e since the first day he went to school, she felt that it was
hard indeed that her boy should have to be thrown on the world to make a
living when others among his schoolmates had pleasant homes, and
well-to-do parents to care for them.

But Dick never allowed himself to look at things in that way; he felt
within him the spirit to do and dare that leads to success if persisted
in, and he was grimly determined not to allow himself feel any
discouragement even should he meet with failure right and left.

He had heard just the preceding day that the miller down the river road
was looking for a boy to assist him, since his son was sick, and it was
toward the quaint old mill, driven by water from the little river, that
he first of all turned his steps.

As he trudged along about half a mile beyond the outskirts of the town
he discovered a vehicle some little distance ahead, apparently stalled.

Something had happened, for the driver was on the ground and appeared to
be busy trying to mend a break in the harness, or something still more
serious.

As he drew nearer Dick saw first of all that the man was Mr. Cartwright,
the miller, the very man he was intending to see, and the next thing he
noticed was that the loaded wagon was tilted on one side, showing that a
wheel must have given away, threatening a complete collapse.

He hurried up, wondering if his lucky star might not be in the ascendant
just then, the opportunity to get in the good graces of the miller
seeming so good.

The dusty miller was scratching his head in puzzled wonder at just the
minute Dick arrived on the scene.

"Good morning, Mr. Cartwright. You seem to have met with an accident,"
remarked the boy, as he came alongside.

The man looked up with interest, to show more or less disappointment
when he found that it was only a boy who had arrived.

"It's you, is it, Dick? Yes, I've broken down at last. Twenty years more
or less I've carried loads back and forth between my mill and the town,
and never once in all that time have I had such an accident. The wheel
is giving way. If I try to go on it will smash entirely, and perhaps
part of my load be thrown off. How to get home is a question I am trying
to decide. I hate to unload. If I had another wheel and a jack here I
might get around the trouble."

"I could get them for you, sir; or if you thought best we could take a
rail from the fence here and use it to hold up the load while you crept
home. It i