aid the man; and he looked from one to the other, and sighed
again.

"Here, I say," continued Mark, "where does it hurt you?"

"Hurt me?" replied the man.

"Yes. Inside? Are you in pain?"

The man shook his head.

"My way," he said, and he sighed again.

"Well, don't talk like that."

"Eh? No," said the man; and he reached out his hand to pass it over the
muzzle of one of the ponies that had raised its head from where it had
been cropping the green shoots of a dwarf shrub.

"The ponies seem to be very good friends with you."

"Yes, sir," said Buck; "they follow him like dogs."

"Know me," said the man sadly.

"Well, you needn't cry about it," said Dean.

"Oh, that's it," cried Mark; "I see. Poor chap! He came to see them
again, to say good-bye."

The man shook his head.

"No," he said; "going with them."

"Oh, are you?" cried Mark. "I am glad you told me. But somebody else
will have a word or two about that."

"Who?" said the man.

"Why, my father."

"But he bought the ponies," said the man.

"Yes," cried Mark, "but he didn't buy you."

"No," said the man. "Same thing. I belong to them."

"I say, Dozey," cried Mark, "you are wide awake enough now: did you ever
hear anything like this before."

"Never," was the prompt reply.

"Ponies no good without me," said the man.

"Why?" cried the boys, in a breath.

"Won't stop with you. Run back to the town to look for me," he said,
speaking with some animation now.

"Nonsense!" cried Mark. "We will picket them."

The man laughed, and then as Mark tried to frown him down with a very
severe look, he put his hand in his pocket, took out his scissors again,
and put them back after a snip, and then looked round at his four
companions in turn.

"See here," he said, thrusting two of his fingers into his mouth as he
turned sharply away and started off, going swiftly over the ground and
leaping almost like an antelope over every bush that came in his way,
while he gave vent to a shrill whistle, which he modulated from time to
time.

At the first note the ponies raised their heads from where they were
cropping the sedge, and at the second, one of the sturdy little fellows
uttered a shrill neigh, while at the third note, which turned into a
trill, the little animals dashed off at a canter, scattering the sandy
earth behind them as they tore after the utterer of the cheery sounds.

CHAPTER ELEVEN.

MAKING A FORELOPER.

Dean's jaw fe