a group
+of dripping trees.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Take your coat, Jim,&#8221; Lou said, breaking a long silence which
+had fallen between them. &#8220;That porch is so wet now that we can&#8217;t get
+it any wetter an&#8217; I&#8217;m goin&#8217; to ask for a chance to get
+dry.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>But they had scarcely passed through the gate when the front door opened and
+a young woman rushed out.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh! Will you run to the next house for me and telephone for the
+doctor?&#8221; she cried, <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a
+id='page_119'></a>119</span>all in one breath. Her eyes were staring and her
+breast heaved convulsively.</p>
+
+<p>Jim quickened his pace.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Where is the next house, and what doctor shall I send for?&#8221; he
+asked pleasantly.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s just over the ridge there; the Colberts. They know Dr.
+Blair&#8217;s number. My husband would go himself but he can&#8217;t step on his
+hurt foot and I don&#8217;t dare leave. Tell the Colberts that it&#8217;s the
+baby! He&#8217;s dying, and I don&#8217;t know what to do!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Jim turned, and hurried off over the ridge, but Lou took a step forward.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Baby! I&#8217;ve been takin&#8217; care of babies all my life, seems
+like. You let me look at it, ma&#8217;am.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh, do you think you could do anything, a little thing like
+you?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The young woman eyed the forlornly drenched figure before her rather
+doubtfully, but something she read in Lou&#8217;s steady, confident gaze seemed
+to reassure her, and she threw wide the door. &#8220;Come in, please! He&#8217;s
+all blue.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Lou unceremoniously pushed past her <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a
+id='page_120'></a>120</span>down the clean little hallway and paused for a
+moment upon the threshold of the room at its end. It was a kitchen, small, but
+as immaculately clean as the hall, and in a rocking-chair near the window sat an
+anxious-eyed young man with his bandaged foot up on another chair before him,
+and in his arms a tiny, rigid little form.</p>
+
+<p>Lou went straight to him and unceremoniously possessed herself of the
+baby.</p>
+
+<p>Its small face was waxen, with a bluish tinge about the mouth, and
+half-closed, glazing eyes.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;How long&#8217;s it been like this?&#8221; Lou demanded sharply.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Only just a few minutes. It&#8211;it seemed like a sort of fit that he
+had.&#8221; The young woman turned to her husband. &#8220;Jack, this little girl
+stopped by and said she knew all about babies, and the man with her, he&#8217;s
+gone for&#x2500;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I want some hot water, quick!&#8221; Lou interrupted the explanations
+brusquely. &#8220;Boiling hot, and a tub or a big pan. Have you got the kettle
+on?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_121'></a>121</span>&#8220;Y-yes,
+but I&#8217;m afraid I&#8217;ve let the fire go out,&#8221; the woman faltered.
+&#8220;I was so worried&#x2500;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>With an exclamation of impatience Lou rewrapped the baby which she had been
+examining and thrust it into the man&#8217;s arms. Then turning to the woman
+with exasperation in her eyes and voice she demanded:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I s&#8217;pose you can find some dry chips, somewhere, can&#8217;t you? If I
+don&#8217;t get this baby into a hot bath right away it&#8217;ll be all up with
+him.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The woman gasped, and ran out of the back door while the young man in the
+chair groaned:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s awful to sit here helpless and watch him suffer! If I could
+only put my foot to the floor&#x2500;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;How old is he, anyway?&#8221; Lou, who was busily searching the shelf
+of groceries, asked over her shoulder. &#8220;He looks to be under a
+year.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ten months, miss,&#8221; he answered. &#8220;What do you think is the
+matter with him?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Convulsion,&#8221; Lou replied succinctly, as the <span class='pagenum
+pncolor'><a id='page_122'></a>122</span>woman rushed in once more with her apron
+full of chips. &#8220;Git some more, it don&#8217;t matter how you clog the
+stove with wood ashes; we gotta git boilin&#8217; water as quick as we
+kin.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile Jim found the Colbert house, explained his mission, and having
+accomplished it, hastened back. He pulled the bell, but no one came, and
+knocking, found that the door yielded to his touch. Entering, he went down the
+hall and paused at the kitchen door just as the woman stammered:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I d-don&#8217;t think there are any dry kindlings left.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then chop some! Ain&#8217;t you got any old boxes? Oh, Jim!&#8221; Lou
+caught sight of him in the doorway. &#8220;Find a hatchet and some light, dry
+wood, will you?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The fire was roaring in the stove at last, but the water was long in boiling,
+and the little figure in the man&#8217;s arms seemed to be undergoing a subtle
+but inevitable change. His lips were still parted, but no faintest stir of
+breath emanated from them, and the rigidity had taken on a marble-like cast.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_123'></a>123</span>The mother bent
+over him, moaning once more, but Lou turned upon her in swift scorn.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;For goodness&#8217; sake, where&#8217;s that tub or pan I asked you
+for? He&#8217;s got a chance, a <i>good</i> chance if you don&#8217;t waste any
+more time! What you been givin&#8217; him, anyway?&#8221; she added, as the
+woman flew to do her bidding.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Nothing but a little green corn. He relishes it, and it&#8217;s so
+cute to see him try to chew it&#x2500;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Green corn!&#8221; Lou repeated, as she seized the heavy kettle and
+began pouring its steaming contents into the tub. &#8220;Ain&#8217;t
+<i>nobody</i> in your family ever had any babies before?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She hastily added to the tub a quantity of yellowish powder from a can which
+she had found upon the shelf of groceries, and marched determinedly over to the
+man who was seated in the chair.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Give me that baby!&#8221; she demanded.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But, miss, that water&#8217;s boiling!&#8221; he gasped.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;re not going to put my baby in that?&#8221; The woman came
+quickly from her apathy of dismay and sprang forward, while Jim, too, advanced,
+his anxiety for another reason.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_124'></a>124</span>&#8220;Lou!
+You&#8217;ll blister yourself horribly&#x2500;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Let me alone, all of you!&#8221; Lou turned upon them even as she
+stripped the wrappings from the child. &#8220;Haven&#8217;t I done this a
+hundred times? He ain&#8217;t even goin&#8217; to feel the heat of the mustard,
+he&#8217;s so far gone! I guess I know what I&#8217;m doin&#8217;!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The woman buried her face in her hands with a sob, and even Jim turned away
+his eyes, but no one thought to interfere further with the assured little nurse.
+There was a splash of water, a little gasp from Lou, and then after a period
+which seemed interminable her matter-of-fact voice remarked:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;He&#8217;s comin&#8217; round.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The tiny body was scarcely tinged with pink, but it had lost its dreadful
+rigidity, and a faint cry came from it as Lou wrapped it in a shawl and laid it
+in its mother&#8217;s arms.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;He&#8217;ll do now, anyway till that doctor comes.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Amid the rejoicing of the parents Jim advanced to Lou and demanded:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Let me see your arms.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;They&#8217;re all right&#8211;&#8221; She tried to put <span
+class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_125'></a>125</span>them behind her as she
+spoke, but he drew them forward. A network of blisters covered them almost to
+the shoulders.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh, Lou! Lou!&#8221; he murmured brokenly. &#8220;What won&#8217;t you
+do next?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She smiled faintly.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You said I&#8217;d do anything once, but I&#8217;ve done this lots of
+times before&#x2500;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, well, good people! What&#8217;s going on here?&#8221; A kindly
+voice sounded from the doorway, and the woman turned with a little cry.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh, Dr. Blair, she saved the baby! Put him down in that scalding water
+and held him right there with her hands, and she&#8217;s burned herself
+something terrible, but she saved him! I never saw a braver&#x2500;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Let me see.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The doctor examined the baby with professional gravity and then looked
+up.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I should say you did save him, young woman! I couldn&#8217;t have done
+better for him myself! Now let me have a look at those arms of yours.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>After he had bandaged her blisters the <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a
+id='page_126'></a>126</span>woman prepared food and coffee for them all and then
+took Lou upstairs with her, while Jim dried his soaking clothes by the kitchen
+fire and the three men talked in a desultory way of the topics of the
+countryside.</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Blair had just ascertained that Jim and his &#8220;sister&#8221; were
+strangers, traveling toward New York, and had offered to drive them both to the
+trolley line in his little car, when the woman of the house reappeared with Lou,
+and Jim stared with all his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>Could this be the little scarecrow of a girl he had met on the road only five
+days before; this unbelievably tall, slender young woman in the dark blue silk
+gown with filmy ruffles falling about her neck and wrists, and soft puffs of
+blond hair over her ears?</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s me, though I kin hardly believe it myself!&#8221; Lou
+answered his unspoken thought. Then drawing him aside she added:
+&#8220;Mis&#8217; Tooker&#8211;that&#8217;s her name&#8211;gave me a pair of
+shoes, too, an&#8217; a hat an&#8217; five whole dollars! Are we goin&#8217; to
+a place called Pelton?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Jim nodded.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That is where I hoped we would be by <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a
+id='page_127'></a>127</span>to-night, but it must be at least twelve miles
+away.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, Mis&#8217; Tooker says the trolley goes right into Pelton, and
+she gave me a letter to a friend of hers there who&#8217;ll take us in for the
+night&#x2500;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The doctor interrupted with an intimation of another patient to be visited,
+and they bade farewell to the grateful young couple and started away. The sun
+was still high, and save for the mud which splashed up with each turn of the
+wheels, all traces of the storm had vanished.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Jennie Tooker always was a fool!&#8221; Dr. Blair grumbled. &#8220;How
+many babies have you taken care of, young woman?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;More&#8217;n twenty, I guess, off an&#8217; on,&#8221; Lou responded.
+&#8220;I&#8211;I used to work in an institootion up-State.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Fearing further revelations, Jim hastily took a hand in the conversation, and
+he and the doctor chatted until the trolley line was reached. There, when they
+had descended from the little car Lou turned to Jim and asked a trifle
+shyly:</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a
+id='page_128'></a>128</span>&#8220;You&#8211;you&#8217;re goin&#8217; to let me
+ask you to ride, aren&#8217;t you? You bought all the food in Riverburgh, you
+know.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And you seem to have financed all the rest of the trip,&#8221; he said
+with a rueful laugh. &#8220;I thought, when you suggested that we should travel
+together, I would be the one to take care of you, but it has been the other way
+around. Oh, Lou, I&#8217;ve so much to say to you when we reach our
+journey&#8217;s end!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>They arrived at Pelton before dark and found Mrs. Tooker&#8217;s friend, who
+ran a small boarding-house for store employees, and was glad to take them in at
+a dollar a head. Lou disappeared after supper, and although Lou waited long for
+him on the little porch, he did not return until through sheer fatigue she was
+forced to go to bed.</p>
+
+<p>In the morning, however, when they met before breakfast in the lower hall he
+jingled a handful of silver in his pocket.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;However did you git it?&#8221; she demanded.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Garage,&#8221; he responded succinctly. &#8220;Didn&#8217;t know I was
+a chauffeur, did you, Lou?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_129'></a>129</span>A peculiar
+little smile hovered for a moment about her lips, but she merely remarked:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I thought you wouldn&#8217;t only take a quarter&#x2500;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;For each job,&#8221; he interrupted her. &#8220;A lot of cars came in
+that needed tinkering with after the storm, and they were short of hands. I made
+more than two dollars, and we&#8217;ll ride in state into Hunnikers!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Lou made no reply, but after breakfast she drew him out on the little
+porch.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Jim, I&#8211;I&#8217;m not goin&#8217; on.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What!&#8221; he exclaimed.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The woman that runs this place, she&#8211;she wants a girl to help
+her, an&#8217; I guess I&#8217;ll stay.&#8221; Lou&#8217;s tones were none too
+steady, and she did not meet his eyes. &#8220;I&#8211;I don&#8217;t believe
+I&#8217;d like New York.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You, a servant here?&#8221; He took one of her hands very gently in
+his. &#8220;I didn&#8217;t mean to tell you until we were nearly there, and as
+it is, there is a lot that I can&#8217;t tell you even now, but this much I want
+you to know. You&#8217;re not going to work any more, Lou. You&#8217;re going to
+a lovely old lady who lives in a big <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a
+id='page_130'></a>130</span>house all by herself, and there you are going to
+study and play until you are really grown up, and know as much as
+anybody.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She smiled and shook her head.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;This is the sort of place for me, Jim. I wasn&#8217;t meant for
+anythin&#8217; else, an&#8217; if I should live to be a hundred I could never
+know as much as that lady at the circus who called you &#8216;Jimmie
+Abbott.&#8217;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What&#8211;&#8221; Jim exploded for the second time.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;At least, she said you looked like him, and if she didn&#8217;t know
+you were in Canada&#x2500;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Good Lord! What was she doing there?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;She was with another lady an&#8217; two gentlemen, an&#8217; I guess
+they come in an ottermobile,&#8221; Lou explained. &#8220;They was in one the
+next day, anyway&#8211;the one that slammed into the egg-wagon.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She described in detail the two occurrences, and added miserably:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I didn&#8217;t mean to tell you, Jim, but as long as I&#8217;m not
+goin&#8217; on with you I might as well. It was me that walked on your note-book
+back there on Mrs. Bemis&#8217;s porch. It had fallen <span class='pagenum
+pncolor'><a id='page_131'></a>131</span>open on the floor, an&#8217; when I
+picked it up I couldn&#8217;t help seein&#8217; the name that was written across
+the page. It was your own business, of course, if you didn&#8217;t want to give
+your real name to anybody&#x2500;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Listen, Lou.&#8221; He had caught her other hand now and was holding
+them both very tightly. &#8220;You <i>are</i> going on with me! I can&#8217;t
+explain now about my name, but it doesn&#8217;t matter; nothing matters except
+that you are not going to be a quitter! You said that you would go on to New
+York with me, and you&#8217;re going to keep your word.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I know better now,&#8221; she replied quietly.
+&#8220;It&#8217;s&#8211;it&#8217;s been a wonderful time, but I&#8217;ve got to
+work an&#8217; earn my keep an&#8217; try to learn as I go along. It isn&#8217;t
+just exactly breakin&#8217; my word; I didn&#8217;t realize&#x2500;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Realize what?&#8221; he demanded as she hesitated.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I thought at first that you were kinder like me; it wasn&#8217;t until
+I saw that lady an&#8217; found you were a friend of hers, that I knew you were
+different.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Her eyes were still downcast, and now a <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a
+id='page_132'></a>132</span>tinge of color mounted in her cheeks. &#8220;I
+couldn&#8217;t bear to have you take me to that other lady in the city and be
+a-ashamed of me&#x2500;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ashamed of you!&#8221; he repeated, and something in his tone deepened
+the color in her cheeks into a crimson tide. &#8220;Lou, look at me!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Obediently she raised her eyes for an instant; then lowered them again
+quickly, and after a pause she said in a very small voice:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;All right, Jim. I&#8211;I&#8217;ll go. I guess I wouldn&#8217;t just
+want to be a&#8211;a quitter, after all.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>It was mid-afternoon when they walked into Hunnikers and although they had
+come ten long miles with only a stop for a picnic lunch between, they bore no
+traces of fatigue. Rather they appeared to have been treading on air, and
+although Jim had scrupulously avoided any further reference to the future, there
+was a certain buoyant assurance about him which indicated that in his own mind,
+at least, there remained no room for doubt.</p>
+
+<p>He needed all the assurance he could <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a
+id='page_133'></a>133</span>muster as, after ensconcing Lou at the soda counter
+in the drug-store, he approached the telephone booth farthest from her ears and
+closed the door carefully behind him. Lou consumed her soda to its last
+delectable drop, glanced down anxiously at the worn, but spotless, little silk
+gown to see if she had spilled any upon it, and then wandered over to the
+showcase.</p>
+
+<p>Jim&#8217;s voice came to her indistinguishably once or twice, but it was a
+full half-hour before he emerged from the booth. He looked wilted but
+triumphant, and he beamed blissfully as he came toward her, mopping his brow. He
+suspected that at the other end of the wire a certain gray-haired, aristocratic
+old lady was having violent hysterics to the immediate concern of three maids
+and an asthmatic Pekinese, but it did not disturb his equanimity.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s all right,&#8221; he announced. &#8220;Aunt Emmy expects
+you; I didn&#8217;t tell you, did I, that the lady I&#8217;m taking you to is my
+aunt? No matter. She&#8217;s awfully easy if you get on the right side of her;
+I&#8217;ve always managed <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a
+id='page_134'></a>134</span>her beautifully ever since I was a kid, and
+you&#8217;ll have her rolling over and playing dead in no time. Fifteen miles
+more to go, Lou, and we&#8217;ll be&#x2500;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Hello, there, Jim.&#8221; An oil-soaked and greasy glove clapped his
+shoulder and as he turned, the same voice, suddenly altered, stammered:
+&#8220;Oh, I beg your pardon&#x2500;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;&#8217;Lo, Harry!&#8221; Jim turned to greet a tall, lean individual more
+tanned than himself, with little, fine, weather lines about his eyes and an
+abrupt quickness of gesture which denoted his hair-triggered nerves. &#8220;What
+are you doing in this man&#8217;s town?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Motoring down from the Hilton&#8217;s,&#8221; the other responded.
+&#8220;Pete was coming with me, but at the last minute he decided to stay over
+the week-end. I&#8217;m off to Washington to-night to see about my passport;
+sailing next Wednesday for Labrador, you know.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then you&#8217;re alone?&#8221; Jim turned. &#8220;Miss Lacey, let me
+present Mr. Van Ness; he spends his time trailing all over the earth to find
+something to kill. Miss Lacey is a young <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a
+id='page_135'></a>135</span>friend of my aunt&#8217;s; I&#8217;m taking her down
+to her for a visit.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The explanation sounded somewhat involved, but Mr. Van Ness seemed to grasp
+it, and bowed.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;re motoring, too?&#8221; he asked.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No. I&#8211;The fact is&#8211;&#8221; Jim stammered in his turn.
+&#8220;We were thinking of taking the train&#x2500;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Why not let me take you both down in the car?&#8221; The other rose to
+the occasion with evident alacrity. &#8220;Miss Lacy will like it better than
+the train, I&#8217;m sure, and I haven&#8217;t seen you for an age, old
+man.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Jim accepted with a promptitude which proclaimed a mind relieved of its final
+burden, and he turned to Lou. Mr. Van Ness had gone out to see to his car, and
+they were alone at a far corner of the counter.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;How about it, Lou? The last lap! The last fifteen miles. It&#8217;s
+been a long pull sometimes, and we&#8217;ve had some rough going, but it was
+worth it, wasn&#8217;t it?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Her eyes all unconsciously gave him answer even before she repeated
+softly:</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_136'></a>136</span>&#8220;&#8216;The last
+lap.&#8217; Oh, Jim, shall I see you some time, at this lady&#8217;s house where
+you are takin&#8217; me?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Every day,&#8221; he promised, adding with cheerful mendacity:
+&#8220;I dine with her nearly all the time; have for years. Come on, Lou.
+Harry&#8217;s waving at us.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Through the village and the pleasant rolling country beyond; past huge,
+wide-spreading estates and tiny cottages, and clusters of small shops with the
+trolley winding like a thread between, the big maroon car sped, while the two
+men talked together of many things, and the girl sat back in her corner of the
+roomy tonneau and gave herself up to vague dreams.</p>
+
+<p>Then the cottages gave place to sporadic growths of brick and mortar with
+more open lots between, but even these gaps finally closed, and Lou found
+herself being borne swiftly through street after street of towering houses out
+upon a broad avenue with palaces such as she had never dreamed of on one side,
+and on the other the seared, drooping green of a city park in late summer.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_137'></a>137</span>It was still
+light when the big car swept into an exclusive street of brownstone houses of an
+earlier and still more exclusive period, and stopped before the proudest of
+these.</p>
+
+<p>Jim alighted and held out his hand.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Come, Lou,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Journey&#8217;s end.&#8221;</p>
+
+<hr class='pb' />
+<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_138'></a>138</span><a id='link_9'></a>CHAPTER IX<br /><span class='h2fs'>The Long, Long Trail</span></h2>
+
+<p>Three hours later, in that same proudly exclusive house, an elderly lady with
+gray hair and an aristocratically high, thin nose paced the floor of her
+drawing-room with a vigor which denoted some strong emotion.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I must say, John, that I think the whole affair, whatever it may be,
+is highly reprehensible. I supposed James to be up in Canada on a fishing trip
+when he telephoned me this morning from somewhere near town with a&#8211;a most
+extraordinary message&#x2500;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She broke off, glancing cautiously toward a room across the hall, and added:
+&#8220;He said he had something to tell me, and he would be here this evening.
