Old Caravan Days

seat; she raked the interior with her nails, th

t little old man with a bag on his back-I just k

y," said Bobaday, "maybe it fell on the carriage floo

erest in the process that he was glad to have the noon halt made near such a small fishing-place. He took his lunch and sat on the bank with the boys. They were very dirty, and one of them had his shirtsleeve split to the shoulder, revealing a sun-blistered elbow joint that still worked with a right good will at snaring. But no boys were ever fuller of out-door wisdom. They had been swimming, and knew the best diving-hole in the world, only a couple of miles away. They had dined on berries, and ex

OBADAY LUNCHES W

n catching such little fish. You never fried minnies. You used 'em for bait in deep water, though, the split-sleeved boy condescended to inform her, and you could put 'em into a glass jar, a

to come up. He left his seat and came to the rear of Old Hickory, the of

" inquired Grandma Padget

family as either Boswell or Johnson. Grandma Padgett having brought him up from a lone and forsaken child, relied upon all the good qualities

first by-road, and then take the first cross-road west, and save thirty mi

her glasses. She did not want to pay un

f you're sure we won't lose the wa

men, and they all tell

own neighborhood," admitted Grandma Padgett. "Wel

arriage horses and Zene

down before them. Zene paid according to the usual arrangement,

aunt Corinne to her nephew. "Folks could run against it on dark nights. Does he stay there by h

they can see everybody pass, and it'd be just as good as g

he trees on her side. Every new piece of woodland is an unexplored country containing moss-lined stumps, dimples of hollows full of mint, queer-shaped trees, and hickory saplings just the right saddle-curve for bending down as "teeters," such as are never reproduced in any other piece of woodland. Nature does not make two trees alike, and her cool breathing-halls under the woods' canopies are as diverse as the faces of children wandering there. Moss or lichens

berries and roots. I don't believe I'd like roots, though: they look so big and tough. And I wouldn't touch

e recollection, and he laughed, saying he

uldn't help it, and if brother Tip'd been ho

"And you'd eat the green persimmons if

at lived in the stone house filled his churn with, tast

tt, who felt the necessity of following Zene's lead clos

t on the first road we ca

irst, I counted,"

d of us. We don't want to resk gett

midst of a yellow mustard jungle. They saw some loiterers creeping home, carrying dinner-pail and basket, and taking a languid last tag of each other. The little girls looked up at the passing carriage from their sunbonnet depths, but the boys had taken off their hats to slap each other with: they looked at the strangers, round-eyed and ready to smile, and Rob

children, and the travellers, but in all th

us, and her anxiety increa

and I hate to ask at any farmer's for accommodations over night.

out," volunt

and kittles," said Grandma Padgett, "and dried mea

somewhere," exclaimed aunt Corinne. "And

' us to follow. And as like as not has found a pl

ounded aunt Corinne. "Maybe we're in Missouri, or

pose folks could go to Iowa or Missouri as quic

" murmured his aunt. "The' hasn't be

States with ropes,

nes," insisted

here?" questioned Grandma Padg

her grandson, kneeling upon the cushion

the premises had a look of Holland, which Grandma Padgett did not recognize: she only thought them very clean. There was a side door cut across the centre like the d

color died slowly out of the sky. If the tavern had any proprietor, he combined farming with tavern ke

ted Grandma Padgett. The woman with her

un in?" sa

topped here. I don't se

d with a large man who smoked a crooked-stemmed pipe during the conference. The man held the bowl of the pipe in his hand which was

s," he said

e're moving, and our wagon is somewhere on this road. Have

r, nodding his head. "Dere is lo

urther ourselves. Ca

mildly. "I don't keep moofers mit m

d Grandma Padgett indignantl

with undisturbed benevolence

ut out a sign t

look up at his sign. It swayed back and forth in the

e moofers. First house. All convenient. You sthay tere. I coom along in te mornin'. Tere ist

glasses on him. "Turn a woman and two children away to harbor as well as they can i

turned from his door. "And more as feefty famblies

pace down the valley. They were hungry, and upon an unknown road;

sion. "I suppose he calls every vagabond that comes along a mover, and his own house is too clean for such

the valley. This was narrow enough, but the very banks had a caving, treacherous look. Grandma Padgett drove in, and the carriage came down with

THE CREEK ANY BOTTOM?"

obert clung to the settling carriage. The water poured across their feet

!" Grandma Padgett exhorted. "There's no

they did not get out here, all must go whirling and sinking down stream. The landing was made, both horses leaping up as if from an abyss. The carriage cra

ger," she said. "And that miserable ma

aid Robert Day, "I'd g

h after escaping from peril. But if this is the trap he sets for his

dered it was time to begin crying. "I'm drownded,

op of the hill, Cori

" said Grandma Padgett, add

he "feefty famblies" had left no trace of domestic life. Grass and weeds grew t

hosts lived here," pron

Grandma Padgett, shaking her head. "Spooks an

hat," said Robert, "the

Susan," wept Corinne. "Are we goin' to

age. There was a shed covered with straw which served for a stable. The horses were watered-Robert wading to his neck among cherry sprouts to a curb well, and unhooking the heavy bucket from its c

lock was broken. "Anybody can go in!" remarked the head of the party. "But I don't know th

ling hopelessly along the mantel, they actual

lord's last moofer. Grandma Padgett built a fire to which the children huddled, cast

s in the house. I wouldn't grudge payin' that man a good price

Bobaday. "They'd be in th

e morning we came away," chattered aunt Co

se which made even Grandma Padgett st

the cellar!" w