he ate, but just
at that moment the harsh voice of Mr. Job Lord was heard calling him,
and he hurried away to commence his first day's work.

Toby's employer was not the same pleasant, kindly-spoken man that he had
been during the time they were in Guilford, and before the boy was
absolutely under his control. He looked cross, he acted cross, and it
did not take the boy very long to find out that he was very cross.

He scolded Toby roundly, and launched more oaths at his defenceless head
than Toby had ever heard in his life. He was angry that the boy had not
been on hand to help him, and also that he had been obliged to hunt for
him.

Toby tried to explain that he had no idea of what he was expected to do,
and that he had been on the wagon to which he had been sent, only
leaving it to wash his face; but the angry man grew still more furious.

"Went to wash your face, did yer? Want to set yourself up for a dandy, I
suppose, and think that you must souse that speckled face of yours into
every brook you come to? I'll soon break you of that; and the sooner you
understand that I can't afford to have you wasting your time in washing,
the better it will be for you."

Toby now grew angry, and not realizing how wholly he was in the man's
power, he retorted, "If you think I'm going round with a dirty face,
even if it is speckled, for a dollar a week, you're mistaken, that's
all. How many folks would eat your candy if they knew you handled it
over before you washed your hands?"

[Illustration: OLD BEN COMES TO THE RESCUE.]

"Oho! I've picked up a preacher, have I? Now, I want you to understand,
my bantam, that I do all the preaching as well as the practising myself,
and this is about as quick a way as I know of to make you understand
it."

As the man spoke he grasped the boy by the coat-collar with one hand,
and with the other plied a thin rubber cane with no gentle force to
every portion of Toby's body that he could reach.

Every blow caused the poor boy the most intense pain; but he determined
that his tormentor should not have the satisfaction of forcing an outcry
from him, and he closed his lips so tightly that not a single sound
could escape from them.

This very silence enraged the man so much that he redoubled the force
and rapidity of his blows, and it is impossible to say what might have
been the consequences had not Ben come that way just then, and changed
the aspect of affairs.

"Up to your old tricks of w