+Now you come, and you appear to know something about it, but I cannot get a word
+out of you!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_139'></a>139</span>&#8220;All I can
+tell you, Mrs. Abbott, is that if Jimmie does come to-night, I&#8217;ve got to
+pay him a thousand bones&#8211;dollars, I mean. It was a sort of a wager, and
+that must be what he wants to tell you about.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>It was an exceedingly stout young man with a round, cherubic countenance
+standing by the mantel who replied to her, and the old lady glanced at him
+sharply.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;A wager? H-m! Possibly.&#8221; She paused suddenly.
+&#8220;There&#8217;s the bell.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>A moment later James Tarrisford Abbott, in the most immaculate of dinner
+clothes, entered and greeted his aunt, halting with a slight frown as he
+encountered the beaming face of the young man who fell upon him.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Good boy, Jimmie! You made it, after all!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;With a few hours to spare.&#8221; Jim darted a questioning glance at
+his aunt, and seemed relieved at her emphatic shake of the head.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I knew we&#8217;d lost when Mrs. Abbott told me that you had
+telephoned to her from just a little way out of town to-day,&#8221; Jack Trimble
+responded. &#8220;I ran over on my way to the <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a
+id='page_140'></a>140</span>club to give her a message from my mother. Did you
+have a hard time of it, old man?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Hard?&#8221; Jim smiled. &#8220;I&#8217;ve been a rough-rider in a
+circus&#x2500;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Abbott groaned, but Jack Trimble&#8217;s eyes opened as roundly and wide
+as his mouth.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Thundering&#8211;So it was you after all!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Me?&#8221; Jim demanded with ungrammatical haste.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You&#8211;rough-rider&#8211;circus!&#8221; Jack exclaimed. &#8220;Vera
+said the chap looked like you, but it never occurred to me that it could
+possibly be!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;So it was Vera, was it?&#8221; Jim smiled. &#8220;I heard what she
+said&#8211;I mean, it was repeated to me. You were one of that party?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes. We were with the Lentilhons in their car, and the funniest thing
+happened the next day on the way home! Crusty old farmer wouldn&#8217;t turn out
+on the road, and Guy Lentilhon lost control and smashed straight through his
+wagon!&#8221; Jack laughed. &#8220;W-what do you think it was loaded
+with?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Eggs!&#8221; responded Jim crisply. &#8220;I happened to be on it at
+the time, my boy, and <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a
+id='page_141'></a>141</span>your sense of humor&#8211;I hope you all got what I
+did! But I must explain to Aunt Emmy here, or she will think that we are both
+quite mad!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And I must be off to the club,&#8221; Jack announced.
+&#8220;I&#8217;ll break the news to Billy Hollis that we&#8217;ve lost. See you
+later, and we&#8217;ll all settle up. Good evening, Mrs. Abbott.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>When the stout young man had taken his departure, Mrs. Abbott turned to her
+nephew between laughter and tears.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;James, this is the maddest of all mad things that you have ever
+done!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Jack doesn&#8217;t know anything about Lou?&#8221; Jim demanded
+anxiously.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Certainly not. He has only been here a quarter of an hour, and I kept
+her out of the way. But, James, you cannot be serious! You cannot mean to marry
+this nameless waif?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Stop right there, Aunt Emmy,&#8221; he interrupted her firmly.
+&#8220;I&#8217;m going to marry, if she will have me, your ward whom you have
+legally adopted; I mean, you will have adopted her by the time she has grown up.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_142'></a>142</span>But I don&#8217;t
+intend to be nosed out by any of these debutante-grabbers; I&#8217;m going to
+have everything settled before her studies are finished and you bring her out. I
+saw her first!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;H-m. We shall see,&#8221; Aunt Emmy remarked dryly, adding: &#8220;But
+that can wait for the moment. What was this ridiculous wager all about, and how
+did you get into such horrible scrapes?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The whole thing came out of an idle discussion Jack Trimble, Billy
+Hollis and I had at the club one night concerning human nature. It drifted into
+a debate about charity in general and the kindness shown toward strangers by
+country folk in particular, with myself in the minority, of course,&#8221; Jim
+explained.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;They each wagered me a thousand against my five hundred that I
+couldn&#8217;t walk from Buffalo to New York in twenty-five days with only five
+dollars in my pocket to start with, and work my way home without begging nor
+accepting more than a quarter for each job I managed to secure in any one
+time.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The idea was to see how many of these <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a
+id='page_143'></a>143</span>hard-boiled up-State farmers we hear so much about
+would offer you the hospitality reputed to be extended only by the rural
+population of the South and West, and how many would give a foot-sore and weary
+traveler a lift upon the way. There were other conditions, too; I was not to use
+my own surname, not to go a foot out of the State into either Pennsylvania or
+New Jersey. I was not to beg, borrow, or steal, and for the occasional
+twenty-five cents I might earn I could only purchase food or actual necessities,
+not use it for transportation, and I must not beat my way by stealing rides on
+boats or trains or any other conveyances.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>While Aunt Emmy sat staring at him in speechless amazement, Jim produced his
+little red note-book and laid it before her.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;There&#8217;s the route I chose over the mountains, my expense account
+for each day, and the names and addresses of the people who helped to prove my
+contention that, take them by and large, the people of my own State are as
+big-hearted as any in the Union, and Jack&#8217;s money and Billy&#8217;s says
+that they are!</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_144'></a>144</span>&#8220;I&#8217;m
+going to return some of that kindness, Aunt Emmy. There are two little boys near
+Riverburgh whose father is dead and who are trying to do the farm work of men.
+They are going to a good school this winter, and there are a few other people
+who are going to be surprised! By Jove, I never realized what money was for
+until now! But best of all, I found Lou!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And what makes you so sure that I am going to adopt her and educate
+her and bring her out?&#8221; demanded Aunt Emmy. &#8220;My dear boy, when you
+started on this Canadian fishing trip of yours I knew that something
+extraordinary would come of it, but I did not anticipate anything so bizarre as
+this! Why do you think that I will interest myself in this child?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Because you won&#8217;t be able to help it.&#8221; His face had
+sobered, and there was a note in his voice that his aunt had never heard before.
+&#8220;You won&#8217;t be able to help loving her when you find out how
+courageous she is, and sincere and true! She is the biggest-hearted, most
+candid, naïve little&#x2500;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_145'></a>145</span>&#8220;She is
+quite that!&#8221; Aunt Emmy interrupted in her turn, with emphasis. &#8220;How
+I am ever to hide her away until I&#8217;ve had her coached not to drop her
+g&#8217;s, and to realize that there is a &#8216;u&#8217; in the alphabet I
+don&#8217;t know, but I&#8217;ll try. James&#8211;I think there are distinct
+possibilities there.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I knew it!&#8221; Jim cried. &#8220;I knew you wouldn&#8217;t be able
+to resist her! For the Lord&#8217;s sake, Aunt Emmy, don&#8217;t let them spoil
+her! She&#8217;s so sweet and simple-hearted, don&#8217;t let them make her
+cynical and worldly-wise! I&#8217;ll promise not to speak to her, not to let her
+know how I feel until you say that I may.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Will you, James?&#8221; There was a faint smile about the delicately
+lined lips. &#8220;She is a child in many ways, a blank page for most
+impressions to be made upon, but in other things she is very much of a woman,
+and I rather fancy that what you have to tell her will not be so much of a
+surprise.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You old dear!&#8221; Jim sprang to his feet and folded his aunt in his
+embrace which threatened her coiffure. &#8220;Where is she?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;In the library waiting for you, Jamie!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_146'></a>146</span>She used the old
+nursery name, and caught his arm. &#8220;She is very young, but the heart
+sometimes breaks easily then. Don&#8217;t speak unless you yourself are very
+sure.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Jim smiled, and throwing back his head looked straight into the kindly old
+eyes. Then without a word he turned and disappeared through the door.</p>
+
+<hr style='border:none; border-bottom:1px solid silver; height: 1px; width: 80%; text-align: center; margin: 10px auto;' />
+
+<p>&#8220;And you&#8217;re going to be happy here?&#8221; It was some time later
+when Jim had explained about the wager, and they were sitting together in the
+window-seat.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Happy? Why, Jim, I can&#8217;t believe I&#8217;m awake! I&#8217;m
+going to study an&#8217; work an&#8217; try my best to be like her. Seems to me
+it&#8217;ll take the rest of my life, but she says that in a year or two there
+won&#8217;t anybody hardly tell the difference.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And then, Lou, when the time is past? What then?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t know.&#8221; Her tone was serenely unconcerned.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That trail we&#8217;ve followed together for the <span class='pagenum
+pncolor'><a id='page_147'></a>147</span>last week wasn&#8217;t so bad, was
+it?&#8221; he asked. &#8220;You were happy in spite of the hardships?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It was wonderful!&#8221; She drew a deep breath. &#8220;I&#8211;I wish
+we could start again, Jim, and do it all over again, every step of the
+way!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;If you feel like that, dear, perhaps some day when you have finished
+your studies we will start again on a longer trail.&#8221; He took one of the
+little toil-worn hands in his. &#8220;The long, long trail, Lou, only we will be
+together! When that day comes, will you take the new road with me?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She bowed her head, and somehow he found it nestling in the hollow of his
+shoulder, and his arms were about her. After a long minute, she stirred and
+smiled.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well&#8211;&#8221; she hesitated. &#8220;You knew from the very
+beginning, Jim, that I&#8217;d do anything once!&#8221;</p>
+
+<div class='center'>
+<p class='center'>THE END</p>
+</div>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Anything Once, by Douglas Grant
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+</body>
+</html>
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Anything Once, by Douglas Grant
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Anything Once
+
+Author: Douglas Grant
+
+Illustrator: Paul Stahr
+
+Release Date: December 9, 2009 [EBook #30640]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ANYTHING ONCE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: He drank deeply, then struggled to a sitting posture,
+his face whitening beneath its tan.]
+
+
+
+
+ANYTHING ONCE
+
+BY DOUGLAS GRANT
+
+AUTHOR OF "THE SINGLE TRACK," "BOOTY," "THE FIFTH ACE," ETC.
+
+Frontispiece by PAUL STAHR
+
+[Illustration]
+
+NEW YORK
+
+W. J. WATT & COMPANY
+
+PUBLISHERS
+
+
+
+
+COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY W. J. WATT & COMPANY
+
+PRESS OF BRAUNWORTH & CO.
+
+BOOK MANUFACTURERS BROOKLYN, N. Y.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+ CHAPTER                                              PAGE
+       I.  A Roadside Meeting                            1
+      II.  Partners                                     17
+     III.  The Vendor Of Everything                     41
+      IV.  Under The Big Top                            55
+       V.  Concerning An Omelet                         69
+      VI.  The Red Note-Book                            83
+     VII.  Revelations                                  99
+    VIII.  Journey's End                               118
+      IX.  The Long, Long Trail                        138
+
+
+
+
+ANYTHING ONCE
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+A Roadside Meeting
+
+
+The white dust, which lay thick upon the wide road between rolling
+fields of ripened grain, rose in little spirals from beneath the heavy
+feet of the plodding farm-horses drawing the empty hay-wagon, and had
+scarcely settled again upon the browning goldenrod and fuzzy milkweed
+which bordered the rail fences on either side when Ebb Fischel's
+itinerant butcher-jitney rattled past. Ebb Fischel's eyes were usually
+as sharp as the bargains he drove, but the dust must have obscured his
+vision. Otherwise he would have seen the man lying motionless beside the
+road, with his cap in the ditch and the pitiless sun of harvest-time
+caking the blood which had streamed from an ugly cut upon his temple.
+
+But the meat-cart jolted on and out of sight, and for a long time
+nothing disturbed the stillness except the distant whirring of a reaper
+and nearer buzzing of a fat, inquisitive bluebottle fly, which paused to
+see what this strange thing might be, and then zoomed off excitedly to
+tell his associates.
+
+At length there came a dry rustling in the tall standing wheat in the
+field on the opposite side of the road, and a head and shoulders
+appeared above the topmost fence-rail. It was a small head covered with
+tow-colored hair, which had been slicked back and braided so tightly
+that the short, meager cue curled outward and up in a crescent, as
+though it were wired, and the shoulders beneath the coarse
+blue-and-white striped cotton gown were thin and peaked.
+
+The girl darted a swift, furtive glance up and down the road, and
+suddenly thrust a bundle tied in a greasy apron between the rails,
+letting it fall in the high, dusty weeds by the roadside. Next she
+climbed to the top of the fence, and for a moment perched there,
+displaying a slim length of coarse black stocking above clumping,
+square-toed shoes at least two sizes too large for her.
+
+She looked like a very forlorn, feminine _Monte Cristo_ indeed, as
+she scanned the world from her vantage-point, and yet there was a look
+of quiet satisfaction and achievement in her incongruously dark eyes
+which told of a momentous object accomplished.
+
+Then all at once they stared and softened as she caught sight of that
+still figure lying across the road, and in two bounds she was beside him
+and lifted his head against her sharp knees. She noted only casually
+that he was a clean-shaven, tanned young man with brown hair bleached by
+the sun to a warm gold, and that he wore shabby, weather-beaten clothes.
+
+Had she realized that those same worn, faded garments bore the stamp of
+one of New York's most exclusive tailors! that the boots were
+London-made, and the golf-stockings which met the corduroy
+knickerbockers came from one of Scotland's famous mills, it would have
+meant just exactly nothing in her young life.
+
+Her immediate attention was concentrated upon the jagged gash which ran
+unpleasantly close to his temple, and which had begun to bleed afresh as
+she raised his head.
+
+The girl looked about her again and saw that a short distance ahead the
+road was bisected by a bridge of planks with willows bordering it at
+either side. She pulled at the strings which held a blue sunbonnet
+dangling between her narrow shoulder-blades, regarded the sleazy
+headgear ruefully, and then spying the cap in the ditch, she deposited
+her burden gently upon the grass once more and scrambled over to
+investigate her find.
+
+The cap had an inner lining of something which seemed to be like rubber,
+and the girl flew off down the road to return with her improvised bowl
+filled with clear, cold spring water. Dropping on her knees beside the
+unconscious figure, she poured the contents of the cap over his face and
+head.
+
+The young man sputtered, gasped, moaned a little, and opened astonished
+brown eyes upon her.
+
+"How--how the devil did you come here?" he asked ungallantly.
+
+"Over the fence." Her reply was laconic, but it bore an unmistakable
+hint that further query along that line would be highly unwelcome. "Just
+you lay still while I git some more water, an' I'll tie up that head of
+yourn."
+
+The young man's hand went unsteadily to his aching brow and came away
+brightly pink, so he decided to take this uncomely vision's advice, and
+remained quiescent, wondering how he himself had come to be there, and
+what had happened to him.
+
+According to the map, he had surely been on the right road, yet it had
+as assuredly not looked like this one; the other had been a broad, State
+highway, while this----
+
+He closed his burning eyes to shield them from the glare of the sun, and
+a confused memory returned to him of that invitingly green, shady
+pasture which had tempted him as a short cut toward the next village,
+and of something which thundered down upon him from behind and lifted
+him into chaos. Good Lord, and he had only six days left!
+
+"You'd better take a drink of this first an' I kin use the rest on your
+head." A composed, practical voice advised by his side, and he looked up
+gratefully into the snub-nosed, freckled face of his benefactress as she
+held the brimming cap to his lips.
+
+He drank deeply, then struggled to a sitting posture, his face whitening
+beneath its tan at the sudden wrench of pain which twisted the muscles
+of his back.
+
+"Kin you hold the cap steady?" The girl thrust it into his hands without
+waiting for a reply, and, sitting down with her back to him, calmly
+turned back the hem of her gown and tore a wide strip from the coarse
+but immaculately white cambric petticoat beneath.
+
+Dipping it into the water, she bandaged his head not unskilfully, and
+then rose.
+
+"There! I gotta git you over to the shade of them trees, or you'll have
+sunstroke. Wait till I fetch somethin'."
+
+She ran across the road and returned with her greasy bundle under one
+arm, offering the other to him with a gesture as frank as it was
+impersonal.
+
+"Lean on me, an' try to git along--and please kinder hurry!"
+
+She added the last with a note of sudden urgency in her tones and the
+same furtively darting glance with which she had swept the road from the
+fence-top, but the young man was too deeply engrossed with his painful
+effort to rise to observe the look, although her change of tone aroused
+his curiosity. Was this scrawny but good-natured kid afraid some of her
+people would catch her talking to a stranger by the roadside?
+
+Somehow he managed to hobble, with her aid, across the little bridge and
+down the bank of the swiftly racing brook at its farther side to a nest
+in the dense thicket of willow-shoots which completely screened them
+from the road.
+
+The girl eased him down then upon the sward, and, seating herself beside
+him, unrolled the apron she had carried.
+
+"It's the ham that's greased it all up like that," she remarked. "I'd
+have brought a pail, only I didn't want to take any more 'n I had to."
+
+The young man gasped with astonishment as the contents of the
+apron-bundle were exposed: a whole ham glistening with the brown sugar
+in which it had been baked, a long knife, a huge loaf of bread, and,
+wrapped separately in a piece of newspaper, a bar of soap, a box of
+matches, and a bit of broken comb.
+
+"When there's lots of them, ham sandwiches, together with spring water,
+ain't so bad, an' it's near noon," the girl observed, beginning to cut
+the loaf into meager slices with a practised hand. "I should've made
+them thicker, but I forgot."
+
+A starving gleam had come into the young man's eyes at the sight of
+food, but he paused with the sandwich half-way to his lips to glance
+keenly at his companion.
+
+"You've enough here for an army," he declared. "Were you taking it to
+men working in the fields somewhere?"
+
+"No," she replied without hesitation, but with the same air of finality
+with which she had responded to his first question. "You can rest easy
+here till sundown, when the men begin to come in from the harvestin',
+an' then if you holler real loud some of them will maybe stop an' give
+you a lift on your way. There's a railroad about four miles from here,
+an' the slow freight goes by along about ten."
+
+The slow freight! So the girl thought he was a tramp! The young man
+smiled, and glanced down ruefully at his shabby attire. Well, so had
+others thought, whom he had encountered in his journey.
+
+But who and what was the girl herself? She had asked no questions as to
+how he had come to the condition in which she found him, but had nursed
+his hurt, brought him to this cool resting-place; and was sharing her
+food with him as unconcernedly as though she had known him all her life.
+
+That quantity of provisions, the package of humble toilet articles, and
+her furtiveness and haste to get away from the open road all pointed to
+one fact--the girl was running away. But from whom or what? She had
+taken him at his face value, and he had no right in the world to
+question her, at least without giving some sort of account of himself.
+
+"I have no intention of traveling by rail," he assured her. "A little
+while before you found me--I don't quite know how long--I was crossing
+that pasture which adjoins the wheat-field, thinking that this road
+might be a short cut to Hudsondale, when something came after me from
+behind and butted me over the fence. I think my head must have been cut
+open by striking against a stone, for I don't remember anything more
+until you poured that water over my face."
+
+The girl nodded.
+
+"I seen the stone with blood on it right near you; you must have bumped
+off it an' turned over," she averred. "Anybody who goes traipsin'
+through old Terwilliger's pasture is apt to meet up with that bull of
+his."
