ons."

Farmer Dale dropped the lines and jumped down into the road from the
wagon, whip in hand. All his jubilant slyness deserted him. He began to
get frightfully worked up over Andy's news.

"Wait a minute," pleaded Andy. "Don't get excited till I explain. I
managed to save the other stacks. It was all an accident, but I want to
pay the damage. Yes, I'll pay you, Mr. Dale."

"You'll have to, you bet on that!" snorted the farmer wrathfully. "I'll
go to your aunt right off with the bill."

"Don't do it, Mr. Dale," advised Andy. "She preaches lots about honesty
and responsibility and all that, but she's mighty close when it comes to
the dollars. She wouldn't pay you a cent, no, sir, but I will. That hay
is worth about twenty dollars, I reckon, Mr. Dale?"

"Well, yes, it is," nodded the farmer. "Good timothy is scarce, and that
was a prime lot."

"I've got no money, of course," went on Andy, "but I thought this:
couldn't you give me some work to do and let me pay it out in that way?
I'll do my level best to--"

"Oh! that's your precious proposition, is it?" snarled Mr. Dale,
switching the whip about furiously. "No, I couldn't. The hand I've got
now is idle half the time. See here, Wildwood, arson is a pretty serious
crime. You'd better square this thing some way. In fact you've got to do
it, or there's going to be trouble."

"I know what you mean," said Andy--"you'll have me arrested. You mustn't
do that, Mr. Dale--I feel bad enough, I'm in a hard enough corner
already. I want to do what's right, and I intend to. I owe you twenty
dollars. Will you give me time to pay it in? Will you take my note--with
interest, of course--for the amount?"

"Will I--take your note--interest? ha! ha! oh, dear me! dear me!" fairly
exploded Dale in a burst of uproarious laughter.

"Secured," added Andy in a business-like tone.

"Secured by what?" demanded Dale eagerly.

"I can't tell you now. I will to-night, or to-morrow morning."

"You don't mean old ball bats, or your mud scow in the creek, or that
kind of trash?" inquired Dale suspiciously.

"No, sir, I mean tangible security," declared Andy.

"You don't seem to carry much of it around with you," suggested Dale
bluntly, casting a sarcastic eye over Andy's well-worn clothes.

"Perhaps not," admitted Andy, coloring up. "I can give you security,
though. What I want to know is this: If I can place good security in the
hands of a trusty person, will you give me--say--three m