ther Bunker. "William
is ill, and you would have had to go down and fight that furnace if this
boy had not come along and proved himself so handy."

"Maybe we'd all better go down and thank him," said Rose soberly.

Daddy Bunker laughed. "I guess you want to get better acquainted with
this wonderful Sam," he said. "A right nice boy, is he, Mother Bunker?"

"He seems to be," agreed Mother Bunker. "And he certainly needed
friends. I think Jo will keep him for a while. At least, as long as
William is laid up."

A little later the children all trooped down to the big kitchen. The
good-natured cook did not mind their presence. And Alexis, the great
Dane, showed plainly that he was delighted to see his young playfellows.
Alexis was a very intelligent dog and it was no wonder that the servants
and Aunt Jo considered that anybody of whom the dog approved must be
"all right." Alexis had approved of Sam.

Sam had recovered from his weariness, and, no longer hungry and his next
few meals in prospect, his spirits had rebounded from their low ebb to
cheerfulness. The kindness shown him, and the praise the women had
heaped upon him because of his mastery of the difficult furnace,
delighted Sam.

"I'm sure obliged to you child'en for as'in' me into this yere house,"
he said, grinning at Margy and Mun Bun. "Dis is sure just as fine folks
as we have down Souf. Dey done fed de hongry an' clothed de naked. An'
mighty good clo'es, too."

He had on the suit Aunt Jo had found for him and almost new shoes,
while an overcoat and a hat which he was to wear when he went out hung
behind the cellar door. There was a small room off the kitchen in which
Sam was to sleep. To the colored boy's mind he was "right good fixed."

"Let me have dat mouf organ, little boy," said Sam, observing Laddie's
harmonica. "I show yo' sumpin'. Now, cl'ar de way. I's goin' to work de
mouf organ and dance fo' yo'."

The women stopped in their work to watch him, as well as the children.
Sam slid out into the middle of the floor, began to jerk a tune out of
the harmonica, and commenced a slow dance--a sort of double shuffle.

But he soon pivoted and slid much faster, all in time with the sounds he
drew from the harmonica. Annie and Parker applauded his unexpected
steps, and the children began to shriek in delight.

"Now we has it!" exclaimed Sam, removing the instrument from between his
lips, and panting from his exertions. "Now we skates down de floor. Now,