ce where Brad was plowing and waited for him to
come up. He had a real interest in Bradley.

"Hello, Brad," he called cheerily.

"Hello, Milt."

"How's business?"

"Oh, so so. Pretty cold."

The wind was blowing cold and cuttingly from the north-west. Milton,
rosy with his walk, dropped down beside the hedge of weeds in the sun
and Brad climbed over the fence and joined him. It was warm and cosy
there, and the crickets were cheeping feebly in the russet grass where
the sunlight fell. The wind whistled through the weeds with a wild,
mournful sound. Bradley did not speak for some time. He listened to
Milton. At last he said abruptly--

"Say, Milt, what does it cost to go to school down there?"

"Depends on who goes. Cost me 'bout forty dollars a term. Shep an' I
room it and cook our own grub."

"What's the tuition?"

"Eight dollars a term."

"Feller could go to the public school for nauthin', couldn't he?"

"Yes, and that'd be all it 'ud be worth," said Milton with fine scorn
at an inferior institution.

"What does a room cost?" Brad pursued after a silence.

"Well, ours cost 'bout three dollars a month, but we have two rooms:
You could get one for fifty cents a week."

He looked up at Brad with a laugh in his eyes. "Don't think of starting
in right off, do you?"

"Well, I don't know but I might if I had money enough to carry me
through."

"What y' think o' doin', study law?"

"No, but I'd kind o' like to be able to speak in public. Seems t' me a
feller ought 'o know how to speak at a school meetin' when he's called
on. I couldn't say three words to save m' soul. They teach that down
there, don't they?"

"Yes, we have Friday exercises and then there are two debating clubs.
They're boss for practice. That's where I put in most o' my time. I'm
goin' into politics," he ended with a note of exalted purpose as if
going into politics were really something fine. "Are you?"

"Well, there's no tellin' what minit a feller's liable to be called on
and I'd kinder like to"--He fell off into silence again.

Milton jumped up. "Well, hold on, this won't do f'r me; I must mosey
along. Good-by," he said, and set off down the road.

"When does the next term begin?" called Bradley.

"November 15th," Milton replied, looking about for an instant. "Better
try it."

Bradley threw the lines over his shoulder and, bending his head, fell
into deep calculation. Milton's clear tenor was heard ringing across
the fields,