a queer book,' said Tim, after a pause. 'Does it say a chap may
make another chap do his work for him?'

'No,' Stephen answered; 'but it says we are to love our enemies, and do
good to them that hate us, that we may be the children of our Father
which is in heaven--that is God, Tim. So that is why I am going a mile
farther with thee.'

'I don't hate thee,' said Tim uneasily, 'but I do love fighting; I'd
liever thee'd fight than come another mile. Don't thee come any farther,
I've been bone lazy all day, and thee's been at work. And I say, Stevie,
I'll help thee with the potatoes to-morrow, to make up for this bout.'

Stephen thanked him, and accepted his offer heartily. The load was
quickly transferred to Tim's broad back, and the boys parted in more
good-will than they had ever felt before; Stephen strengthened by this
favourable result in his resolution to put in practice all he knew of
the Bible; and Tim deep in thought, as was evident from his muttering
every now and then on his way to the New Farm, 'Queer book that; and
a queer chap too!'

CHAPTER IV.

THREATENING CLOUDS.

Little Nan would be waiting for him, as well as his supper, and Stephen
forgot his weariness as he bounded along the soft turf, to the great
discomfiture of the brown-faced sheep, quite as anxious for their supper
as he was for his.

Stephen heard far off Snip's sharp, impatient bark, and it made him
quicken his steps still more, until, coming within sight of his own
Hollow, he stopped suddenly, and his heart beat even more vehemently than
when he was running up the hillside.

There was, however, nothing very terrible in the scene. The hut was safe,
and the sun was shining brightly upon the garden, and little Nan was
standing as usual at the wicket. Only in the oat-field, with their faces
looking across the green, stood two men in close conversation. These men
were both of them old, and rather thin and shrivelled in figure; their
features bore great resemblance to each other, the eyes being small and
sunken, with many wrinkles round them, and both mouths much fallen in.
You would have said at once they were brothers; and if you drew near
enough to hear their conversation, you would have found your guess was
right.

'Brother Thomas,' said the thinnest and sharpest-looking, 'I intend to
enclose as far as we can see from this point. That southern bank will be
a first-rate place for young animals. I shall build a house, with three