bite?"

"Why, no, I don't believe they would. They have been very well brought
up."

"What do you call them?"

"This one is Prince, on the left, and the others are Queen, and King,
and Knave. I call him Knave because he's always scheming, trying to get
out of his share of the work, and I make him walk on the plowed land,
too."

"That serves him right," the boy declared. "What's your name?"

"Why--what's yours?"

"Wilson."

"Wilson what?"

"Just Wilson."

"What does your mother call you?"

"Just Wilson. Sometimes daddy calls me Bill."

"Oh!"

"What's your name?"

"Call me The Man on the Hill."

"Do you live on the hill?"

"Yes."

"Is that your house?"

"Yes."

"Did you make it?"

"Yes."

"All yourself?"

"No. Peter helped me."

"Who's Peter?"

"He is the man who helped me."

"Oh!"

These credentials exchanged, the boy fell silent, while Grant looked
down upon him with a whimsical admixture of humor and tenderness.
Suddenly, without a word, the boy dashed as fast as his legs could carry
him to the end of the field, and plunged into a clump of bushes. In a
moment he emerged with something brown and chubby in his arms.

"He's my teddy," he said to Grant. "He was watching in the bushes to see
if you were a nice man."

"And am I?" Grant was tempted to ask.

"Yes." There was no evasion about Wilson. He approved of his new
acquaintance, and said so.

"Let us give teddy a ride on Prince?"

"Let's!"

Grant carefully arranged teddy on the horse's hames, and the boy clapped
his hands with delight.

"Now let us all go for a ride. You will sit on my knee, and teddy will
drive Prince."

He took the boy carefully on his knee, driving with one hand and holding
him in place with the other. The little body resting confidently against
his side was a new experience for Grant.

"We must drive carefully," he remarked. "Here and there are big stones
hidden in the grass. If we were to hit one it might dump us off."

The little chap chuckled. "Nothing could dump you off," he said.

Grant reflected that such implicit and unwarranted confidence implied a
great responsibility, and he drove with corresponding care. A mishap now
might nip this very delightful little bud of hero-worship.

They turned the end of the furrow with a fine jingle of loose
trace-chains, and Prince trotted a little on account of being on the
outer edge of the semicircle. The boy clapped his hands again as teddy
bounced