hastened to business. He telegraphed to Harvey to transmit the
company's messages as fast as he could; a boy would soon be there to
take them over to Hetertown. The answer came:

What messages?

Then Harry suddenly remembered that he had had the messages in the
breast-pocket of his coat all the time!

He dived at his pocket. Yes, there they were!

Was there ever such a piece of absurdity? He had actually carried those
despatches across the creek! After all the labor and expense of building
the telegraph, this had been the way that the first business messages
had crossed Crooked Creek!

When Harry made this discovery he burst out laughing. Why, he might as
well have carried them to Hetertown from Charity's cabin. It would
really have been better, for the distance was not so great.

Although he laughed, he felt a little humiliated. How Tom Selden, and
indeed everybody, would laugh if they knew it!

But there was no need to tell everybody, and so when he telegraphed the
fact to Harvey, he enjoined secrecy. He knew he could trust Harvey.

And now he became anxious about Jim. Would he be able to borrow a mule,
and would he come?

Every few minutes he went to the door and listened for the sound of
approaching hoofs, but nothing was to be heard but the low snoring of
Aunt Judy, who was fast asleep in a chair by the fireplace.

While thus waiting, a happy thought came into Harry's head. He opened
the messages--he had a right to do that, of course, as he was an
operator and had undertaken to transmit them--and he telegraphed them,
one by one, to Harvey, with instructions to him to send them back to
him.

"They shall come over the creek on our line, anyway," said Harry to
himself.

It did not take long to send them and to receive them again, for there
were only three of them. Then Harvey sent a message, congratulating
Harry on this happy idea, and also suggested that he, Harvey, should now
ride home, as it was getting late, and it was not likely that there
would be any more business that night.

Harry agreed to this, urging Harvey to return early in the morning, and
then he set to work to write out the messages. The company had not yet
provided itself with regular forms, but Harry copied the telegrams
carefully on note-paper, with which, with pen and ink, each station was
furnished, writing them, as far as possible, in the regular form and
style of the ordinary telegraphic despatch. Then he put them in an
envelo