+
+So she had reasoned his predicament out without asking any of the
+questions that another girl would have heaped upon him.
+
+He turned to her suddenly with a fresh spark of interest in his eyes.
+
+"How did you know that I didn't belong here?" he demanded.
+
+The corners of her lips curled upward in a comical little grimace of
+amusement, and he realized that before they had been set in a straight
+line far too mature for her evident youth.
+
+"No grown men 'round these parts wears short pants, an', anyhow, I knew
+you were different from the way you talk; somethin' like the welfare
+workers, with the hell an' brimstone left out," the girl replied
+soberly. "I'm goin' to talk like you some day."
+
+It was the first remark she had made voluntarily concerning herself, and
+he was quick to seize his advantage.
+
+"Who are you, young lady? You've been awfully kind to me, and I don't
+know to whom my gratitude is due."
+
+"Not to anybody." She turned her head away slightly, but not before he
+saw a flush mount beneath the superficial coating of freckles, and
+marveled at the whiteness of her skin. Hers was not the leathery tan of
+the typical farmer's daughter, inured to all weathers, yet her hands,
+although small, were toil-worn, and there was an odd incongruity between
+her dark eyes and the pale, flaxen hue of that ridiculous wisp of a
+braid.
+
+"I didn't do any more for you than I'd do for a dog if I found him lyin'
+there."
+
+Her naive sincerity robbed the statement of its uncomplimentary
+suggestion, and the young man chuckled, but persisted.
+
+"What is your name? Mine is James--er--Botts."
+
+"Lou Lacey. It was 'L' day, you know, an' there was a teeny bit of lace
+on my dress. I ain't ever had any since."
+
+She added the last with unconscious pathos in her tones, but in his
+increasing interest and mystification the man who called himself "Botts"
+was unaware of it. What on earth could she mean about L day, and if she
+were running away why did she appear so serenely unconcerned about the
+future as her manner indicated?
+
+He felt that he must draw her out, and he seemed to have hit upon the
+right method by giving confidence for confidence; but just how much
+could he tell her about himself? James Botts's own face reddened.
+
+"I'm walking to my home in New York," he explained. "But I'm late; I
+ought to make it by a certain date, and I don't think I'll be able to,
+since my encounter with Terwilliger's bull. Where do you live? I mean,
+where are you going? Where is your home?"
+
+"Nowheres," Lou Lacey replied offhandedly, following with her eyes the
+graceful swoop of a dragonfly over the tumbling waters of the little
+stream.
+
+"Great Scott!" The astounded young man sat up suddenly, with his hand to
+his head. "Why, everybody has a home, you know!"
+
+"Not everybody," the girl dissented quietly.
+
+"But--but surely you haven't been walking the roads?"
+
+There was genuine horror in his tones. "Where did you come from this
+morning when you found me?"
+
+"From Hess's farm, back up the road a piece," she replied with her usual
+unemotional literalness. "I been there a week, but I didn't like it, so
+I came away. The welfare workers got me that place when my time was up."
+
+Her time! Good Heavens, could this little country girl with her artless
+manner and candid eyes be an ex-convict? Surely she was too young, too
+simple. Yet the gates of hideous reformatories had clanged shut behind
+younger and more innocent-appearing delinquents than she.
+
+His eyes wandered over her thin, childish figure as she sat there beside
+him, still intent upon the movements of the glittering dragonfly, and he
+shuddered. Those horrible, shapeless shoes might very well have been
+prison-made, and the striped dress was exactly like those he had seen in
+some pictures of female convicts. Her freckles, too, might have been the
+result of only a few days' exposure to the sun, and he had already
+observed the whiteness of the skin beneath; that whiteness which
+resembled the prison pallor.
+
+Could it be that her very gawkiness and frank simplicity were the result
+not of bucolic nature, but of dissimulation? Every instinct within the
+man cried out against the thought, but a devil of doubt and uncertainty
+drove him on.
+
+"I thought that didn't look like the dress of a farmer's daughter!" He
+essayed to laugh, but it seemed to him that there was a grating falsetto
+in his tones. "You haven't worked in the garden much, either, have you?"
+
+"Garden!" Lou sniffed. "They promised the welfare workers that they'd
+give me outdoor chores to build me up, but when I got there I found I
+had to cook for eighteen farm-hands, as well as the family, an' wait on
+them, an' clean up an' all. Said they'd pay me twelve dollars a month,
+an' I could take the first month's money out by the week in clothes, an'
+for the first week all they gave me was this sunbonnet an' apron. I left
+them the other dress an' things I had, an' I figgered the rest of the
+money they owed me would just about pay for this ham an' bread an' the
+knife an' soap. The comb was mine."
+
+She added the last in a tone of proud possession, and James Botts asked
+very soberly:
+
+"The welfare workers found this position for you, Lou Lacey? But where
+did they find you?"
+
+"Why, at the institootion," she responded, as though surprised that he
+had not already guessed. "I ain't ever been anywhere else; I've always
+been a orphin."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+Partners
+
+
+For a moment James Botts turned his head away lest she see the deep red
+flood of shame which had suffused his face. Poor little skinny, homely,
+orphan kid, thrown out to buck the world for herself, and stopping in
+her first flight from injustice to help a stranger, only to have him
+think her a possible criminal! He was glad that his back twinged and his
+head throbbed; he ought to be kicked out into the ditch and left to die
+there for harboring such thoughts.
+
+He was a cur, and she--hang it! There was something appealing about her
+in spite of her looks. Perhaps it was the sturdy self-reliance, which in
+itself betrayed her utter innocence and ignorance of the world, that
+made a fellow want to protect her.
+
+In his own circle James Botts had never been known as a _Sir
+Galahad_, but he had been away from his own circle for exactly
+nineteen eventful days now, and in that space of time he had learned
+much. His heart went out in sympathy as he turned once more to her.
+
+But at the moment Lou Lacey seemed in no momentary need of sympathetic
+understanding. She was pursuing a hapless frog with well-directed shots
+of small pebbles, and there was an impish grin upon her face.
+
+"How old are you?" he asked suddenly.
+
+Lou shrugged.
+
+"I don't know. About seventeen or eighteen, I reckon; at least, they
+told me six years ago that I was twelve, an' I've kept track ever since.
+When I was sixteen, though, and it was time for me to be got a place
+somewhere, the matron put me back a couple of years; we were gettin'
+more babies from the poor-farm than usual, an' I was kinder handy with
+them. She had to let me go now because one of the visitin' deaconesses
+let out that she'd seen me there sixteen years ago herself, an' I was
+toddlin' round then. Oh, I missed him!"
+
+The frog, with a triumphant _plop_, had disappeared beneath a flat,
+submerged stone, and Lou turned to note her companion's pain-drawn face.
+
+"I'm goin' to fix that bandage on your head again," she declared as she
+sprang to her feet. "Is your back hurtin' you very much?"
+
+"Not very." He forced a smile, but his face was grave, for, despite his
+suffering, the problem which this accidental meeting had forced upon him
+filled his thoughts. What was he to do with this girl? In spite of the
+statement that she had "kept track" of her last few years he could not
+credit the fact that she was approximately eighteen; fourteen would be
+nearer the guess he would have made, and it was unthinkable that a child
+like that should wander about the country alone.
+
+He could not bear the thought of betraying her innocent confidences by
+handing her over to the nearest authorities; it would mean her being
+held as a vagrant and possibly sent to the county poor-farm. Perhaps the
+people with whom she had been placed were not so bad, after all; if he
+took her back and reasoned with them, insisted upon their keeping to
+their bargain, and giving her lighter tasks to perform.
+
+Then he remembered his own appearance, and smiled ruefully. Instead of
+listening they would in all probability set the dog on him. Perhaps he
+could persuade her to return of her own accord.
+
+"The people you were working for; their name was 'Hess'?" he asked.
+
+She nodded as she finished fastening the cool compress about his
+forehead.
+
+"Henry Hess an' his wife, Freida, an'--an' Max."
+
+Something in the quality of her tone more than her hesitation made him
+demand sharply:
+
+"Who is Max?"
+
+"Their son." Her voice was very low, but for the first time it trembled
+slightly.
+
+"You don't like him, do you?" He waited a moment, and then added
+abruptly: "Why not?"
+
+"Because he's a--a beast! I don't want to talk about him! I don't want
+even to remember that such _things_ as he is can be let live!"
+
+James Botts turned and looked at her and then away, for the childish
+figure had been drawn up tensely with a sort of instinctive dignity
+which sat not ill upon it, and from her dark eyes insulted womanhood had
+blazed.
+
+"I'd like to go back and lick him to a standstill!" to his own utter
+amazement Botts heard his own voice saying thickly.
+
+The fire had died out of Lou's face and she replied composedly:
+
+"What for? He don't matter any more, does he? We're goin' on."
+
+The last sentence recalled his problem once more to his mind. What in
+the world was he to do with this young creature whom fate had thrust
+upon his hands? Four quarters and a fifty-cent piece represented his
+entire capital at the moment, and if he did put her into the hands of
+the county authorities until his journey was completed and he could make
+other arrangements for her, it would mean a delay on his part now, when
+every hour counted for so much just now.
+
+"Do you know how far we are from Hudsondale?" he asked.
+
+"Not more'n two miles, the farm-hands used to walk there often of an
+evenin' to the movies."
+
+The girl had cleaned her knife in the brook and was now wrapping it in
+the apron, together with the remains of their repast.
+
+"They say that not more'n twenty miles from there you can see the big
+river, but I ain't ever been."
+
+"That's the way I was going," he observed thoughtlessly. "From
+Hudsondale to Highvale, and right on down the west bank of the river to
+New York."
+
+Lou sat back on her heels reflectively.
+
+"All right," she said at last. "I ain't ever figgered on goin's far as
+New York, but I might as well go there as anywhere, and I guess I kin
+keep up with you now your back's kinder sprained. We'll go along
+together."
+
+James Botts gulped.
+
+"Certainly not!" he retorted severely, when he could articulate. "It's
+utterly out of the question! You're not a little child any longer, and
+I'm not old enough to pose as your father. You must think what people
+would say!"
+
+"Why must I?" Her clear eyes shamed him. "What's it matter? I guess two
+kin puzzle out the roads better than one, an' if I have been in a brick
+house with a high fence an' a playground between where never a blade of
+grass grew, for about eighteen years, it looks to me as if I could take
+care of myself a lot better 'n you kin!"
+
+"But you don't understand!" he groaned. "There are certain conditions
+that I can't very well explain, and if I did you'd think I had gone
+crazy."
+
+"Maybe," Lou observed non-committally, but she settled herself on the
+bank once more with such an air of resigned anticipation that he felt
+forced to continue.
+
+"You know an army has to obey orders, don't you?" he floundered on
+desperately. "Well, I'm like a one-man army; there are a lot of rules
+I've got to follow. This is Monday afternoon, and I must reach New York
+by midnight on Saturday; that's ninety miles or more, and you never
+could make it in the world. I've got just a dollar and a half, and I
+mustn't beg, borrow, or steal food or a lift or anything, but work my
+way, and never take any job that'll pay me more than twenty-five cents.
+
+"Of course, if people invite me to get up and ride with them for a
+little I can accept, or if they offer me food, but I can't ask. Even the
+money I earn in quarters here and there I mustn't use for traveling, but
+only to buy food or medicine or clothes with. And the worst of it is
+that I cannot explain to a soul why I'm doing all this."
+
+Lou regarded him gravely, and opened her lips to speak, but closed them
+again and for an appreciable moment there was silence.
+
+"Well, I don't see anythin' in that that says you can't have somebody
+travelin' along with you," she remarked, and that odd little smile
+flashed again across her face. "It don't make any difference to me what
+you can or can't do. _I'm_ foot-loose!"
+
+Not until later was the meaning of that final statement to be made
+manifest to her companion; the one fact upon his mind was that nothing
+he had said had moved her an iota from her original decision. They would
+go along together.
+
+Well, why not? It was obvious that he could not send her back to the
+Hess farm nor hand her over to the authorities. His own appearance would
+not be conducive to confidence in his assurances if he attempted to
+leave her in the care of some country woman until he could return and
+make proper arrangements for her, and the only alternative was that she
+must tramp the roads by herself until she found work, and that was out
+of the question.
+
+At least, he could protect her, and she looked wiry in spite of her
+skinniness; it was as possible that she might make the distance as he,
+with his aching back. But on one point he was determined: when they
+neared the suburbs of New York he would telephone to a certain
+gray-haired, aristocratically high-nosed old lady and persuade her to
+send out her car for this waif.
+
+The child had been kind to him, and he would protect her from all harm,
+but not for all the gilt-edged securities in Wall Street would he have
+the story of his knight-errantry get abroad, nor the unprepossessing
+heroine of it revealed to his friends.
+
+The old lady would find some suitable position for her, and, as she
+evidently possessed no reputation of any sort at the moment, a six-day
+journey in his company could harm it no more if the truth became known
+than if she had tramped upon her way alone.
+
+"All right," he said. "We'll be partners, and I'll do my best to look
+out for you."
+
+She laughed outright, a merry, tinkling little laugh like the brook
+rippling over the pebbles at her feet, and the man involuntarily stared.
+It was the sole attractive thing about her that he had observed.
+
+"Reckon it'll be me that'll look after you!" she retorted. "Oh, there's
+somethin' comin'! Duck in here, quick!"
+
+Seizing her bundle, she wiggled like an eel through the willow thicket
+until she was completely hidden from view, and Botts followed as well as
+he was able, with one hand fending off the supple young shoots from
+whipping back upon his wounded forehead.
+
+He had heard nothing, yet the girl's quick ears had caught the faint
+creaking of a cart along the road, and now a cheerful but somewhat
+shrill whistle came to him in a vaguely reminiscent strain.
+
+"That's Lem Mattles," Lou whispered as she reached behind him and drew
+the willows yet more screeningly about their trail. "He's whistlin'
+'Ida-Ho'; it's the only tune he can remember."
+
+"Who is he?" demanded her companion.
+
+"The Hess's next-door neighbor. She'll stop him right away an' ask if
+he's seen me on the road, an' they'll all be after me, but they'll never
+think of the old cow-trail; one of the hands showed it to me an' told me
+it led clear to Hudsondale, an' came out by the freight-yards."
+
+For a moment she paused with a little catch in her breath. "Think you
+kin make it, Mr. Botts?"
+
+"Sure!" He smiled and held out his hand. "We're partners now, and I'm
+'Jim' to my friends, Lou."
+
+"All right, Jim," she responded indifferently, but she laid her little
+work-worn hand in his for a brief minute. "Come on."
+
+With the bundle under her arm once more she led the way, and her partner
+followed her to where the brook dwindled and the thicket gave place to a
+stretch of woodland, between the trees of which a faint, narrow trail
+could be discerned.
+
+"We're all right now if we kin keep on goin'," announced Lou. "Nobody
+comes this way any more, an' the feller said that the tracks runs
+through the woods clear to the Hunkie settlement by the yards. Feelin'
+all right, Jim?"
+
+"I guess so." Jim put his hand to his side, where each breath brought a
+stab of pain, but brought it down again quickly lest her swift glance
+catch the motion. "It's pretty in here, isn't it?"
+
+"It's longer," replied Lou practically. "An' the sun's gittin' low.
+Let's hurry."
+
+There was little further talk between them, for Jim had already
+discovered that his companion was not one to speak unless she had
+something to say, and he was breathing in short snatches to stifle the
+pain. The track wound endlessly in and out among the trees, and in the
+dim light he would have lost it altogether more than once had it not
+been for her light touch upon his arm.
+
+At length the track turned abruptly through the thinning trees and led
+down to a rough sort of road, on either side of which ramshackle wooden
+tenements leaned crazily against each other, with dingy rags hanging
+from lines on the crooked porches. Slatternly, dark-skinned women gazed
+curiously at them as they passed.
+
+From somewhere came the squalling of a hurt child and a man's oath
+roughly silencing it, while through and above all other sounds came the
+bleating of a harmonica ceaseless reiterating a monotonous, foreign air.
+
+The sun had set, and from just beyond the squalid settlement came the
+crash and clang of freight-cars being shunted together. In spite of his
+pain, Jim realized that nowhere in this vicinity could his
+self-constituted companion rest for the night; open fields or dense
+woodland were safer far for her.
+
+"Let us cross the tracks and push on up that hill road a little," he
+suggested. "We can't stay here, and they'll think we are tramps if they
+catch us by the railroad."
+
+"I guess that's what we are." Lou wrinkled her already upturned nose.
+"But the country would be nicer again, if you ain't give out."
+
+He assured her doggedly that he had not, and they crossed the tracks and
+started up the steep hill road past the coal-dump and the few scattered
+cottages to where the woodland closed in about them once more.
+
+Jim picked up a stout stick and leaned heavily upon it as they plodded
+along, while the twilight deepened to darkness and the stars appeared.
+The girl's step lagged now, but she kept up in little spurts and set her
+lips determinedly.
+
+At length they came to another stream, a rushing mill-race this time,
+with an old mill, moss-covered and fallen into decay beside it, and by
+tacit consent they sank down on the worn step.
+
+"I don't believe we can go any farther," Jim panted. "I guess this is as
+good a place as any to camp for the night, and you can sleep in there."
+
+He indicated the sagging door behind him, and Lou followed his gesture
+with a reluctant eye. Jim noted the glance and, misunderstanding it,
+added hastily:
+
+"I don't believe there are any rats in there, but if you'll lend me your
+matches I'll see."
+
+"Rats!" she repeated in withering scorn. "There was plenty of them in
+the insti--where I come from. I was just thinkin' maybe somebody else
+was sleepin' there already."
+
+She handed over the matches and Jim pushed open the door and entered,
+feeling carefully for rotten boards in the decayed flooring. A prolonged
+survey by the flickering light of the matches assured him that the
+ancient, cobwebbed place was deserted, and he turned again to the door,
+but its step was unoccupied and nowhere in the starlight could he
+discern a flutter of that blue-and-white striped dress.
+
+Could she have run away from him? At the thought a forlorn sense of
+loneliness swept over him greater than he had known since he had started
+upon his tramp. She was tired out; could he in some way have frightened
+her, or had a mad spirit of adventure sent her on like a
+will-o'-the-wisp into the night?
+
+"Lou!" he called, and his voice echoed back. "Lou!"
+
+All at once he noticed what he had not observed before--a single light
+by the roadside in a clearing ahead. Perhaps she had gone there for more
+secure shelter.
+
+His cogitations were abruptly interrupted by a dog's excited barking,
+subdued by distance, but deep-throated. The sound came from the
+direction of the clearing, and, taking up his heavy stick, Jim hobbled
+to the road. If Lou had got into any trouble----
+
+The barking turned to growls; horrible, crunching growls which brought
+his heart up into his throat as he broke into a run, forgetting his
+pain. He had not gained the top of the rise in the road, however, when
+the growls gave place to wild yelps and howls which rapidly diminished
+in the distance and presently Lou appeared holding carefully before her
+something round and white which gleamed in the starlight.
+
+"Good Heavens!" he exclaimed when she neared him. "What on earth have
+you been doing?"
+
+"Git on back 'round the other side of the mill!" ordered Lou. "I gotta
+go slow or I'll spill it."
+
+"What is it?"
+
+But she vouchsafed him no reply until they reached a ledge of rock over
+the tumbling stream, well out of sight of that light on the hill. Then
+she set down the object she was carrying and he saw that it was a bright
+tin pan, filled almost to the brim with milk.
+
+"I thought it would go good with our bread an' ham," she explained
+ingenuously. "I figgered from what I learned at that Hess place that
+they'd leave some out in the summer cellar to cream, for they ain't got
+any spring-house, an' they won't be likely to miss one pan out of
+fifteen. Besides, there's nothin' in them rules you told me that stops
+_me_ from beggin' or borrowin', or stealin', either, an' if I
+_give_ you some of this you ain't got any call to ask me where it
+come from."
