amma was right, my son, as she always is; and I'm greatly pleased
that you remember her instructions. There is Tom coming with a load,
now, you may run and ask him to give you a handful of corn to call your
donkey with. Perhaps he has seen the creature somewhere."

Bertie was off like a dart that has been shot from a bow; and his father
could see him gesturing away as he walked back at Tom's side.

"Did you come all this way to ask for a few kernels of corn?" asked the
man, staring at the child in wonder. "Why, you might have taken a pint,
and neither I nor the oxen would ever have known it."

"But God sees everything we do," said the boy. "I knew 'twas yours,
'cause I saw you turn it out of a bag; and I couldn't touch it without
your leave, you know."

"Well, now, I must say you're the honestest little shaver I ever did
see," answered Tom, regarding the child almost with awe. "If it had been
my boy, he'd snatched up the corn and run off with it, and never have
thought another breath about it."

"Mamma teaches me how wicked it is to steal," Bertie went on. "Perhaps
your boy," gazing anxiously in the man's face, "hasn't any mother to
teach him."

Tom's mouth worked convulsively; and presently he wiped his eyes with
his dirty shirt sleeve.

"No, he hasn't," he answered. "She's dead this six months."

They were now almost back to the cellar, and after a moment's silence,
Tom added,--

"If the corn was mine, you'd be welcome to as much as you want of it;
but it's in the agreement that the Squire shall give the oxen their feed
at noon. So I bring along the corn from the store; and he pays the
bill."

"Oh, I'm glad, I'm real glad," shouted Bertie, bounding away.

"Whitefoot, Whitefoot!" he called, at the top of his voice; "Whitefoot!
come."

"There's your donkey," shouted Jim, "coming up the hill with Star and
Spot. There, just behind that big oak by the lake."

So Bertie called again, "Whitefoot--Whitefoot!" and presently the donkey
gave a little neigh in reply. I suppose he wanted to say, "I hear you,
my young master, and I'll go as quick as I can;" for he started off at
once into a brisk trot. Very soon, to Bertie's great delight, the lost
donkey was eating the corn out of his hand.

When the men walked side by side on their way to the old wall which they
were pulling down for stone, Tom repeated to his companion what had
passed between him and Bertie.

"That's the kind o' religion I believe in," he excl