ney. I've got five dollars."

Harvey produced his pocket-book and the necessary bills.

"Gee!" he exclaimed. "I wouldn't do it for a hundred dollars. Go on;
I'll watch you through the window."

In no wise daunted, Henry Burns, whose critical study of the model and
the garment through the window had satisfied him that the figure was of
Bess Thornton's size, boldly entered the store, calmly made the
purchase, ignored the inquiry of the clerk if he was thinking of getting
married, and returned with it to his companion.

"Say," exclaimed Harvey, "I don't wonder you learned to sail the
_Viking_ quick as you did. You've got the nerve."

"Now we've got to take it up there," said Henry Burns.

Harvey stopped short.

"Take that dress and give it to a girl?" he asked.

"No, we won't give it to her," replied his comrade. "She might not like
to have us--and I wouldn't know what to say, would you?"

"Would I!" exclaimed Harvey.

"We'll just leave it and cut and run," explained Henry Burns. "Then she
won't know who sent it, and she'll have to keep it. See?"

"It's most nine o'clock," remarked Harvey.

"I'm going," said Henry Burns.

"Oh, well, I'll stand by," said Harvey. "Let's be off, then. It's a good
two miles and a half, nearer three."

Shortly after, one might have seen the two comrades trudging along the
road leading out of Benton, in the direction of Ellison's mill.

They walked briskly, and in a little less than three quarters of an hour
a light from a window on a hill-top warned them that they were
approaching the farmhouse of Farmer Ellison. They turned in from the
road that ran along the bank of the stream, and made their way through
his field on the hillside, in the direction of the brook.

"Does Ellison keep any dog?" asked Harvey, once.

"I don't know, any more than you do," replied his companion. "Never saw
any. We'll keep well down near the brook, though, so they can't see us
from the house."

They passed through some clumps of small cedars and thin birches,
stumbling now and then over cradle-knolls and pitching into little
depressions. It was a clear night and starlit, but the shadows in the
half darkness were confusing. A lamp gleamed in the kitchen window,
above them, and they could see someone moving past the window from time
to time.

"Ellison hasn't gone to bed," remarked Harvey.

"Well, what of it?" replied Henry Burns. "Not scared of him, are you?"

"No," answered Harvey. "But he's t