+
+This feminine logic left Jim almost speechless, but he managed to gasp
+out:
+
+"The dog! Didn't he attack you?"
+
+"I guess that was what he intended, but I put down the pan an' fit him
+off." She added, with evident pride. "I never spilled a drop, either!"
+
+"Good Lord!" Jim ejaculated. "I believe you'd do anything once!"
+
+"I b'lieve I would, provided I wanted to," Lou agreed placidly. Then her
+tone changed. "There's somebody comin' up the road from Hudsondale like
+all in creation was after 'em."
+
+Indeed, the sound of a horse's mad gallop up the steep road by which
+they had come was plainly to be heard increasing in volume, and the
+grating jar of wheels as though a wagon were being thrown from side to
+side.
+
+"Think it's a runaway?" Jim rose and strained his eyes into the darkness
+at the farther end of the bridge.
+
+"No; driver's drunk, maybe," Lou responded. "The horse's dead beat an'
+he's lashin' it on. Listen!"
+
+Jim heard the wild gallop falter and drop into a weary trot, only to
+leap forward again with a wild scramble of hoofs on the rocky road as
+though the wretched animal was spurred on by sudden pain, and he
+clenched his hands.
+
+As though reading his thoughts, Lou remarked:
+
+"Only a beast himself would treat a horse that way. The folks at the
+farm where I was treated theirs somethin' terrible. If he don't look out
+he'll go over the side of the bridge."
+
+Jim had already started for the road in front of the mill, and Lou
+followed him, just as a perilously swaying lantern came to view, showing
+an old-fashioned carriage of the "buggy" type containing a single
+occupant and drawn by a horse which was streaked with lather.
+
+The light wagon hit the bridge with a bounce which almost sent it
+careening over into the rushing stream below, and at the same moment Lou
+uttered an odd exclamation, more of anger than fear, and straightened up
+to her full height.
+
+"It's Max!" she informed Jim. "You git back behind the mill; you ain't
+fit to fight----"
+
+"What do you take me for?" Jim demanded indignantly. "Max Hess, eh? The
+fellow who treated you so badly back at that farm? I wanted to get him
+this morning, the hound! You go straight back into the mill yourself,
+and leave me to handle him."
+
+But he was too late. The wagon had crossed the bridge and halted in
+front of them so suddenly that the horse slid along for a pace upon his
+haunches.
+
+"Got yer!" a thick voice announced triumphantly, as a burly figure
+wrapped the reins around the whip socket and lumbered to the ground.
+"Yah! I thought there was a feller in it, somewheres!"
+
+He approached them with menacingly clenched fists, but Jim asked coldly:
+
+"Are you addressing this young woman?"
+
+"Young thief, you mean! She's gotter come----"
+
+But Jim, too, had advanced a pace.
+
+"Take that back and get in your wagon and beat it," he announced
+distinctly, with a calmness which the other mistook for mildness. "If
+your name is Hess, this young woman is not going back with you, and I
+warn you now to be off."
+
+"So that's it, is it?" the heavy voice sneered. "She's my mother's hired
+girl, an' she stole a lot o' food an' ran away this mornin'. Comes o'
+takin' in an asylum brat----"
+
+"Take that back, too, you blackguard!" Jim's voice was beginning to
+shake.
+
+"Take nothin' back, 'cept Lou! What's she doin' with you, anyway? Might
+ha' knowed she was this sort----"
+
+He got no further, for something landed like a hammer upon his nose and
+the blood streamed down between his thick lips, choking him. With an
+inarticulate roar of rage he lowered his bull neck and drove at the
+other man, but the other man wasn't there! Then another light, stinging
+blow landed upon his fat face and he flailed out again with a force that
+turned him completely around, for again his adversary had danced out of
+his way.
+
+Every drop of bad blood in the lout was aroused now, for he was the
+bully and terror of his community, and he could not understand this way
+of fighting, nor why his own blows failed to land when this tramp could
+dodge in and punish him apparently whenever he chose.
+
+Jim was many pounds lighter, and although the science of boxing was not
+unknown to him, he was dog-tired and his wrenched back agonized him at
+every move. The sheer weight of the other man was bearing him down, and
+Hess seemed to realize it, for with a grunt of satisfaction he swung in
+and landed a stiff body blow which staggered his adversary.
+
+Hess's left eye was closed, and his lips split, but he hammered at his
+man relentlessly, and at length caught him with a blow which brought him
+to his knees. All the bully's blood-lust boiled at sight of his
+half-fallen victim, and he drew back his heavily shod foot for a
+murderous kick, but it was never delivered.
+
+Something caught that foot from behind and tripped him heavily into the
+dust, then landed upon him like a wildcat and bit and tore at him until
+with a scream of pain he managed to throw it off. Even as he struggled
+to his feet it sprang again upon him, kicking and clawing, and he turned
+quickly, and scrambling into the buggy seat, gathered up the reins.
+
+Lou stood where he had torn himself from her grasp, listening to the
+volley of oaths and clatter of horses's feet until both had been
+swallowed up in the distance. Then she turned to where Jim stood
+swaying, with one hand pressed to his side, and the blood from the
+reopened cut upon his forehead making his face look ghastly in the
+starlight.
+
+"Well," she remarked with satisfaction. "I guess he got more 'n he come
+for, an' we've seen the last of _him!_"
+
+"But Lou!" There was admiration and awe in his tones. "Your method of
+fighting isn't in the Queensberry rules, although I must say it was
+effective. I was going to try to protect you, and it turned out the
+other way!"
+
+"Don't know what queen you're talkin' about, nor what rules she made,
+but when _I_ fight, I fight with everything I've got," Lou declared
+with finality. "Come and let me fix up your head again, an' we'll have
+supper."
+
+An hour later and throughout the night, a slim little figure, rolled in
+a man's shabby coat, lay sleeping peacefully in a corner of the mill,
+while on the doorstep in his shirt sleeves and with a stout cudgel
+across his knees, a weary man drowsed fitfully, on guard.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+The Vendor of Everything
+
+
+When Lou awakened the next morning at dawn it was her turn to find
+herself deserted, but the fact failed to arouse any misgivings in her
+mind. She had found in her brief experience with menfolks that they were
+mostly queer, one way or another, but this one was dependable, and she
+felt no doubt that he would turn up when he got ready.
+
+Unwrapping her bundle, she took the apron, soap, and broken comb, and
+wandered down the bank of the stream until in the seclusion beneath the
+bridge she came upon a pool formed by outjutting rocks, where she
+performed her limited toilet. Then, scrubbing the greasy apron
+vigorously, she hung it on a bramble bush behind the mill to dry, and
+scuttling across the road, made for the woods back of the house where
+she had committed her nocturnal depredation.
+
+An hour later when Jim came slowly up the hill road from the direction
+of Hudsondale, he saw a tiny smudge of smoke rising from a rock well
+hidden in the rank undergrowth at the edge of the stream, and
+approaching it found Lou industriously brushing her coat with a broom
+which she had improvised of small twigs tied together. Beside her,
+carefully cradled in her sunbonnet, were half a dozen new-laid eggs.
+
+"Good morning." He greeted her with a little bow, and sank down on the
+rock. "Were you frightened to find yourself left all alone?"
+
+"Oh, no. I knew you would come back," she replied serenely. Then, as she
+noted his glance fall upon the eggs she added in swift self-defense:
+"You needn't think I stole those; I found them back in the woods a
+piece. O-oh!"
+
+He had carried a large paper package under his arm, and now as he
+unwrapped it her wonderment changed to swift rapture. It contained an
+overall apron of bright pink check, a cheap straw hat, and a remnant of
+green ribbon.
+
+"I ain't had a pink dress since I was ten!" Her dark eyes were
+perilously glistening. "I'd almost have died for one, but you had to
+wear blue after that, 'count of doin' work 'round. Oh, an' that hat! I
+kin put that ribbon on it as easy as----"
+
+She halted suddenly and lowered her eyelashes, adding:
+
+"But you hadn't any call to buy them for me; I can't pay you back right
+now."
+
+Jim's reply was irrelevant.
+
+"Why, your eyes aren't black, after all! They're violet-blue, the
+deepest blue I ever saw!" Then he caught himself up, reddening
+furiously, and after a moment said in a casual tone: "That's all right
+about the things, Lou; you can pay me when you get some work to do. Now,
+go fix yourself up, and we'll have breakfast."
+
+When she had disappeared into the mill he cursed himself for a fool. The
+child had trusted him as a comrade; what would she think if he began
+paying her compliments? What had come over him, anyway? He had seen
+women with violet-blue eyes in more countries than one; beautiful women
+with every enhancement which breeding and wealth could bestow. It must
+have been sheer surprise in discovering any attribute of prettiness at
+all about so uncompromisingly homely a girl as poor little Lou.
+
+With this reassuring reflection he set about replenishing the fire, and
+presently his companion reappeared. The large, flapping hat sat oddly
+upon her small head with its tightly drawn-back hair, but the straight
+lines of the all-enveloping pink gown brought out the slender curves of
+her childish figure, and she didn't seem quite so gawky, after all, as
+she moved toward him over the rocks.
+
+"My, you look nice!" he said cheerfully. "I've brought some rolls
+from----"
+
+"We'll keep them for later," Lou interrupted him firmly. "There's still
+the end of the bread left, and goodness knows where we'll eat again!"
+
+They breakfasted gaily, drinking the remainder of the milk first and
+then boiling the eggs in the pan, but Lou's remark about their next meal
+had made Jim think seriously of the immediate future. He had assumed a
+responsibility which he must fulfill, and his progress thus far under
+the handicaps he had spoken of had been difficult enough alone.
+
+The little pink apron-frock had cost half of his capital, the hat
+twenty-five cents more, and the ribbon a dime. Five cents in addition
+for the rolls had left but thirty-five of the preciously hoarded
+pennies, and he was ninety miles from home, with a host of petty, but
+formidable, restrictions barring his way, and an adopted orphan on his
+hands.
+
+He had been forced to turn his head sharply away when he passed the
+village tobacco store, for every nerve cried out for the solace of a
+good pipe, but he felt more than repaid for the sacrifice by Lou's
+honest rapture over the poor things he had been able to get for her.
+
+Breakfast finished, and the remainder of the ham stowed away in the
+milk-pan, they carefully skirted the house on the rise of the hill, and
+coming out once more upon the road, they forged ahead. The strained
+muscles of Jim's back and side were still sore, but they troubled him
+less than the lack of a smoke, and for Lou it was as though a new world
+had opened before her eyes.
+
+The pleasant, wheat-growing valley had been left behind them, and the
+road from being hilly grew steeper and more steep until it became a mere
+rutted trail over the mountains. More or less dilapidated farm-houses,
+each with its patch of cleared ground, appeared now and then, and before
+the gate of one of these a huge, canvas-covered wagon stood, bearing the
+ambitious legend:
+
+TRAVELING DEPARTMENT STORE
+
+BENJ. PERKINS
+
+A genial-looking fat man in a linen duster and a wide-brimmed hat was
+just clambering in over the wheel when he spied the two pedestrians
+gazing at the turnout, and called good-naturedly:
+
+"Want a lift? I'm goin' inter New Hartz."
+
+"Thanks. That is just where we are going, too," Jim replied promptly.
+"It's awfully good of you to take us along."
+
+"Git right in; plenty of room with me on the front seat here," the
+proprietor of the extraordinary department store responded heartily.
+"Yer sister 'd be nigh tuckered out ef you tried ter walk her inter town
+on a hot day like this."
+
+Jim hoisted Lou in over the big wheel and as he climbed up beside her
+the driver slapped the reins over the broad backs of the two horses, and
+they were off.
+
+"You are Mr. Perkins?" Jim asked, ignoring the assumption of Lou's
+relationship to him.
+
+"That's me!" The other glanced at the fresh bandage about the young
+man's head which Lou had applied just before they started out, and
+inquired: "You git hurt, some ways?"
+
+Jim explained briefly, and changed the subject with a haste which would
+have been significant to a less obtuse host.
+
+"You seem to have a little of everything back here in the van, Mr.
+Perkins."
+
+"Reckon I hev," the other agreed complacently. "From a spool of thread
+to a pitchfork, and from a baby rattle to wax funeral wreaths, there
+ain't nothin' the folk hereabout hev use for that I don't carry. The big
+ottermobile order trucks don't hurt my business none; I ben workin' up
+my trade around here fer twenty year."
+
+Mr. Perkins paused to draw a pipe and tobacco sack from his pocket, and
+Jim's throat twitched. After filling the pipe the genial pedler offered
+the sack. "Hev some?"
+
+Jim hesitated, and his face reddened, but at last he shook his head
+determinedly.
+
+"Thanks; I--I don't smoke."
+
+Lou, who had hunched about in her seat to stare at the assorted array of
+articles in the body of the van, turned and looked curiously at him.
+Surely that hard bulge in the coat upon which she had slept on the
+previous night had been the bowl of a pipe! The eyes which Jim had
+called "violet blue" narrowed for an instant in puzzled wonderment, then
+blurred as with swift understanding she glanced down at the new pink
+apron and stroked it softly. But Jim had gone on talking rather
+nervously.
+
+"You don't get much trade around here, do you? Not many houses in these
+mountains."
+
+"Oh, here and thar," Mr. Perkins replied easily. "Here and thar."
+
+The conversation which ensued was all Greek to Lou, who took off her
+hat, leaned her head against the side of the van, and went peacefully to
+sleep.
+
+She was awakened by a hand gently shaking her shoulder and found that
+the van had been halted in the middle of a maple-lined street before a
+big house which bore a sign labeled: "Congress Hotel." Busy little shops
+shouldered it on either side, and a band-stand stood in the open square.
+
+"Come down, Lou." Jim stood on the sidewalk reaching up for her hands.
+"This is New Hartz."
+
+Mr. Perkins was not in the van, but as Lou scrambled over the wheel he
+appeared from the door of the hotel.
+
+"Young man, I wish I was goin' further, but I ain't, and I want ter talk
+a little business with you." He drew Jim aside. "You and your sister
+wouldn't ha' ben walkin' it in from Hudsonvale if you could ha' paid ter
+come any other way."
+
+"No, Mr. Perkins." Jim backed away smilingly. "We couldn't think of--of
+borrowing, but thanks for the ten-mile lift into New Hartz."
+
+"Glad ter hev your company." Mr. Perkins suddenly dived around to the
+back of the van and his voice came to them muffled from the depths of
+its interior. "Wait jest a minute."
+
+He emerged, red and perspiring, with a small package wrapped in a square
+of something shimmering and white in his hands, which he offered to the
+wondering Lou.
+
+"It's jest a little present fer you, miss," he said.
+
+Lou accepted it gravely.
+
+"Thank you, sir," she said primly. "You ain't got any call to give me
+this, not after bringin' us all the way from Hudsondale."
+
+"I guess I can make a little present if I'm a mind ter, ter a pretty
+little girl like you." Mr. Perkins turned to Jim. "Wish yer both luck on
+your way."
+
+They took leave of the kindly little fat man and moved off up the
+village street and beyond the inevitable car tracks to the dwindling
+country road once more. In the shade of a big tree at a crossroads, Lou
+glanced up at her companion.
+
+"Could we set down here for a spell?" she asked. "I ain't tired, Jim,
+but I feel like I'd die if I can't open this!"
+
+She gestured with Mr. Perkins's gift, and Jim dropped laughingly on the
+grass.
+
+"Of course. Let's see what's in it."
+
+Gravely she seated herself beside him and unknotted the square of white.
+It contained three little handkerchiefs with pink borders, a small
+bottle of particularly strong scent, and a string of beads remotely
+resembling coral. The square in which the articles had been wrapped
+proved to be a large white silk handkerchief with an American flag
+stamped in the corner.
+
+"That must be for you, Jim," Lou said slowly. As in a trance she slipped
+the string of beads over her head, opened the bottle, and poured a few
+drops of its contents upon one of the little handkerchiefs, inhaling the
+rank odor in ecstasy.
+
+Jim watched her, amused but touched also. To that luxury-starved little
+soul the coarse handkerchiefs and cheap perfume meant rapture, and he
+resolved to see that the gray-haired lady in New York provided something
+better for Lou than a servant's position. Education, perhaps----
+
+"It must be past noon, for the shadows have started to go the other
+way." Her voice broke in upon his meditations. "We'd better eat the
+rolls an' ham now. How far is it to where we're goin'?"
+
+"Eight miles; I'm afraid it is a long way for you----"
+
+"Then the sooner we git started the better," the girl interrupted. "I'll
+take the pan an' run back to that yellow house we just passed for some
+water."
+
+Without waiting for a reply she tilted the little scent bottle carefully
+against the tree-trunk and departed, while Jim stretched himself out
+luxuriously in the grateful shade. He was tired, and the still heat of
+noon had a stupefying effect. Lou seemed long in returning, and his
+thoughts grew nebulous until he finally drifted off into slumber.
+
+When he awakened the shadows had lengthened to those of mid-afternoon,
+and there was a delicious, unaccustomed aroma in the air. He gazed about
+him in a bewildered fashion to find Lou sitting cross-legged in the
+grass, and spread upon it on the apron between them were the rolls and
+ham, and a huckleberry pie, still warm, and fairly exuding juice.
+
+"Good Lord, where did you get it?" he demanded.
+
+"Remember that yellow house where I went to git water?" Lou laughed, but
+there was a new note of shyness in her voice. "When we passed it first I
+saw that the currant bushes were just loaded down, an' a woman was out
+pickin' them, though it's ironin' day. I figgered if I pick for her
+she'd maybe pay me, an' she did. I--I guessed you was out of--this."
+
+The freckles disappeared in a rosy blush as with a red-stained hand she
+held out a bag of tobacco.
+
+"Lou! Why, you--you precious kid!" Jim stammered. "You worked in all
+this heat, while I lay here and slept."
+
+"It wasn't far back to New Hartz, an' I'd seen where the cigar-store was
+when we came by. The woman at the house, she give me the pie, an' I've
+got ten cents left besides. I never had ten cents of my own before!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+Under the Big Top
+
+
+A very weary and dust-covered couple trudged to the top of the last hill
+just before sundown and paused, with Lou's hand instinctively clutching
+Jim's arm.
+
+"Is that it; the Hudson?" She pointed over the fringe of treetops below
+them to the broad, winding ribbon of sparkling gray-blue, touched here
+and there with the reflection of the fleecy pink clouds drifting far
+overhead.
+
+Jim turned to look at her, wondering what reaction the view would have
+upon the emotions of this child who, until a brief week ago, had known
+only the "brick house with a high fence and a playground where never a
+blade of grass grew."
+
+Her big eyes followed the river's course until it was lost in a creeping
+mist behind high hills, and she drew a deep breath.
+
+"How far does it go?" she asked.
+
+"To New York; to the sea," he responded. "The ocean, you know."
+
+"My!" There was wonder and a certain regret in her tone. "What a waste
+of good wash-water!"
+
+Jim emitted an inarticulate remark, and added hastily:
+
+"Let us get along down into Highvale. I must try to find a place for you
+to sleep, and remember, Lou, you're my sister if anyone starts to
+question you."
+
+"All right; I don't mind, if you don't." She gave the floppy hat a yank
+that slued the ridiculous green bow to a more rakish angle, and then
+stopped suddenly in the road. "O-oh, look!"
+
+A barn had been built close up to the side of the fence, and freshly
+pasted upon it was the vividly colored poster of a circus. The
+enthusiastic admiration which she had denied to her first view of the
+great river glowed now in Lou's eyes, and she stood transfixed.
+
+"What is it, Jim? The pretty lady on the horse an' the other one up on
+the swing thing without--without any skirt to her, and the man with the
+funny pants an' the big hat that's shootin'----"
+
+"There must be a circus in Highvale--yes, the date says to-night," Jim
+replied.
