enticing the boy from home."

Andy told Tom Inwold to accompany him to the store next door. At first
the boy hung back, but when Andy promised that he would take the
responsibility of the coming interview entirely upon his own
shoulders, the lad consented to go along.

They were gone nearly an hour, and during that time Matt heard some
pretty loud talking through the partition which separated the two
stores. But when Andy and Tom Inwold came back he saw by their faces
that they had triumphed.

"At first Gissem was in for facing me down," said Andy. "Said he had
nothing to do with the boy, and all that. But I threatened him with
immediate arrest, and promised to have the mother of the boy here to
testify against him, and then he weakened, and at length gave Tom
thirty dollars, with which to buy a new suit of clothes, a pair of
shoes, a hat, and a railroad ticket, upon conditions that he would not
be prosecuted. I reckon he was badly scared, too."

Matt was much pleased. Leaving Andy in charge of the store, he went
out to dinner, taking Tom Inwold along with him. After the meal the
wearing apparel was purchased and donned, and then they made their way
to the depot. Here a ticket for Plainfield was procured, and the
young auctioneer saw to it that the boy boarded the proper train.

"I'll never forget you, never," said Tom Inwold on parting, and he
never has, nor has Mrs. Inwold, who was grateful to the last degree
for what Matt had been instrumental in doing for her.

On the following morning, on going down to the store to open up, Andy
and Matt saw that the entire stock of the store adjoining had been
removed during the night. Gissem had been fearful of trouble, despite
what Andy had promised, and had taken time by the forelock, and left
for parts unknown. The young auctioneers never met him or his partner
again.

By having the entire field to themselves the young auctioneers did a
splendid business, and when they were ready to pack up and start for
Scranton they found that they had cleared nearly ninety dollars by
their stay in Wilkes-Barre.

In the meantime the weather had been growing steadily colder, and they
found it necessary to invest in a second-hand robe to keep them warm
when driving.

"It looks a bit like snow," remarked Andy, as they drove out of the
city one morning. "I hope we don't catch it before we reach where we
are going to. A snowstorm in the mountains is not a very pleasant
thing to enco