er.

When he awakened the shadows had lengthened to those of mid-afternoon,
and there was a delicious, unaccustomed aroma in the air. He gazed about
him in a bewildered fashion to find Lou sitting cross-legged in the
grass, and spread upon it on the apron between them were the rolls and
ham, and a huckleberry pie, still warm, and fairly exuding juice.

"Good Lord, where did you get it?" he demanded.

"Remember that yellow house where I went to git water?" Lou laughed, but
there was a new note of shyness in her voice. "When we passed it first I
saw that the currant bushes were just loaded down, an' a woman was out
pickin' them, though it's ironin' day. I figgered if I pick for her
she'd maybe pay me, an' she did. I--I guessed you was out of--this."

The freckles disappeared in a rosy blush as with a red-stained hand she
held out a bag of tobacco.

"Lou! Why, you--you precious kid!" Jim stammered. "You worked in all
this heat, while I lay here and slept."

"It wasn't far back to New Hartz, an' I'd seen where the cigar-store was
when we came by. The woman at the house, she give me the pie, an' I've
got ten cents left besides. I never had ten cents of my own before!"

CHAPTER IV

Under the Big Top

A very weary and dust-covered couple trudged to the top of the last hill
just before sundown and paused, with Lou's hand instinctively clutching
Jim's arm.

"Is that it; the Hudson?" She pointed over the fringe of treetops below
them to the broad, winding ribbon of sparkling gray-blue, touched here
and there with the reflection of the fleecy pink clouds drifting far
overhead.

Jim turned to look at her, wondering what reaction the view would have
upon the emotions of this child who, until a brief week ago, had known
only the "brick house with a high fence and a playground where never a
blade of grass grew."

Her big eyes followed the river's course until it was lost in a creeping
mist behind high hills, and she drew a deep breath.

"How far does it go?" she asked.

"To New York; to the sea," he responded. "The ocean, you know."

"My!" There was wonder and a certain regret in her tone. "What a waste
of good wash-water!"

Jim emitted an inarticulate remark, and added hastily:

"Let us get along down into Highvale. I must try to find a place for you
to sleep, and remember, Lou, you're my sister if anyone starts to
question you."

"All right; I don't mind, if you don't." She gave the floppy hat a yank