+
+"'Trimble & Wells Great Circus & Sideshow,'" she read slowly. "I heard
+about them circuses; some of the children seen them before they came
+to--to where I was, an' once one come to town an' sent free tickets to
+us, but the deaconesses said it was sinful an' so we couldn't go. It
+don't look sinful to me; it looks just grand--grand!"
+
+She could have stood for an hour drinking in all the wonders of the
+poster, but Jim hurried her on although he was filled with sympathy.
+Poor little kid! What a rotten, black sort of life she must have had,
+and how he wished that he might take her to this tawdry, cheap affair
+and watch her naive enjoyment.
+
+But their combined capital would not have covered the price of the
+tickets, and there was supper to be thought of, and the hazards of the
+immediate future. For the present the circus must remain an unattained
+dream to Lou.
+
+The steep little hill down to the village seemed very long, and twilight
+was almost upon them when they came to a big, open lot upon which a
+circular tent was in process of erection, with lesser oblong ones
+clustered at one side.
+
+A fringe of small boys and village loungers lined the roadway watching
+the corps of men who were working like beavers within the lot, urged on
+by a bawling, cursing voice which seemed to proceed from a stout,
+choleric man who bounded about, alternately waving his arms and cupping
+his hands to improvise a megaphone.
+
+Jim was tired, and his side throbbed dully, but a sudden inspiration
+came to him, and he drew Lou over to the other side of the road.
+
+"Sit down here and wait for me," he told her. "I won't be long. That's
+where the circus is going to be, and perhaps I can fix it for you to see
+it."
+
+Turning, he shouldered his way through the knot of loungers, and
+entering the lot, approached the stout gentleman.
+
+"Want an extra hand?" he asked. "Anything from a ballyhoo to a
+rough-rider?"
+
+The stout man wheeled and surveyed him in momentarily speechless wrath
+at the interruption. Then his eyes narrowed appraisingly as he noted the
+tall, lean, well-knit figure before him, and he demanded:
+
+"How the h--l did you know that the Wild West act was all knocked to
+pieces?"
+
+"It isn't now," Jim smiled. "Lend me a horse and a pair of chaps, and
+I'll show you in five minutes what's going to be your star act
+to-night."
+
+"You're no circus man, nor a Westerner, neither." The boss still stared.
+"And you don't look like a bum. What's your game, anyway?"
+
+"To pick up a little loose change and get a horse between my knees
+again."
+
+The thought of the forlorn little figure which he had left by the
+roadside kept Jim's smile steady, and added a desperate artificial
+buoyancy to his tired tones:
+
+"Never mind who I am or where I came from; I can ride, and that's what
+you want, isn't it?"
+
+There was an instant's pause, and then the boss bawled a stentorian
+order and grabbed him by the arm.
+
+"Come on. I'll give you a chance to show me what you can do, but if
+you're takin' up my time on a bluff I'll break every bone in your ----
+---- body!"
+
+He led Jim to an open space behind the tents where presently there
+appeared a living convulsion in the shape of a bucking, squealing bronco
+seemingly held down to earth by two sweating, shirtless men.
+
+As Jim surveyed that wickedly lowered head with its small eyes rolling
+viciously, his heart misgave him for a moment. What if he should fail?
+It was long since he had practiced those rough-riding stunts that had
+made him in demand for those society circuses of the ante-bellum days,
+and longer yet since he had learned to break a bronco on the ranch,
+which had been Bill Hollis's hobby for a season.
+
+What if that devil of a pony should best him in the struggle, and he
+should be thrown ignominiously from the lot before the eyes of the girl
+who was waiting patiently for him?
+
+The next instant he had vaulted lightly into the high, Western saddle,
+the two men had jumped back, and the fight was on. The bronco lashed out
+viciously with his heels, leaped sidewise, and then, after a running
+start, attempted to throw his rider over his head, but Jim clung to him
+like a burr; he flung himself down and rolled over, but the young man
+jumped clear and was back into the saddle as the enraged animal regained
+his feet.
+
+The struggle was strenuous but brief, and Jim found himself rejoicing
+that none of the old tricks had failed him, and that the wicked little
+brute was realizing that he had at length been mastered.
+
+When the bronco was thoroughly subjected, Jim rode quietly up to where
+the boss stood with the two other men.
+
+"Want me to pick up a handkerchief for you, or any other of the old
+stunts, now?" he asked. "Don't want to tire this old plug too much for
+the show."
+
+The boss chuckled.
+
+"Get down and talk business with me, young feller," he said. "You won't
+ride Jazz in the ring to-night; he's the rottenest, most treacherous
+little wretch with the outfit, and I only put you on him to call your
+bluff. Want to join the show? We had to leave our rough-rider back in
+the last town with a broken leg."
+
+Jim shook his head.
+
+"Only for to-night," he replied. "My sister and I are beating it South."
+
+"Well, I'll give you five dollars----"
+
+"No, you won't," Jim smiled. "I'll work for you to-night for just
+twenty-five cents."
+
+"Say, you ain't bughouse, are you?" The boss stared again.
+
+"The fourth part of a dollar, two bits!" Jim replied doggedly. Then his
+gaze wandered as though casually over to the cook tent, and he added:
+"However, if you could suggest anything to two hungry people, and
+something else for a little girl who has never seen a circus, Mr.
+Trimble-and-Wells, and who is waiting for me in the road----"
+
+The boss roared.
+
+"D--d if I don't think you're dippy, but you certainly can ride like
+h--l!" he exclaimed. "I'll take you up on that; go get the kid and bring
+her in to supper, and I'll see that she gets a reserved seat for the
+show. Holy smoke! A feller that can stick on Jazz, and wants to work for
+a quarter!"
+
+Thus it was that when the clown came tumbling into the ring to the
+blaring of the band that night, a girl with the green bow all askew upon
+her hat and her violet-blue eyes a shade darker and snapping with
+excitement was perched on one of the front row planks which served as
+seats, clutching a bag of peanuts and waiting in an ecstasy for the
+wonders about to be unfolded.
+
+The ride in the pedler's van, the hours of currant-picking, and the hot,
+hilly, eight-mile trudge were forgotten, and she felt like pinching
+herself to see if she would wake up all of a sudden to find herself once
+more back in the attic at the Hess farm.
+
+The beautiful lady with the fluffy skirts rode round the ring on tiptoe
+and jumped through the flaming hoops at the behest of the gentleman with
+the high silk hat and the long whip; the other lady "without any skirt
+to her" flew dizzily through the air from one trapeze to the other, and
+the performing elephant went through his time-worn tricks with the air
+of a resigned philosopher, and still Lou sat entranced.
+
+Then the dingy curtains parted, and a man loped easily into the ring on
+a wiry, little Western horse. He was the same man she had seen in the
+poster that afternoon; the one with the funny pants and the big hat and
+the red handkerchief knotted around his throat, and he proceeded to do
+marvelous things.
+
+It is highly probable that many a better exhibition of rough-riding had
+been given beneath the big top, but to Lou, as to the villagers
+surrounding her in densely packed rows, it was a supreme display of
+horsemanship, and they expressed themselves with vociferous applause
+when he uncoiled a rope from the peak of his saddle and dexterously
+brought down the bewildered steer which had been chivvied into the ring.
+
+In the row directly in front of Lou sat a quartet who were obviously out
+of place among their bucolic neighbors, but as obviously bent on amusing
+themselves. The ladies of the party wore brilliant sweaters beneath
+their long silk motor coats, and veils floated from their small round
+hats, and the gentlemen wore long coats, too, and had goggles pushed up
+on their caps.
+
+Bits of their chatter, and low-voiced, well-bred laughter drifted back
+to the girl's ears between pauses in the louder comments of her
+immediate neighbors and the intermittent din of the band, and Lou was
+amazed.
+
+Could it be that they were laughing at this glorious, wonderful thing
+that was called a "circus?" Were they ridiculing it, trying to pretend
+that they had seen anything more marvelous in all the world?
+
+They didn't laugh at the rough-rider, she noticed. The ladies applauded
+daintily, and once the stouter of the two gentlemen called out: "Good
+work!" as the rider executed a seemingly daring feat, and the other
+gentleman consulted his flimsy play bill.
+
+Then all thought of the four was banished from Lou's mind, for the rider
+had cantered from the ring and dropped a large white handkerchief upon
+the sawdust of the outer circle just before her. Wasn't that bit of
+color in a corner of a handkerchief an American flag? Jim had told her
+that he was to do some work outside for the circus people that night,
+and the boss had kindly offered her a seat, but that handkerchief----
+
+Suddenly the rider swept by with his horse at a dead run, and swooping
+down, seized the square of white in his teeth, and while the tent rang
+with applause, Lou sat very still. It was Jim! It was he, her "partner,"
+whom the people were all clapping their hands at, who was doing all
+these wonderful things! But his face had looked somewhat pale beneath
+that big hat, and his smile sort of fixed.
+
+The bandage was gone from his head, and the plaster which had replaced
+it was hidden, but she could not have been mistaken. What if he were
+suffering, if his back and side were paining him again? She recalled the
+exhaustion with which he had slept at noontime, and the long, weary hike
+that followed it, and her heart contracted within her. It was for her
+that he was doing this, so that she might see the show!
+
+One of the ladies in the seats before her leaned forward and exclaimed:
+
+"Didn't he look like Jimmie Abbott? If we didn't know that he was on a
+fishing trip up in Canada----"
+
+Lou did not catch the rest of the remark. Her eyes were glued upon the
+rider and her ears stilled to everything around her. With a final
+flourish he dashed for the dingy curtain at the exit and it parted to
+let him pass. It did not close quickly enough behind him, however; not
+quickly enough to conceal from the gaping audience his lurching fall
+from the saddle into the group of acrobats waiting to come on in their
+turn.
+
+Then it was that a small, pink-checked cyclone whirled through the rows
+of closely packed humanity and half-way round the arena to the curtain,
+while above the clamor of the band arose a shrill cry; "Jim! Jim!"
+
+"Did you see her?" The lady who had commented upon the rider's
+appearance demanded of the gentleman beside her. "She called him Jim,
+too; isn't that odd? Do you suppose, Jack, that she is with the circus;
+that little country girl?"
+
+"Oh, it was only part of the show," the stout gentleman replied in a
+bored tone. "Or else the chap was tight. He certainly rode as if he had
+some red-eye tucked under his belt; wonder where he got it around here?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+Concerning an Omelet
+
+
+There was a confused babel of sound in Jim's ears when he awoke
+Wednesday morning; hammering and clanging and the squeak of ropes,
+shouting and cursing, and now and then the roar or yell of some
+protesting animal.
+
+He was lying on a narrow bunk in a tent, and opposite him a
+husky-looking individual was climbing into a pair of checked trousers
+and yawning vociferously.
+
+Jim's head ached confoundedly, and he was stiff and sore, but his mind
+cleared rapidly from the mists of slumber. What sort of a place was
+this, and how had he got there? Then all at once he remembered, and
+there came a horrifying thought. What had become of Lou?
+
+"Where's Lou? M--my sister?" he demanded, sitting bolt upright.
+
+"Hello, there! Come out of it all right, did you?" The occupant of the
+tent hitched a suspender over one shoulder and grinned cheerfully. "The
+kid's took care of! She's with Ma Billings. That was a nasty header you
+took last night. O. K. now? We gotter pull out in an hour."
+
+"Oh, I'm all right; but say, did I pull that bonehead stuff out there
+before all of them?" Jim reddened beneath his tan at the thought. "Fall
+off the horse like that, I mean?"
+
+"In the ring? No, you made a grand exit, and then slumped; nobody saw it
+but the little girl, and she beat it right down to the ring and out
+after you. Fit like a wildcat, too, when we tried to keep her away from
+you till we could find out what had struck you." The other grinned once
+more.
+
+"Some sister, ol'-timer! When we found that big muscle bruise on your
+side, and she told us that you had been tossed by a bull a couple of
+days ago, we didn't wonder you keeled over."
+
+Jim sat up dizzily.
+
+"It was mighty good of you people to take us in for the night," he said.
+"Who is Ma Billings?"
+
+"Marie LaBelle she used to be; worked up on the flyin' rings until she
+got too hefty," his companion explained. "Now she takes care of the
+wardrobes and sort of looks out that the Human Doll don't get lost in
+the shuffle; the midget, you know. Now peel, and I'll give you a
+rub-down with some liniment."
+
+Jim tried to protest, but the husky individual only grinned the broader.
+
+"You may be some boy when it comes to bronco-bustin', but I'm the Strong
+Man in the sideshow, and you haven't a chance."
+
+Meekly Jim submitted to his companion's kindly ministrations, and then
+dressing quickly, made his way out into the glare of the early morning
+sun.
+
+The big top was down, and poles and animal cages were being loaded on
+long trucks as he emerged. An appetizing odor of fried pork floated upon
+the air from the direction of the cook tent, and people seemed to be
+rushing all over the lot in wildest confusion, but Jim caught a glimpse
+of a bit of pink-and-white check through the melee, and headed for it.
+
+Lou was sitting on the grass in cordial confab with a
+melancholy-looking, lantern-jawed man, but at his approach she jumped up
+precipitately and ran to him.
+
+"Oh, Jim, you feelin' all right?" There was a little tremble in her
+voice. "I knew it was you the minute you rode past an' picked up that
+handkerchief Mr. Perkins give you yesterday, an' when you pitched off
+that horse I thought you was dead. You hadn't no call to take any chance
+like that with your back hurt an' that long tramp an' all; but it was
+splendid."
+
+She paused, breathless, and he patted her shoulder. Somehow she didn't
+look so downright homely this morning, or else he was growing used to
+her little, turned-up nose. Her tow-colored hair was looser about her
+face, and where the sun struck a strand of it, it shone like spun gold.
+
+"I'm fine," he assured her. "But who was that man you were talking to
+just now?"
+
+"Him? Oh, that was the clown," Lou replied. "He says the old man is just
+crazy 'bout your ridin', an' if you'll stay along with the show he can
+teach me to stand still for the knife-thrower; the last girl got scared,
+an' quit just because she got a little scratch on the neck. The clown
+says I got the nerve for it, an' I guess I have, only they ain't goin'
+towards New York."
+
+She added the last almost reluctantly, and Jim shuddered. The
+knife-thrower! What wouldn't the little dare-devil be willing to try
+next?
+
+"I guess you have got the nerve," he admitted grimly. "But we're going
+to be in New York by Saturday night, remember. As soon as I get my
+quarter from the stout gentleman over there with the striped vest, we'll
+be on our way."
+
+But it was nearly an hour before they took to the road again. The boss
+insisted on starting them off with a hearty breakfast, and there were
+good-bys to be said to the rough, kindly folk who had taken them in as
+friends. Except for the litter of hand-bills and peanut-shells, the last
+vestiges of the circus were being removed from the lot as they finally
+departed, and what had been to Lou a wondrous, glittering pageant had
+become but a memory.
+
+"I dunno but I'd as lief join a circus," she observed, meditatively,
+after they had traveled a mile or more. "Maybe I could learn in New York
+how to do some of them tricks. I could git the hang of that business up
+on them swings in no time, only I don't like the way that girl
+dressed----"
+
+"Nonsense!" Jim snapped, and wondered at his own indignation. "We'll
+find something suitable for you to do, or you can go to school----"
+
+"School!" she interrupted him in her turn. "I--I'd like to learn things
+an' be like other folks, but I ain't--I mean I'm not--goin' to any
+institootion."
+
+He glanced at her curiously. This was the first time she had made any
+conscious effort to correct herself, the first evidence she had given
+that she had noted the difference between his speech and hers.
+
+"I didn't mean an institution, but a real school, Lou," he explained
+gently. "One where you'll have no uniform to wear, and no work to do
+except to learn."
+
+"I quit learnin' when I was twelve." There was an unconscious note of
+wistfulness in her tones. "I kin read an' do a little figgerin', but I
+don't know much of anythin' else. I couldn't go to school an' begin
+again where I left off, Jim; I'd be sort of ashamed. Oh, look at that
+big wagon drivin' out of that gate! Maybe we'll git a lift."
+
+She had turned at the creak of wheels, and now, as the cart loaded with
+crates and pulled by two lean, sorry-looking horses passed, she gazed
+expectantly at the driver. He was as lean as his team, with a sharp nose
+and a tuft of gray hair sticking out from his chin, and his close-set
+eyes straight ahead of him, as though he were determined not to see to
+the two wayfarers.
+
+"He looks kinder mean, don't he?" Lou remarked. Then impulsively she ran
+after the wagon: "Say, mister, will you give us a lift?"
+
+The old man pulled in his horses and regarded her sourly.
+
+"What'll you pay?" he demanded.
+
+"What's in them crates," she parried.
+
+"Eggs." The response was laconic. "What you gittin' at, sis?"
+
+"Who unloads them when you git to where you're goin'?" Lou persisted.
+
+"At the Riverburgh dock? I do, unless I'm late, an' then I have to give
+a couple o' them loafers around there a quarter apiece to help. I'm late
+to-day, an' if you ain't got any money to ride--Giddap!"
+
+But Lou halted him determinedly.
+
+"If you'll give me and Jim--I mean my brother--a ride, he'll unload the
+crates for you for nothin' when we git there. You'll be savin' fifty
+cents, and the ride won't cost you nothin'."
+
+"Well"--the old man considered for a moment--"I'll do it, if it's only
+to spite them fellers that's allus hangin' 'round the docks. Reg'lar
+robbers, they be. Quarter apiece, an' chicken-feed gone up the way't is.
+Git in."
+
+Jim had overtaken the wagon in time to hear the end of the brief
+conversation, and he wasted no further time in parley, but hoisted Lou
+up over the wheel and climbed in beside her.
+
+As the reluctant horses started off once more the driver turned to him:
+
+"Hope you're a hustler, young man; got to git them eggs off the wagon in
+a jiffy when we git to Riverburgh, in time to ketch the boat. Don't you
+try no scuttlin' off on me after I give you the ride; Riverburgh's a
+reg'lar city, an' they's a policeman on the docks."
+
+"I'll keep the bargain my sister made for me," Jim answered shortly. He
+had observed the poultry-farm from which the old man had started, with
+its miserable little hovel of a house and immense spread of
+chicken-runs, and drawn his own conclusions as to the character of its
+owner. "You needn't be afraid I'll shirk."
+
+"Well," grumbled the other, "I don't hold with pickin' up tramps in the
+road, but I'm sick of handin' out good money to them loafers at the dock
+to unload, an' I ain't got a hired man to take along no more; they're
+allus lazy, good-for-nothin' fellers that eat more'n they work out, let
+alone their wages goin' sky-hootin'!"
+
+"But you must be making a handsome profit, with the price of eggs going
+up, too, all the time," Jim remarked.
+
+The old man gave him a sly glance.
+
+"That's how you look at it," he replied. "They oughter go up twice the
+price they be. My wife's doin' the hired man's work now, an' she's allus
+pesterin' me to git an incubator, but them things cost a powerful sight
+of money, an' I don't hold with new-fangled notions; too much resk to
+them. You can allus sell hens when they git too old to set or lay, but
+what're you going to do with a wore-out incubator?"
+
+He cackled shrilly at his own witticism and then grew morose again. "The
+way things is, there ain't no profit skeercely in nothin'."
+
+They jogged along drowsily through the slumberous heat, while the old
+man continued his harangue against the cost of everything except his own
+commodity, and the underfed horses strained to drag their burden over
+the hilly road. The mountains had been left behind, and all over the
+rolling hillsides about them on either hand the vineyards stretched in
+undulating lines, each heavy with the load of purpling grapes.
+
+Mile after mile passed slowly beneath the creaking wheels of the wagon;
+noon came, and still Riverburgh remained tantalizingly ahead. At last,
+on the rise of a hill, the old man pulled up and pointed with his whip
+to the spreading sweep of brick buildings fronting on the river's edge
+below.
