rengthened much to his own
edification by oaths he had never employed before. The foreman, taken
aback by his onslaught, mumbled and then asked humbly as though ashamed
of his lack of confidence in his employee: "Well, you two landed here
together and I thought you might be gettin' ready to play the same
trick. Look here, d'ye know anything about horses?"

"Well, I've ridden some," Archie answered guardedly, fearing the
imposition of some disagreeable task as a punishment for his violent
language.

"Ridden; where th' hell have you rode?"

Archie's knowledge of horses had been gained by cautious riding in park
bridle paths with a groom, but to confess this would be only to increase
the wrath and arouse the suspicions of the farmer.

"Oh, I've always been around horses," said Archie. "I guess I can handle
'em all right."

The foreman meditated, gave a hitch to his trousers, inspected Archie
from head to foot and spat.

"Humph! I gotta find somebody t' watch the old man's granddaughter ride
'er pony, and I guess I'll give you the job if y' got sense enough to
set on a horse and keep th' kid from breakin' 'er neck. What y' think o'
that! I gotta waste a horse right now when I could use a dozen more, so
a grown man can play with a kid! The old man's skipped this morning
without sayin' whether he'd ever be back again!"

"Mr. Congdon has left?" asked Archie, with all the innocence he could
muster.

"Not only has he gone but he's took a scrub I was usin' as handy man on
the place. You can't beat it! There ought to be a law against city men
ownin' farms an' makin' farmers do their work."

Archie thought this sound philosophy and he expressed his agreement
heartily.

"Well, go to the barn and clean up that pony, and clap on a boy's saddle
you'll find there; and there's a sorrel mare in the last stall on the
left you can take. The kid'll be out lookin' fer y', and y' want to take
mighty good care of 'er; she's the ole man's pet and he'll kill y' if
anything goes wrong with 'er. Keep 'er out about an hour and be
partickler careful. Between you and me there's somethin' queer about the
kid bein' here; row o' some kind between her pa and ma. Her pa's here
sick. Guess all them Congdon's got something wrong with 'em!"

Archie restrained an impulse to affirm the last statement and set off
stolidly for the barn. He felt himself a better man for his interview
with the foreman, who proved to be human and no bad fellow after al