t he felt fresh and full of strength this morning, and nothing
seemed too hard to accomplish. As yet he had not regretted his departure
from home. The excitement of it all, and the adventurous side of his
exploit, had kept him interested, and made him feel that he was a real
hero. But he was not so foolish as to imagine that there would not be
times when he would regret having set out for New York. He was too old
and too sensible for his age to allow his ambition to run away with him
entirely, and he fully expected to meet with many great discouragements.
"But I'm sure of one thing," he said to himself, as he walked along, "I
never will return home until I have something to show for the trip. I
won't have the club boys and the neighbours saying that Archie Dunn had
to come home discouraged. If I return without accomplishing anything, I
will be held up to the whole town as a boy who made a fool of himself by
not taking his friends' advice, and I never will be made an example
of if I can help it." And Archie walked faster as he thought of the
possibility of failure.

When seven o'clock came he was passing through the county-seat, but
though there were many interesting things to look at in the town, Archie
determined not to stop. He was afraid he might meet some one he knew,
who would be sure to ask him where he was going with his bundle, and
what he was doing out so early. And anyhow he was very hungry, and
decided to get out of the town and to the farmhouses as soon as
possible. "I can work for my meal at a farmhouse," he said to himself,
"but in the town they'll take me for a regular tramp."

So poor Archie walked quickly through the town, still keeping to the
southern road, and saying to himself, as he passed every milestone,
"So much nearer New York." About a mile out in the country he came to a
large farmhouse, and he determined to enter and ask for a meal. He had
hard work to muster up enough courage to go in and ask for anything, but
finally he knocked timidly at the kitchen door, and was frightened by
a large dog which came barking around the corner. It seemed to him that
the animal would surely bite, but a large fat woman opened the door
just in time to let him in. "Hurry in, boy," she said, "fer there's
no tellin' what Tige might do ef he once gets a hold of ye." So Archie
stepped into the large kitchen, with its rafters overhead, and its
dining-table in the corner. "Sit down, boy," said the woman. "I reckon
yo