+
+"There's the town," he announced, adding, with a touch of regret: "We're
+ahead of time, after all, an' I could have unloaded by myself. Well, it
+don't matter noways except for the extra drag on the horses. Giddap!"
+
+"There's--there's an ottermobile comin' up behind," Lou ventured. "They
+been tootin' at you for some time, mister."
+
+"Let 'em," the old man cackled shrilly once more. "I've been drivin' on
+these roads afore them things was heard of, an' I don't calc'late to
+turn out for 'em."
+
+The warning of the siren sounded again disturbingly close, and the rush
+of the oncoming car could be plainly heard. Jim glanced at the old man,
+and, noting the stubborn set of his jaw, said nothing; but Lou spoke
+again, and her voice held no note of alarm, but rather indignation at
+the obvious lack of fair play.
+
+"But they got a right; you're on their side of the road," she exclaimed.
+"If you'd give them their half, mister, they could pass easy."
+
+"Don't calc'late to let 'em," he responded obstinately. "Ain't goin' to
+take their dust if I kin help it."
+
+Deliberately he tugged on the left reins and headed the team straight
+across the road. Lou gave a quick glance over the side of the wagon and
+behind, and then gripped Jim's arm. He turned and caught one glimpse of
+her set face, and then with a roar and a grinding crash they both felt
+themselves lifted into the air and landed in some golden, slimy fluid in
+the ditch.
+
+"Lou, are you hurt?" Jim tried to wipe the clinging stuff from his eyes
+and ears with his sleeve. "Where are you?"
+
+The rapidly diminishing clatter of horses' hoofs down the hill, and the
+old man's vigorously roared recriminations assured him of the safety of
+the rest of the entourage even before Lou replied.
+
+"Not hurt a mite, but I'm laughin'!" she exclaimed breathlessly. "Oh,
+Jim, you--you should have seen it. That ottermobile hit square in the
+middle of the wagon, and there ain't--isn't--a single egg----"
+
+"Here, you!" the old man, dripping from head to foot with the golden
+slime, rushed up and tugged excitedly at Jim's arm. "Come on an' help me
+to ketch them horses! What'd I bring you along for? Let the girl be, I
+don't ker if her neck's broke! I got to lodge a complaint against them
+rascals, an' have 'em stopped! You're my witnesses that they run into
+me, an' I'll make 'em pay a pretty penny----"
+
+"I care whether my sister's neck is broken or not!" Jim retorted grimly.
+"Go after your own horses. I engaged to unload eggs, and it looks as if
+the job was finished. Lou, are you sure you're all right?"
+
+The old man danced up and down in the road, spattering flecks of egg
+about him.
+
+"We'll see about that," he shrilled. "You come along with me! You're my
+witnesses----"
+
+"We'll be your witnesses that you were on the wrong side of the road,
+and knew it," Jim helped Lou to her feet. "They warned you, and you
+wouldn't turn out."
+
+With an outburst of inarticulate rage the old man dashed off down the
+road, and Lou, helpless with laughter, clung to Jim's slippery sleeve.
+
+"Don't mind him," she gasped. "Old skinflint! Oh, Jim, you l-look like
+an omelet."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+The Red Note-Book
+
+
+For a moment Jim laughed with her; then the seriousness of their
+situation was borne in upon him, and his face sobered.
+
+"It's the kind of an omelet that won't come off in a hurry, I'm afraid,"
+he said. "How on earth are we going to walk into Riverburgh like this?"
+
+It was the first time that he had appealed to her, and Lou's laughter
+ceased also, but her cheerful confidence did not fail her.
+
+"We gotter find some place where we can git cleaned up, that's all," she
+replied practically. "Most anybody would let you do that, I guess, if
+you told them what happened, an' if you can't ask--why, I kin. Anybody
+'cept a mean old thing like that! I s'pose I ought to be sorry that his
+wagon's broke an' his eggs are all over us instead of where they was
+goin', but I'm not a mite. Long's he wasn't hurt, I'm kinder glad."
+
+"Still, those people in the car ought to have stopped to see the extent
+of the damage they had done, even if they did have the right-of-way,"
+Jim observed. "The old fellow had his grievance, but he got my goat when
+he said he didn't care if your neck was broken or not, and I wouldn't
+have helped him if I could."
+
+"'Goat'?" Lou repeated.
+
+Jim had no opportunity to explain, for at that moment a woman in a faded
+gingham gown toiled hurriedly over the brow of the hill, and, on seeing
+them, stopped, with one hand at her breast.
+
+"Oh!" she gasped. "There's wasn't anyone hurt, was there? I saw the
+accident from my porch, and I came just as quick as I could."
+
+Jim explained, and the woman listened, wide-eyed.
+
+"You both come straight along with me," she invited when he had
+finished. "I'll lend you some overalls, and you and the little girl can
+just sit around while your clothes dry."
+
+She led the way back to a tiny but very neat cottage, with flowers
+blooming in the door-yard and a well-tended truck-garden in the rear.
+Broad hay-fields stretched on either side, but only two little boys were
+visible, tossing the hay awkwardly with pitchforks almost bigger than
+they were themselves.
+
+The woman left them standing for a minute on the back porch, and then
+came out to them, bearing a cake of soap, a towel, and a pair of
+overalls and shirt, which, although immaculately clean, bore many
+patches and darns, and were deeply creased, as though they had been laid
+away a long time.
+
+"Take these down to the barn." She handed them to Jim. "You'll find a
+spigot there, and cold water's best for egg-stains. I left some rags in
+the empty box-stall that you can use to clean your shoes, and then, if
+you'll give me your clothes that you've got on now, I'll soak them and
+get them out while the sun's high; corduroy takes a long time to dry."
+
+When Jim had expressed his gratitude and departed for the barn, the
+woman led Lou into the kitchen, and, providing her also with clean
+garments, she dragged a wash-tub out on the porch.
+
+"I--if you'll let me, I'd like to wash my own things and Jim's." Lou
+appeared shyly in the door in a gown several sizes too large for her.
+"He'd like it, too, I think, and he can help with the hayin' till the
+things git dried out enough, so's we kin go on."
+
+"Oh, would he?" the woman asked quickly. "I'd pay him well if he's
+looking for work; I can't get any hands, though I've tried, and the hay
+is rotting for want of being turned. I didn't think I'd seen you two
+around here before, but I've known old Mr. Weeble always."
+
+"You mean that--that with the egg-wagon? He was givin' us a lift into
+Riverburgh; we're just traveling through," Lou added shortly.
+
+"Did he pick you up back near his place?" At Lou's nod the woman
+exclaimed: "Then you two haven't had a bite of dinner! You put your
+things to soak and I'll go right in the house and get you up a little
+something; it's past two."
+
+Lou started to protest, but the woman disappeared into the kitchen, and
+Jim appeared from the barn. He was attired in a shirt which strained at
+his broad shoulders, and overalls which barely reached his shoe-tops.
+
+The girl noticed something else also as he turned for a moment to look
+toward the field where the little boys were so valiantly at work; a
+red-leather note-book, which she had never known that he carried, bulged
+now from the all too small overall-pocket.
+
+"You can bet I'll pitch hay for her till sundown," he declared, when Lou
+had explained the situation to him. He dropped beside the tub the bundle
+of egg-soaked clothing which he carried, and added: "It is mighty good
+of her to do all this for us, isn't it? I tell you, Lou, the credit side
+of the list is going up even if it did have a bit of a jolt this
+morning, and you're the biggest item on it."
+
+This speech was wholly unintelligible to the girl, but she bent over the
+tub without reply, and Jim went on hurriedly, aware that he had made a
+slip of some sort.
+
+"I wonder where all the men of the family are? She can't get any
+hands----"
+
+"_There_ are all the men of the family." The woman had reappeared
+in time to catch his last remark, and she pointed out toward the two
+small toilers with a faint smile. "There was another, their father--my
+son--but he died; so we're doin' the best we can by ourselves. But
+there's a little bite ready for you on the end of the kitchen-table, and
+it's getting cold."
+
+The food tasted good, and the little red cloth beneath the dishes was
+clean, but the signs of carefully concealed poverty were everywhere
+visible to Jim's eyes, and he suspected another reason for the lack of
+farm-hands than scarcity of labor. He hurried through his meal, and went
+at once to the hay-field, while Lou, after insisting on clearing the
+dishes away, went back to the wash-tub, and their hostess returned to
+her own belated ironing.
+
+Upon the girl's usually serene brow there was a frown of perplexity as
+she worked, and her thoughts were far afield, for in that backward
+glance which she had given from the egg-wagon to the approaching car
+just before the crash came she had recognized in its occupants the
+quartet who sat in front of her at the circus the previous evening. The
+ladies were closely swathed in their veils, but she remembered the
+distinctive plaids of their silk coats, and the stout gentleman who sat
+between them in the tonneau, with goggles and hat snatched off in the
+excitement of the impending smash-up, was unmistakably the one who had
+called out "Good work!" when Jim was performing on the horse.
+
+The other gentleman who had made up the quartet was the one who drove
+the car, and her quick glance showed her that he was even then trying to
+avoid the crash.
+
+The details had been photographed upon her brain with instantaneous
+clarity, but it was not with these that her thoughts were busied; the
+remark which the younger lady had made at the circus just before Jim
+rode toward the exit-flap of the curtain had returned and could not be
+banished from her mind:
+
+"Didn't he look like Jimmie Abbott?"
+
+Her companion had told the girl that his name was Botts, but beyond
+that, and the fact that he was on the way to New York, he had vouchsafed
+no further information about himself, nor had Lou asked. She could not
+understand why his journey was hedged about with so many silly rules,
+nor why he chose to obey them; that was his affair, and he was just a
+part of this wonderful adventure which had started with her departure
+from the Hess farm.
+
+Yet away down in her heart was a little hurt feeling for which she could
+not have assigned a cause even to herself. Of course she trusted him,
+and he would not have lied to her, but could there really be another
+"Jim" in the world who looked quite like him, and whose name was so
+nearly the same?
+
+She had sensed instinctively, and the more clearly perhaps because of
+her lack of worldly experience, that he was different, not only from
+herself, but from all whom they had encountered upon their journey, yet
+could he really be that grand young lady's "Jimmie," after all?
+
+As she stepped aside to lift the basket into which the sodden garments
+had fallen from the wringer, her foot chanced to crunch upon something
+that yielded with a crisp rustle, and she glanced down. It was the
+little red note-book which she had seen in Jim's overall-pocket when he
+came from the barn; it must have fallen out as he crossed the porch to
+go to the hay-field.
+
+It had opened, and the front cover was pressed back, with the stamp of
+her heel, showing plainly upon the first page, and as she stooped slowly
+and picked it up Lou could not help reading the three words which were
+written across it in a bold, characteristic hand:
+
+                        JAMES TARRISFORD ABBOTT
+
+There was something else, an address, no doubt, written below, but Lou
+closed the book quickly and dropped it upon a near-by bench, as though
+it burned her fingers. For a moment she stood very still with her eyes
+closed and her little water-shriveled hands tightly interlocked, and in
+that instant of time the happy, careless co-adventurer of the last two
+marvelous days vanished, and in his place there appeared a stranger, a
+man of the world, in which that young lady of the motor-car moved.
+
+For the first time in Lou's life a panic seized her, a desperate longing
+to run away. She opened her eyes and looked across the hay-fields to
+where that tall, stalwart figure worked beside the two smaller ones.
+Even from that distance he looked different, somehow; he wasn't the same
+Jim.
+
+Slowly, with a mist before her eyes she picked up the heavy basket, and,
+descending the steps of the porch, spread the garments upon the
+bleaching grass to dry. The glittering glories of the circus had turned
+all at once to a black shadow in her memory, and she wished fervently
+that she had never seen it nor those rich people who had come to make a
+mock of it, but had stayed to applaud Jim.
+
+But why shouldn't they, even if they hadn't recognized him? He belonged
+to their world, not hers. Then a new, inexpressibly forlorn thought came
+to her; what was her world, anyway? She didn't belong anywhere; there
+was no place for her unless she made one for herself, some time.
+
+With that, in spite of this strange, new weariness which dragged at her
+heart, Lou's indomitable spirit reasserted itself, and her small teeth
+clamped together. She _would_ make herself a place somewhere,
+somehow.
+
+Returning to the house, she took the ironing from her tired hostess's
+hands, and worked steadily until at sundown the high treble of childish
+voices came to her ears, and Jim's merry, laughing tones in reply sent a
+quick stab through her, but she put down the iron and went determinedly
+out on the porch.
+
+The two little boys came shyly on up the steps, but Jim had paused to
+feel of his coat, as it lay on the grass, and looked ruefully at her.
+
+"It's wet still, I'm afraid," she remarked composedly, as she picked up
+the red note-book and held it out to him. "Is this yourn? It looks as
+though it must have dropped out of your pocket an' somebody stepped on
+it."
+
+If the girl noted the swift change which came over his face she gave no
+sign as he came forward and took the book from her hands.
+
+"Yes, it's mine." He opened and closed it again, and then looked up
+uncertainly into her face as she stood on the steps above him, but Lou
+was gazing in seeming serenity out over the fields, which were still
+shimmering in the last rays of the sun. "I--I'll tell you about this
+some time, Lou. It's funny."
+
+"What's funny?" she asked, with a little start, as though he had
+interrupted some train of thought of her own, far removed from hateful
+little red books.
+
+"If you think it's goin' to be funny to travel in wet clothes to-night,
+just wait till you git started."
+
+But they did not start upon their journey again that night, after all.
+Their kindly hostess insisted upon their remaining until the morning, at
+least, and when the supper dishes were cleared away Lou wandered off by
+herself down the little lane which led to the pasture.
+
+There would be three days more, and then their journey's end. Upon one
+thing she had decided: there would be no school for her! She was going
+to work as quickly as she could find something to do. Mr. James Abbott
+must be paid back for the little pink-checked frock and the hat with the
+green bow, and then she would drop from his sight. Surely in that great
+city, with its hundreds and hundreds of people, she would be able to
+disappear.
+
+Reaching the pasture, she stood at the gate with her arms resting upon
+the topmost rail, and was so deep in reflection that she did not hear a
+step behind her until a hand touched her shoulder, and Jim's voice asked
+quietly:
+
+"What are you doing off here by yourself, Lou? Mrs. Bemis didn't know
+what had become of you, and I've been looking everywhere."
+
+"I dunno," Lou answered truthfully enough. "I been thinkin' 'bout the
+institootion where I come from; it was seein' them little boys put me in
+mind of it, I reckon. I was kinder wonderin' what it would be like to
+really belong to anybody."
+
+There was neither pathos nor self-pity in her tone, but rather a cold,
+dispassionate speculation that froze the words of awkward sympathy which
+rose to his lips, and he remained silent.
+
+"I did once, you know," she continued, "belong to some--body, I mean. I
+had on a white dress all trimmed with lace when they found me in the
+station at the junction an' took me up to the institootion; it was the
+only white dress I ever had."
+
+"Where was this institution, Lou?" Jim asked. "You've never told me, you
+know."
+
+Lou shrugged.
+
+"Oh, it was 'way up at a place called Mayfield's Corners; I was most
+three hours on the train before I got to the station nearest Hess's
+farm."
+
+A vicious desire came over her to shock and repulse that inexplicable
+thing in him which set him apart from her and made him one with the
+world in which those others moved; that stout gentleman and the young
+lady who had called him Jimmie. She added deliberately:
+
+"I told you what I did there--at the institootion, I mean: scrubbed an'
+cooked an' washed an' tended babies an' wore a uniform, just like any
+other norphin, I guess. Slep' in the garret with the rats runnin' over
+the floor, an' got up in the mornin' to the same old work. It warn't a
+State institootion, you see; just a kind of a charity one, run by the
+deacons of the church; I ain't got much use for charity."
+
+"I shouldn't think you would have," he exclaimed. "But it's all behind
+you now, Lou. We made fourteen miles to-day from Highvale--or will have
+when we walk down the hill to Riverburgh to-morrow, and it is only sixty
+miles further to New York."
+
+"That's good," Lou said, but without enthusiasm. "Do we start at
+sun-up?"
+
+"I thought I'd like to work for Mrs. Bemis for a couple of hours first
+and get the hay turned in that south field," Jim answered. "She's been
+so good to us, and she'll need the stuff this winter for those two old
+plugs out there."
+
+He pointed out into the pasture, where two horses made mere blotches of
+deeper shadow beneath a tree.
+
+Lou laughed suddenly, softly, but it seemed to him that the rippling,
+liquid note had vanished.
+
+"What's funny?" he asked.
+
+"Oh, nothin'. I was just thinkin' of you last night in that circus. You
+rode so--so wonderfully. I wasn't laughin' at that, but it just come to
+me how funny it would have been if any of your friends was to have seen
+you!"
+
+Jim glanced at her sharply, but in the starlight her face seemed merely
+amused as at a whimsical thought.
+
+"Why would it have been funny?" he insisted. "Of course I never rode in
+a real circus before, and I guess I was pretty rotten, but why would my
+friends have laughed?"
+
+"I dunno." Lou dropped her arms from the fence-rail and turned away.
+"Let's go back to the house. I--I'm pretty tired."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+Revelations
+
+
+The next morning was a trying one for them both. Jim felt dully that
+something was the matter, but the girl's manner baffled him, and he
+could not make up his mind as to whether she had glanced in the
+note-book or not. It did not seem like her to do so deliberately, but if
+she had he could only make things worse by broaching the subject, since
+he was not at the moment in a position to explain.
+
+As for Lou, she was trying her best to appear her old self with him, but
+dissimulation was an art in which she was as yet unversed, and her whole
+nature rebelled against playing a part. Only her pride kept her from
+betraying her disappointment in him and running away. She told herself
+fiercely that he didn't care what she thought of him; they were only
+partners met by chance on the road, and perhaps never to see each other
+again after the city was reached.
+
+If he had lied to her about his name that was his own business, and she
+would not admit even to herself that this deception was not the only
+reason for the strange, hurt feeling about her heart.
+
+She rose at dawn, and, creeping down from the clean little room which
+Mrs. Bemis had given her, she had the stove going and breakfast on the
+table by the time the little family was awake, and Jim appeared from the
+barn, where he had slept in the loft.
+
+While he worked in the field during the early morning hours, she
+finished the ironing, and by ten o'clock they were ready once more to
+start upon their way.
+
+Mrs. Bemis insisted upon paying them both for their work, but it was
+only out of consideration for her pride that Jim would accept fifty
+cents of the two dollars she offered him.
+
+"I only work for a quarter a time," he told her gravely. "One for
+yesterday and one for this morning; my sister can tell you that. I--I
+would like to write to you if I may when we reach home, Mrs. Bemis. Will
+you tell me what address will find you? You see, I want to thank you
+properly for all your kindness to us, and I don't know whether this is
+the township of Riverburgh or not."
+
+"It's the Stilton post-office," the little woman stammered. "Of course,
+I'd like to hear from both of you, but you mustn't thank me! I don't
+know what I should have done without your help with the hay! And your
+sister, too; I do hope you both find work where you're going."
+
+To Lou's amazement Jim produced the little red note-book and wrote the
+address carefully in it, adding what appeared to be some figures at one
+side. Then he thanked their good Samaritan and they took their leave.
+
+"That makes a dollar and ten cents!" he remarked confidentially as he
+and Lou went down the hill road together toward the bustling little city
+nestled at the river's edge. "Quite a fortune, isn't it?"
+
+"She gave me a quarter for helping with the ironing, too, so that's
+thirty-five that I've got." Lou exhibited a hard knot tied in the corner
+of her handkerchief. "I couldn't get all of the egg out of my hat, but
+it's good enough. Where do we go from Riverburgh?"
+
+Jim gave a groan of mock despair.
+
+"That's the dev--I mean, the deuce of it!" he exclaimed. "We've got to
+cross the river there someway, and go on down on the other side. We
+can't keep on this, or we will run into New Jersey and--and I mustn't
+leave the State."
