ime has come. Go get
your money and we'll start right now."

He almost scared me, he was so quick and earnest. Then he said, "I've
got somethin' on my mind, a good deal on my mind. The time has come to
go. There's nothin' left but Old Salem, and we can finish that any
time--and let's go now and see Tom before anything else happens. Pretty
soon the summer'll be over, and things keep happenin'. We must go now."

So he made me go to the house for my money. I had to ask grandma for it,
and at first she wouldn't give it to me. She said I'd lose it. But I
teased her till she went to her closet and gave it to me. Then said she:
"You never let a body alone when you start. So here it is, and if you
lose it--you lose it."

I went back to the tree in the orchard where Mitch was. Then we walked
clear to the back of the orchard, clumb the rail fence, walked through
the meadow a roundabout way and came to the road on the other side of
the Tate farm. So here we struck out for Atterberry, so as to walk the
railroad to Havaner. We thought we could make Oakford before night.

When we got fairly started Mitch said, "Something terrible has happened
to me, Skeet--it's terrible."

"What?" says I.

"I can't talk about it now," says Mitch. "By and by I can, maybe. Of
course I'll tell you--I must tell some one. But it's that made me come
out here and see you, and not wait for Saturday. I just had to see you;
and it seemed the time had just come for us to go to see Tom."

I says: "Well, Mitch, you know me, and if I can do anything, you know
I'll do it. And maybe you'd better tell me right now."

"Well," says Mitch, "there's more'n one thing to tell--and both of 'em
had somethin' to do with me comin' to-day. I couldn't stand the town
another minute. I had to get away."

So we walked on and didn't get a lift or anything, and about eleven we
came to Atterberry. We went into the store to get a bottle of pop, and
while we was there, the train whistled, and the store-keeper says,
"That's number 2. She's on time."

You never see such luck. We went out and the freight train pulled in and
there was Willie Wallace. Well, he was that glad to see me. Here he was
with gloves on and a cap with a silver label which said "Brakeman," and
he was the happiest man you ever see.

I began to think what to say. We wanted to ride, but where was we goin',
and did our folks know it? If we told him we was runnin' away to see Tom
Sawyer, maybe he wouldn't let