+
+He blurted the last out in a dogged, uncomfortable way, but Lou did not
+appear to notice his change of tone.
+
+"Well, there look to be plenty of boats goin' back an' forth," she
+observed placidly. "I guess we can get over."
+
+"But you don't understand. I--I can't pay our way over; that's another
+of the things I mustn't do." Jim flushed hotly.
+
+"I wish I could tell you all about it."
+
+"It don't make any difference." Lou kept her eyes fixed straight ahead
+of her. "There ought to be some way for you to work your way across."
+
+The road dipped sharply, and became all at once a pleasant, tree-lined
+street with pretty suburban cottages on either hand. To the east and
+north hung the smoke cloud of countless factories, but their way led
+them through the modest residential quarter. The street presently turned
+into a paved one, and trolley lines appeared; then brick buildings and
+shops, and before they knew it they were in the busy, crowded business
+thoroughfare.
+
+Lou would have paused, gaping and wondering if New York could be
+anything like this, but Jim hurried her down the steep, cobbled way
+which led to the ferry. Once there, he took her to a seat in the
+waiting-room.
+
+"Sit here and wait for me," he directed. "I'm going to run back up to
+the shops and get some provisions for us to carry along, and then I'll
+arrange about getting across. I shan't be long."
+
+When he came down the hill again some twenty minutes later laden with
+packages, he found Lou waiting for him at the door of the ferry-house,
+with a little exultant smile about her lips.
+
+"Come on," she commanded shortly. "I've fixed it for us to get over, but
+we gotta hurry. The boat's a'most ready to start."
+
+"How in the world----" he began, but without deigning to explain she led
+him to the gate. It was only after he had perforce preceded her that he
+saw her hand two tickets to the officials at the turnstile.
+
+"Lou!" he exclaimed reproachfully.
+
+"Well, it's all right, isn't it?" she demanded. "You kin ride if anybody
+asks you, can't you? I'm invitin' you to ride on this boat with me, Mr.
+Botts!"
+
+In spite of her assumed gaiety, however, the trip across the river was a
+silent one, and when the landing was reached and they hurried out of the
+settlement to the open country once more, both were acutely aware that
+the intangible rift was widening. It was as though they walked on
+opposite sides of the road, and neither could bridge the distance
+between.
+
+Both doggedly immersed in their own reflections, they walked on rapidly
+in spite of the heat and with no thought of time or distance until Jim
+realized that his companion was lagging, and glanced up to see that the
+sun had started well upon the western trail.
+
+"By Jove! You must be almost starved!" he cried. "I never thought--why
+didn't you wake me out of this trance I seem to have been in, and tell
+me it was long past time for chow? We must have walked miles!"
+
+"I didn't think, either." Lou glanced about her wearily. "I don't see
+any house, but I kinder think I hear a little brook somewhere, don't
+you? Let's find it, an' then hurry on; if we've got to do sixty miles by
+the day after to-morrow we got to be movin' right steady."
+
+They found the little brook, and ate of their supplies and drank
+heartily, for they were both famished by the long walk, but all the
+carefree joyousness seemed to have gone out of the adventure, and when
+Lou discovered that the knot in the corner of her handkerchief had
+become untied and the remainder of her capital was gone, it appeared to
+be the last cloud needed to immerse her in gloom.
+
+Her feet were blistered and every muscle ached with fatigue, but she
+shook her head when Jim asked if she were too tired to go on, and limped
+determinedly out into the road after him. She had accepted his
+companionship to New York, and she would drop in her tracks before she
+would be a drag on him and prevent his reaching there in the time which
+was so mysteriously important to him.
+
+A mile farther on, however, an empty motor van picked them up, and
+seated at the back with her feet hanging over, Lou promptly fell asleep,
+her head sagging unconsciously against Jim's shoulder. He did not touch
+her, but moved so that her head should fall into a more comfortable
+position, and looked down with new tenderness at the tow-colored hair.
+The ridiculous, outstanding braid was gone, and instead, a soft knot
+appeared low on the slender, sun-burned neck, with tiny tendrils of
+curls escaping from it.
+
+What a game little sport she had proved herself to be! He wondered how
+many girls of his own set would have had the courage and endurance for
+such a test. Then to his own amazement he found himself thinking of them
+with a certain sense of disparagement, almost contempt. They would not
+have had the moral courage, let alone physical endurance.
+
+Of course, this sort of vagabondage would be outrageous and utterly
+impossible from a conventional standpoint, but with Lou it had been a
+mere venture into Arcady, as innocent as the wanderings of two children.
+And Saturday it must end!
+
+At the outskirts of Parksville he called to the good-natured truckman
+who sat behind the wheel, and the latter obligingly put on the brakes.
+
+"My sister and I don't want to go right into the town, so we'll get out
+here if you don't mind," Jim said. "This lift has been a godsend, and I
+can't thank you, but I've got the name of the company you're working for
+in New York and I'll drop around some night when I'm flush and you're
+knocking off, and we'll see if the old burg is as dry as it's supposed
+to be."
+
+"You're on!" The driver grinned. "Got a job waitin' for yer? We need
+some helpers."
+
+"I've got a job." Jim thought of that "job" in the mahogany-lined suite
+of offices which bore his name on the door, but he did not smile. "I'll
+look you up soon. Come on, Lou; here's where we change cars."
+
+She rubbed her eyes and gazed about her bewilderedly in the gathering
+darkness as he lifted her to the ground and the truck rumbled off.
+
+"Where--where are we now?" she asked sleepily.
+
+"Just outside Parksville; see those lights over there?" he replied. "We
+must have walked more than ten miles before that motor van came along,
+so it isn't any wonder that you were tired, even if you wouldn't admit
+it. Just think, nineteen miles to-day!"
+
+He was wondering, even as he spoke, what they were to do for the night.
+He had not enough money to secure even the humblest of lodgings for her,
+and he knew that if they ventured as vagrants into the town they would
+be in danger of apprehension by the authorities. But Lou solved the
+question quite simply.
+
+"Isn't that big thing stickin' up in that field a haystack? I--I'd like
+a piece of that sponge cake that's left from what we ate at noon, and
+then crawl in there an' sleep straight through till to-morrow," she
+declared. "Did you want to go on any further to-night?"
+
+"Heavens, no. I was just wondering--I don't see why it couldn't be
+done," he replied somewhat haltingly. "There isn't any house near, and I
+don't think anything will hurt you."
+
+The latter probability seemed of no moment to Lou. She fell asleep again
+with her sponge cake half eaten, and he picked her up and nestled her in
+the hay as though she were in very truth a child. Then, as on the first
+night at the deserted mill near Hudsondale, he sat down at the foot of
+the haystack, on guard.
+
+It was well for them, however, that the haying was done in that
+particular field, and no farmer appeared from the big white house just
+over the hill, for in spite of his most valiant efforts Jim, too,
+slumbered, and it was broad day when he awoke.
+
+Lou had vanished from the haystack, but he found her at a little spring
+in a strip of woodland on the other side of the road, and they
+breakfasted hastily, conserving the last fragments of food for their
+midday meal, and started off.
+
+They had left the last chimney of Parksville well behind them when Jim
+suddenly observed:
+
+"You're limping, Lou. Let me see your shoes."
+
+She drew away from him.
+
+"It's nothin'," she denied. "My shoes are all right. I--I must've slept
+too long last night an' got sort of stiffened up."
+
+The freckles were swamped in a deep flood of color, but Jim repeated
+insistently: "Hold up your foot, Lou."
+
+Reluctantly she obeyed, disclosing a battered sole through the worn
+places of which something green showed.
+
+"I--I stuffed it with leaves," she confessed, defensively. "They're real
+comfortable, honestly. I'm just stiff----"
+
+Jim groaned.
+
+"I suppose they will have to do until we reach the next town, but you
+should have told me."
+
+"I kin take care of myself," Lou asserted. "I've walked in pretty near
+as bad as these in the institootion. We'd better get along to where
+there's some houses 'cause it looks to me like a storm was comin' up."
+
+The sun was still blazing down upon them, but it was through a murky
+haze, and the air seemed lifeless and heavy. Great, white-crested
+thunder heads were mounting in the sky, and behind them a dense
+blackness spread.
+
+"You're right; I never noticed----" Jim paused guiltily. After leaving
+the vicinity of Parksville he had purposely led her on a detour back
+into the farming country to avoid the main highway, for along the river
+front were the estates of some people he knew and he shrank from meeting
+them in his tramplike condition if they should motor past. There was
+Lou, too, to be considered. He might have offered some possible
+explanation for his own appearance, but no interpretation could be
+placed upon her presence at his side save that which he must prevent at
+all costs.
+
+Rolling fields and woodland stretched away illimitably on both sides of
+the road, and not even a cow shed appeared as they hurried onward, while
+the clouds mounted higher, and the rumble of thunder grew upon the air.
+The sun had vanished, and a strange, anticipatory stillness enveloped
+them, broken only by that hollow muttering.
+
+"It's comin' up fast." Lou broke the silence with one of her seldomly
+volunteered remarks. "Shall we git into the woods? I'd as lief dodge
+trees as be drowned in the road."
+
+"No!" Jim shook his head. "There is some kind of a shack just ahead
+there; I think we can make it before the storm comes."
+
+They were fairly running now, but the darkness was settling fast and a
+fork of lightning darted blindingly across their path. The object which
+Jim had taken for a shack proved to be merely a pile of rotting
+telegraph poles, but no other shelter offered, and they crouched in the
+lee of it, awaiting the onslaught of rain.
+
+"Take this, Lou." Jim wrapped his coat about her in spite of her
+protestations. "You're not afraid, are you?"
+
+"No, I ain't--I'm not--but you're goin' to get soaked through! I heard
+you coughin' once or twice at the bottom of that haystack last night."
+He thrilled unconsciously to the motherliness in her tone. Then she
+added reflectively: "I don't guess I'm afraid of anythin' I've seen yet,
+but I ain't--I haven't seen much."
+
+She ended with a sharp intake of her breath as a sudden gust of wind
+whirled the dust up into their faces and another streak of white light
+flashed before their eyes. Then with a rush and roar the storm burst.
+
+The woods marched straight down to the roadside at this point, and the
+trees back of the heap of poles moaned and writhed like tortured
+creatures while great branches lashed over their heads with now and then
+an ominous crackle, but it was lost in the surge of the winds and the
+ceaseless crash and roar of the thunder. Jagged forks of lightning
+played all about them like rapiers of steel, and at last the rain came.
+
+The brim of Lou's hat, hopelessly limp since its cleansing of the
+previous day, now flopped stringily against her face until she tore it
+off and gasping, buried her head in her arms as the sheets of rain
+pelted down. Jim's coat was sodden, and the thin cotton gown beneath
+clung to her drenched body, but she crouched closer to the poles while
+each volley of thunder shook her as with invisible hands.
+
+Her lashes were glued to her cheeks, but she forced them open and turned
+to see how Jim was faring. He had flattened himself against the poles at
+their farther end, and just as she looked his way a flash of lightning
+seemed to split the air between them and the huge old tree which reared
+its branches just above his head, snapped like a dry twig beneath some
+giant heel.
+
+Lou saw the great oak totter and then sway, while a sickening swirl of
+branches filled the air, and scarcely conscious of her own act she
+hurled herself upon Jim. With all the strength borne of her terror she
+pushed him from the heap of poles, sending him rolling out into the
+middle of the road, to safety. Then she tried to spring after him, but a
+hideous, waiting lethargy seemed to encompass her, and then with a
+mighty crash the tree fell athwart the poles.
+
+Half stunned by the unexpected onslaught upon him and the rending blast
+of the falling tree, Jim lay motionless for an instant, then with a
+sharp cry sprang to his feet and turned to look for Lou, but the pile of
+telegraph poles was hidden beneath a broad sweep of branches and across
+the place where she had crouched the great trunk of the tree lay prone.
+
+"Lou!" The cry burst from his very heart as he sprang forward and began
+to tear frantically at the stout limbs which barred his way. "Oh, God,
+she isn't crushed! Don't take her now, she's so little and young, and I
+want her, I need her so! God!"
+
+He was unconscious that he was praying aloud, unconscious of the words
+which issued sobbingly from his lips. He tugged and tore at the branches
+while the skin ripped like ribbons from his hands and the boughs whipped
+back to raise great welts upon his face.
+
+He was unconscious, too, of a stir at the other side of the fallen tree
+and a rustle of sodden leaves, as, very much after the manner of a
+prairie dog emerging from his hole, Lou crawled out into the rain, and
+sitting up, sneezed.
+
+At the sound of that meek sternutation Jim whirled about.
+
+"Lou!"
+
+"Jim! Oh, Jim! You're not killed!" A muddy, bedraggled little figure
+that once had been pink and white flew straight to him, and two soft
+arms swept about him and clung convulsively. "I seen it comin', an'--an'
+I tried to shove you out of the way----"
+
+"Thank God, little girl! Thank God you aren't hurt!" he murmured
+brokenly. "I thought the tree had fallen on you!"
+
+"Only the boughs of it, but they held me down. Oh, Jim, if you'd been
+killed I wouldn't 'a' cared what happened to me!"
+
+His heart leaped, and his own arms tightened about her at the naive,
+unconscious revelation which had issued from her lips. Then all at once
+he realized what it had meant, that hideous feeling of loss when he
+thought that she lay buried beneath the tree. It had come to them both,
+revealed as by a flash of the lightning which was now traveling toward
+the east, and in the wonder and joy of it he held her close for a moment
+and then put her gently from him.
+
+Sternly repressing the words which would have rushed from his heart, he
+said quietly:
+
+"Thank God we were both spared. Come, little Lou, we must find shelter."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+Journey's End
+
+
+The rain had ceased, and as they walked down the muddy road the sun came
+out even before the final mutterings of the thunder had died away in the
+distance, and so they came at last upon a little house which sat well
+back among a group of dripping trees.
+
+"Take your coat, Jim," Lou said, breaking a long silence which had
+fallen between them. "That porch is so wet now that we can't get it any
+wetter an' I'm goin' to ask for a chance to get dry."
+
+But they had scarcely passed through the gate when the front door opened
+and a young woman rushed out.
+
+"Oh! Will you run to the next house for me and telephone for the
+doctor?" she cried, all in one breath. Her eyes were staring and her
+breast heaved convulsively.
+
+Jim quickened his pace.
+
+"Where is the next house, and what doctor shall I send for?" he asked
+pleasantly.
+
+"It's just over the ridge there; the Colberts. They know Dr. Blair's
+number. My husband would go himself but he can't step on his hurt foot
+and I don't dare leave. Tell the Colberts that it's the baby! He's
+dying, and I don't know what to do!"
+
+Jim turned, and hurried off over the ridge, but Lou took a step forward.
+
+"Baby! I've been takin' care of babies all my life, seems like. You let
+me look at it, ma'am."
+
+"Oh, do you think you could do anything, a little thing like you?"
+
+The young woman eyed the forlornly drenched figure before her rather
+doubtfully, but something she read in Lou's steady, confident gaze
+seemed to reassure her, and she threw wide the door. "Come in, please!
+He's all blue."
+
+Lou unceremoniously pushed past her down the clean little hallway and
+paused for a moment upon the threshold of the room at its end. It was a
+kitchen, small, but as immaculately clean as the hall, and in a
+rocking-chair near the window sat an anxious-eyed young man with his
+bandaged foot up on another chair before him, and in his arms a tiny,
+rigid little form.
+
+Lou went straight to him and unceremoniously possessed herself of the
+baby.
+
+Its small face was waxen, with a bluish tinge about the mouth, and
+half-closed, glazing eyes.
+
+"How long's it been like this?" Lou demanded sharply.
+
+"Only just a few minutes. It--it seemed like a sort of fit that he had."
+The young woman turned to her husband. "Jack, this little girl stopped
+by and said she knew all about babies, and the man with her, he's gone
+for----"
+
+"I want some hot water, quick!" Lou interrupted the explanations
+brusquely. "Boiling hot, and a tub or a big pan. Have you got the kettle
+on?"
+
+"Y-yes, but I'm afraid I've let the fire go out," the woman faltered. "I
+was so worried----"
+
+With an exclamation of impatience Lou rewrapped the baby which she had
+been examining and thrust it into the man's arms. Then turning to the
+woman with exasperation in her eyes and voice she demanded:
+
+"I s'pose you can find some dry chips, somewhere, can't you? If I don't
+get this baby into a hot bath right away it'll be all up with him."
+
+The woman gasped, and ran out of the back door while the young man in
+the chair groaned:
+
+"It's awful to sit here helpless and watch him suffer! If I could only
+put my foot to the floor----"
+
+"How old is he, anyway?" Lou, who was busily searching the shelf of
+groceries, asked over her shoulder. "He looks to be under a year."
+
+"Ten months, miss," he answered. "What do you think is the matter with
+him?"
+
+"Convulsion," Lou replied succinctly, as the woman rushed in once more
+with her apron full of chips. "Git some more, it don't matter how you
+clog the stove with wood ashes; we gotta git boilin' water as quick as
+we kin."
+
+Meanwhile Jim found the Colbert house, explained his mission, and having
+accomplished it, hastened back. He pulled the bell, but no one came, and
+knocking, found that the door yielded to his touch. Entering, he went
+down the hall and paused at the kitchen door just as the woman
+stammered:
+
+"I d-don't think there are any dry kindlings left."
+
+"Then chop some! Ain't you got any old boxes? Oh, Jim!" Lou caught sight
+of him in the doorway. "Find a hatchet and some light, dry wood, will
+you?"
+
+The fire was roaring in the stove at last, but the water was long in
+boiling, and the little figure in the man's arms seemed to be undergoing
+a subtle but inevitable change. His lips were still parted, but no
+faintest stir of breath emanated from them, and the rigidity had taken
+on a marble-like cast.
+
+The mother bent over him, moaning once more, but Lou turned upon her in
+swift scorn.
+
+"For goodness' sake, where's that tub or pan I asked you for? He's got a
+chance, a _good_ chance if you don't waste any more time! What you
+been givin' him, anyway?" she added, as the woman flew to do her
+bidding.
+
+"Nothing but a little green corn. He relishes it, and it's so cute to
+see him try to chew it----"
+
+"Green corn!" Lou repeated, as she seized the heavy kettle and began
+pouring its steaming contents into the tub. "Ain't _nobody_ in your
+family ever had any babies before?"
+
+She hastily added to the tub a quantity of yellowish powder from a can
+which she had found upon the shelf of groceries, and marched
+determinedly over to the man who was seated in the chair.
+
+"Give me that baby!" she demanded.
+
+"But, miss, that water's boiling!" he gasped.
+
+"You're not going to put my baby in that?" The woman came quickly from
+her apathy of dismay and sprang forward, while Jim, too, advanced, his
+anxiety for another reason.
+
+"Lou! You'll blister yourself horribly----"
+
+"Let me alone, all of you!" Lou turned upon them even as she stripped
+the wrappings from the child. "Haven't I done this a hundred times? He
+ain't even goin' to feel the heat of the mustard, he's so far gone! I
+guess I know what I'm doin'!"
+
+The woman buried her face in her hands with a sob, and even Jim turned
+away his eyes, but no one thought to interfere further with the assured
+little nurse. There was a splash of water, a little gasp from Lou, and
+then after a period which seemed interminable her matter-of-fact voice
+remarked:
+
+"He's comin' round."
+
+The tiny body was scarcely tinged with pink, but it had lost its
+dreadful rigidity, and a faint cry came from it as Lou wrapped it in a
+shawl and laid it in its mother's arms.
+
+"He'll do now, anyway till that doctor comes."
+
+Amid the rejoicing of the parents Jim advanced to Lou and demanded:
+
+"Let me see your arms."
+
+"They're all right--" She tried to put them behind her as she spoke, but
+he drew them forward. A network of blisters covered them almost to the
+shoulders.
+
+"Oh, Lou! Lou!" he murmured brokenly. "What won't you do next?"
+
+She smiled faintly.
+
+"You said I'd do anything once, but I've done this lots of times
+before----"
+
+"Well, well, good people! What's going on here?" A kindly voice sounded
+from the doorway, and the woman turned with a little cry.
+
+"Oh, Dr. Blair, she saved the baby! Put him down in that scalding water
+and held him right there with her hands, and she's burned herself
+something terrible, but she saved him! I never saw a braver----"
+
+"Let me see."
+
+The doctor examined the baby with professional gravity and then looked
+up.
+
+"I should say you did save him, young woman! I couldn't have done better
+for him myself! Now let me have a look at those arms of yours."
+
+After he had bandaged her blisters the woman prepared food and coffee
+for them all and then took Lou upstairs with her, while Jim dried his
+soaking clothes by the kitchen fire and the three men talked in a
+desultory way of the topics of the countryside.
+
+Dr. Blair had just ascertained that Jim and his "sister" were strangers,
+traveling toward New York, and had offered to drive them both to the
+trolley line in his little car, when the woman of the house reappeared
+with Lou, and Jim stared with all his eyes.
+
+Could this be the little scarecrow of a girl he had met on the road only
+five days before; this unbelievably tall, slender young woman in the
+dark blue silk gown with filmy ruffles falling about her neck and
+wrists, and soft puffs of blond hair over her ears?
+
+"It's me, though I kin hardly believe it myself!" Lou answered his
+unspoken thought. Then drawing him aside she added: "Mis' Tooker--that's
+her name--gave me a pair of shoes, too, an' a hat an' five whole
+dollars! Are we goin' to a place called Pelton?"
+
+Jim nodded.
+
+"That is where I hoped we would be by to-night, but it must be at least
+twelve miles away."
+
+"Well, Mis' Tooker says the trolley goes right into Pelton, and she gave
+me a letter to a friend of hers there who'll take us in for the
+night----"
+
+The doctor interrupted with an intimation of another patient to be
+visited, and they bade farewell to the grateful young couple and started
+away. The sun was still high, and save for the mud which splashed up
+with each turn of the wheels, all traces of the storm had vanished.
+
+"Jennie Tooker always was a fool!" Dr. Blair grumbled. "How many babies
+have you taken care of, young woman?"
+
+"More'n twenty, I guess, off an' on," Lou responded. "I--I used to work
+in an institootion up-State."
+
+Fearing further revelations, Jim hastily took a hand in the
+conversation, and he and the doctor chatted until the trolley line was
+reached. There, when they had descended from the little car Lou turned
+to Jim and asked a trifle shyly:
+
+"You--you're goin' to let me ask you to ride, aren't you? You bought all
+the food in Riverburgh, you know."
+
+"And you seem to have financed all the rest of the trip," he said with a
+rueful laugh. "I thought, when you suggested that we should travel
+together, I would be the one to take care of you, but it has been the
+other way around. Oh, Lou, I've so much to say to you when we reach our
+journey's end!"
+
+They arrived at Pelton before dark and found Mrs. Tooker's friend, who
+ran a small boarding-house for store employees, and was glad to take
+them in at a dollar a head. Lou disappeared after supper, and although
+Lou waited long for him on the little porch, he did not return until
+through sheer fatigue she was forced to go to bed.
+
+In the morning, however, when they met before breakfast in the lower
+hall he jingled a handful of silver in his pocket.
+
+"However did you git it?" she demanded.
+
+"Garage," he responded succinctly. "Didn't know I was a chauffeur, did
+you, Lou?"
+
+A peculiar little smile hovered for a moment about her lips, but she
+merely remarked:
+
+"I thought you wouldn't only take a quarter----"
+
+"For each job," he interrupted her. "A lot of cars came in that needed
+tinkering with after the storm, and they were short of hands. I made
+more than two dollars, and we'll ride in state into Hunnikers!"
+
+Lou made no reply, but after breakfast she drew him out on the little
+porch.
+
+"Jim, I--I'm not goin' on."
+
+"What!" he exclaimed.
+
+"The woman that runs this place, she--she wants a girl to help her, an'
+I guess I'll stay." Lou's tones were none too steady, and she did not
+meet his eyes. "I--I don't believe I'd like New York."
+
+"You, a servant here?" He took one of her hands very gently in his. "I
+didn't mean to tell you until we were nearly there, and as it is, there
+is a lot that I can't tell you even now, but this much I want you to
+know. You're not going to work any more, Lou. You're going to a lovely
+old lady who lives in a big house all by herself, and there you are
+going to study and play until you are really grown up, and know as much
+as anybody."
+
+She smiled and shook her head.
+
+"This is the sort of place for me, Jim. I wasn't meant for anythin'
+else, an' if I should live to be a hundred I could never know as much as
+that lady at the circus who called you 'Jimmie Abbott.'"
+
+"What--" Jim exploded for the second time.
+
+"At least, she said you looked like him, and if she didn't know you were
+in Canada----"
+
+"Good Lord! What was she doing there?"
+
+"She was with another lady an' two gentlemen, an' I guess they come in
+an ottermobile," Lou explained. "They was in one the next day,
+anyway--the one that slammed into the egg-wagon."
+
+She described in detail the two occurrences, and added miserably:
+
+"I didn't mean to tell you, Jim, but as long as I'm not goin' on with
+you I might as well. It was me that walked on your note-book back there
+on Mrs. Bemis's porch. It had fallen open on the floor, an' when I
+picked it up I couldn't help seein' the name that was written across the
+page. It was your own business, of course, if you didn't want to give
+your real name to anybody----"
+
+"Listen, Lou." He had caught her other hand now and was holding them
+both very tightly. "You _are_ going on with me! I can't explain now
+about my name, but it doesn't matter; nothing matters except that you
+are not going to be a quitter! You said that you would go on to New York
+with me, and you're going to keep your word."
+
+"I know better now," she replied quietly. "It's--it's been a wonderful
+time, but I've got to work an' earn my keep an' try to learn as I go
+along. It isn't just exactly breakin' my word; I didn't realize----"
+
+"Realize what?" he demanded as she hesitated.
+
+"I thought at first that you were kinder like me; it wasn't until I saw
+that lady an' found you were a friend of hers, that I knew you were
+different."
+
+Her eyes were still downcast, and now a tinge of color mounted in her
+cheeks. "I couldn't bear to have you take me to that other lady in the
+city and be a-ashamed of me----"
+
+"Ashamed of you!" he repeated, and something in his tone deepened the
+color in her cheeks into a crimson tide. "Lou, look at me!"
+
+Obediently she raised her eyes for an instant; then lowered them again
+quickly, and after a pause she said in a very small voice:
+
+"All right, Jim. I--I'll go. I guess I wouldn't just want to be a--a
+quitter, after all."
+
+It was mid-afternoon when they walked into Hunnikers and although they
+had come ten long miles with only a stop for a picnic lunch between,
+they bore no traces of fatigue. Rather they appeared to have been
+treading on air, and although Jim had scrupulously avoided any further
+reference to the future, there was a certain buoyant assurance about him
+which indicated that in his own mind, at least, there remained no room
+for doubt.
+
+He needed all the assurance he could muster as, after ensconcing Lou at
+the soda counter in the drug-store, he approached the telephone booth
+farthest from her ears and closed the door carefully behind him. Lou
+consumed her soda to its last delectable drop, glanced down anxiously at
+the worn, but spotless, little silk gown to see if she had spilled any
+upon it, and then wandered over to the showcase.
+
+Jim's voice came to her indistinguishably once or twice, but it was a
+full half-hour before he emerged from the booth. He looked wilted but
+triumphant, and he beamed blissfully as he came toward her, mopping his
+brow. He suspected that at the other end of the wire a certain
+gray-haired, aristocratic old lady was having violent hysterics to the
+immediate concern of three maids and an asthmatic Pekinese, but it did
+not disturb his equanimity.
+
+"It's all right," he announced. "Aunt Emmy expects you; I didn't tell
+you, did I, that the lady I'm taking you to is my aunt? No matter. She's
+awfully easy if you get on the right side of her; I've always managed
+her beautifully ever since I was a kid, and you'll have her rolling over
+and playing dead in no time. Fifteen miles more to go, Lou, and we'll
+be----"
+
+"Hello, there, Jim." An oil-soaked and greasy glove clapped his shoulder
+and as he turned, the same voice, suddenly altered, stammered: "Oh, I
+beg your pardon----"
+
+"'Lo, Harry!" Jim turned to greet a tall, lean individual more tanned
+than himself, with little, fine, weather lines about his eyes and an
+abrupt quickness of gesture which denoted his hair-triggered nerves.
+"What are you doing in this man's town?"
+
+"Motoring down from the Hilton's," the other responded. "Pete was coming
+with me, but at the last minute he decided to stay over the week-end.
+I'm off to Washington to-night to see about my passport; sailing next
+Wednesday for Labrador, you know."
+
+"Then you're alone?" Jim turned. "Miss Lacey, let me present Mr. Van
+Ness; he spends his time trailing all over the earth to find something
+to kill. Miss Lacey is a young friend of my aunt's; I'm taking her down
+to her for a visit."
+
+The explanation sounded somewhat involved, but Mr. Van Ness seemed to
+grasp it, and bowed.
+
+"You're motoring, too?" he asked.
+
+"No. I--The fact is--" Jim stammered in his turn. "We were thinking of
+taking the train----"
+
+"Why not let me take you both down in the car?" The other rose to the
+occasion with evident alacrity. "Miss Lacy will like it better than the
+train, I'm sure, and I haven't seen you for an age, old man."
+
+Jim accepted with a promptitude which proclaimed a mind relieved of its
+final burden, and he turned to Lou. Mr. Van Ness had gone out to see to
+his car, and they were alone at a far corner of the counter.
+
+"How about it, Lou? The last lap! The last fifteen miles. It's been a
+long pull sometimes, and we've had some rough going, but it was worth
+it, wasn't it?"
+
+Her eyes all unconsciously gave him answer even before she repeated
+softly:
+
+"'The last lap.' Oh, Jim, shall I see you some time, at this lady's
+house where you are takin' me?"
+
+"Every day," he promised, adding with cheerful mendacity: "I dine with
+her nearly all the time; have for years. Come on, Lou. Harry's waving at
+us."
+
+Through the village and the pleasant rolling country beyond; past huge,
+wide-spreading estates and tiny cottages, and clusters of small shops
+with the trolley winding like a thread between, the big maroon car sped,
+while the two men talked together of many things, and the girl sat back
+in her corner of the roomy tonneau and gave herself up to vague dreams.
+
+Then the cottages gave place to sporadic growths of brick and mortar
+with more open lots between, but even these gaps finally closed, and Lou
+found herself being borne swiftly through street after street of
+towering houses out upon a broad avenue with palaces such as she had
+never dreamed of on one side, and on the other the seared, drooping
+green of a city park in late summer.
+
+It was still light when the big car swept into an exclusive street of
+brownstone houses of an earlier and still more exclusive period, and
+stopped before the proudest of these.
+
+Jim alighted and held out his hand.
+
+"Come, Lou," he said. "Journey's end."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+The Long, Long Trail
+
+
+Three hours later, in that same proudly exclusive house, an elderly lady
+with gray hair and an aristocratically high, thin nose paced the floor
+of her drawing-room with a vigor which denoted some strong emotion.
+
+"I must say, John, that I think the whole affair, whatever it may be, is
+highly reprehensible. I supposed James to be up in Canada on a fishing
+trip when he telephoned me this morning from somewhere near town with
+a--a most extraordinary message----"
+
+She broke off, glancing cautiously toward a room across the hall, and
+added: "He said he had something to tell me, and he would be here this
+evening. Now you come, and you appear to know something about it, but I
+cannot get a word out of you!"
+
+"All I can tell you, Mrs. Abbott, is that if Jimmie does come to-night,
+I've got to pay him a thousand bones--dollars, I mean. It was a sort of
+a wager, and that must be what he wants to tell you about."
+
+It was an exceedingly stout young man with a round, cherubic countenance
+standing by the mantel who replied to her, and the old lady glanced at
+him sharply.
+
+"A wager? H-m! Possibly." She paused suddenly. "There's the bell."
+
+A moment later James Tarrisford Abbott, in the most immaculate of dinner
+clothes, entered and greeted his aunt, halting with a slight frown as he
+encountered the beaming face of the young man who fell upon him.
+
+"Good boy, Jimmie! You made it, after all!"
+
+"With a few hours to spare." Jim darted a questioning glance at his
+aunt, and seemed relieved at her emphatic shake of the head.
+
+"I knew we'd lost when Mrs. Abbott told me that you had telephoned to
+her from just a little way out of town to-day," Jack Trimble responded.
+"I ran over on my way to the club to give her a message from my mother.
+Did you have a hard time of it, old man?"
+
+"Hard?" Jim smiled. "I've been a rough-rider in a circus----"
+
+Mrs. Abbott groaned, but Jack Trimble's eyes opened as roundly and wide
+as his mouth.
+
+"Thundering--So it was you after all!"
+
+"Me?" Jim demanded with ungrammatical haste.
+
+"You--rough-rider--circus!" Jack exclaimed. "Vera said the chap looked
+like you, but it never occurred to me that it could possibly be!"
+
+"So it was Vera, was it?" Jim smiled. "I heard what she said--I mean, it
+was repeated to me. You were one of that party?"
+
+"Yes. We were with the Lentilhons in their car, and the funniest thing
+happened the next day on the way home! Crusty old farmer wouldn't turn
+out on the road, and Guy Lentilhon lost control and smashed straight
+through his wagon!" Jack laughed. "W-what do you think it was loaded
+with?"
+
+"Eggs!" responded Jim crisply. "I happened to be on it at the time, my
+boy, and your sense of humor--I hope you all got what I did! But I must
+explain to Aunt Emmy here, or she will think that we are both quite
+mad!"
+
+"And I must be off to the club," Jack announced. "I'll break the news to
+Billy Hollis that we've lost. See you later, and we'll all settle up.
+Good evening, Mrs. Abbott."
+
+When the stout young man had taken his departure, Mrs. Abbott turned to
+her nephew between laughter and tears.
+
+"James, this is the maddest of all mad things that you have ever done!"
+
+"Jack doesn't know anything about Lou?" Jim demanded anxiously.
+
+"Certainly not. He has only been here a quarter of an hour, and I kept
+her out of the way. But, James, you cannot be serious! You cannot mean
+to marry this nameless waif?"
+
+"Stop right there, Aunt Emmy," he interrupted her firmly. "I'm going to
+marry, if she will have me, your ward whom you have legally adopted; I
+mean, you will have adopted her by the time she has grown up. But I
+don't intend to be nosed out by any of these debutante-grabbers; I'm
+going to have everything settled before her studies are finished and you
+bring her out. I saw her first!"
+
+"H-m. We shall see," Aunt Emmy remarked dryly, adding: "But that can
+wait for the moment. What was this ridiculous wager all about, and how
+did you get into such horrible scrapes?"
+
+"The whole thing came out of an idle discussion Jack Trimble, Billy
+Hollis and I had at the club one night concerning human nature. It
+drifted into a debate about charity in general and the kindness shown
+toward strangers by country folk in particular, with myself in the
+minority, of course," Jim explained.
+
+"They each wagered me a thousand against my five hundred that I couldn't
+walk from Buffalo to New York in twenty-five days with only five dollars
+in my pocket to start with, and work my way home without begging nor
+accepting more than a quarter for each job I managed to secure in any
+one time.
+
+"The idea was to see how many of these hard-boiled up-State farmers we
+hear so much about would offer you the hospitality reputed to be
+extended only by the rural population of the South and West, and how
+many would give a foot-sore and weary traveler a lift upon the way.
+There were other conditions, too; I was not to use my own surname, not
+to go a foot out of the State into either Pennsylvania or New Jersey. I
+was not to beg, borrow, or steal, and for the occasional twenty-five
+cents I might earn I could only purchase food or actual necessities, not
+use it for transportation, and I must not beat my way by stealing rides
+on boats or trains or any other conveyances."
+
+While Aunt Emmy sat staring at him in speechless amazement, Jim produced
+his little red note-book and laid it before her.
+
+"There's the route I chose over the mountains, my expense account for
+each day, and the names and addresses of the people who helped to prove
+my contention that, take them by and large, the people of my own State
+are as big-hearted as any in the Union, and Jack's money and Billy's
+says that they are!
+
+"I'm going to return some of that kindness, Aunt Emmy. There are two
+little boys near Riverburgh whose father is dead and who are trying to
+do the farm work of men. They are going to a good school this winter,
+and there are a few other people who are going to be surprised! By Jove,
+I never realized what money was for until now! But best of all, I found
+Lou!"
+
+"And what makes you so sure that I am going to adopt her and educate her
+and bring her out?" demanded Aunt Emmy. "My dear boy, when you started
+on this Canadian fishing trip of yours I knew that something
+extraordinary would come of it, but I did not anticipate anything so
+bizarre as this! Why do you think that I will interest myself in this
+child?"
+
+"Because you won't be able to help it." His face had sobered, and there
+was a note in his voice that his aunt had never heard before. "You won't
+be able to help loving her when you find out how courageous she is, and
+sincere and true! She is the biggest-hearted, most candid, naive
+little----"
+
+"She is quite that!" Aunt Emmy interrupted in her turn, with emphasis.
+"How I am ever to hide her away until I've had her coached not to drop
+her g's, and to realize that there is a 'u' in the alphabet I don't
+know, but I'll try. James--I think there are distinct possibilities
+there."
+
+"I knew it!" Jim cried. "I knew you wouldn't be able to resist her! For
+the Lord's sake, Aunt Emmy, don't let them spoil her! She's so sweet and
+simple-hearted, don't let them make her cynical and worldly-wise! I'll
+promise not to speak to her, not to let her know how I feel until you
+say that I may."
+
+"Will you, James?" There was a faint smile about the delicately lined
+lips. "She is a child in many ways, a blank page for most impressions to
+be made upon, but in other things she is very much of a woman, and I
+rather fancy that what you have to tell her will not be so much of a
+surprise."
+
+"You old dear!" Jim sprang to his feet and folded his aunt in his
+embrace which threatened her coiffure. "Where is she?"
+
+"In the library waiting for you, Jamie!"
+
+She used the old nursery name, and caught his arm. "She is very young,
+but the heart sometimes breaks easily then. Don't speak unless you
+yourself are very sure."
+
+Jim smiled, and throwing back his head looked straight into the kindly
+old eyes. Then without a word he turned and disappeared through the
+door.
+
+                   *       *       *       *       *
+
+"And you're going to be happy here?" It was some time later when Jim had
+explained about the wager, and they were sitting together in the
+window-seat.
+
+"Happy? Why, Jim, I can't believe I'm awake! I'm going to study an' work
+an' try my best to be like her. Seems to me it'll take the rest of my
+life, but she says that in a year or two there won't anybody hardly tell
+the difference."
+
+"And then, Lou, when the time is past? What then?"
+
+"I don't know." Her tone was serenely unconcerned.
+
+"That trail we've followed together for the last week wasn't so bad, was
+it?" he asked. "You were happy in spite of the hardships?"
+
+"It was wonderful!" She drew a deep breath. "I--I wish we could start
+again, Jim, and do it all over again, every step of the way!"
+
+"If you feel like that, dear, perhaps some day when you have finished
+your studies we will start again on a longer trail." He took one of the
+little toil-worn hands in his. "The long, long trail, Lou, only we will
+be together! When that day comes, will you take the new road with me?"
+
+She bowed her head, and somehow he found it nestling in the hollow of
+his shoulder, and his arms were about her. After a long minute, she
+stirred and smiled.
+
+"Well--" she hesitated. "You knew from the very beginning, Jim, that I'd
+do anything once!"
+
+                                THE END
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Anything Once, by Douglas Grant
+
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