rk if the cows had been left
much longer. Where did you come from, Empty?" and she turned toward
the youth standing near Douglas.

"I was fishin'," the lad replied.

"Had your breakfast yet?"

"Naw."

"Well, come in, then, and have a bite. You've earned it all right this
morning. Bring your help in, Jake. I guess there's enough for all."

Mrs. Jukes' anger soon passed, and by the time they reached the house
she was in a more pleasant frame of mind. She was a bright, active
little body, and Douglas won her friendship at once by the interest he
took in her two children, a girl of six and a boy of three. While Mrs.
Jukes was busy placing the breakfast upon the table, Douglas had the
children on his knees, and was asking them their names and quizzing
them about the things in which they were interested. Though very busy,
Mrs. Jukes noticed this, and she felt greatly pleased at the attention
the stranger paid to her offspring. She noted, as well, his refined
face, his gentle manner, and the words he used, for Mrs. Jukes had been
a school teacher before she married, and, according to her husband, she
had "a great deal of larnin'." She knew enough, at least, to keep Jake
in his place, and to make him attend strictly to his work, with the
result that their farm was the best cultivated one in the community.

"You sit here, sir," she told Douglas, putting a chair in place. "I'm
sorry there isn't more for breakfast. I didn't expect company this
morning."

"Why, this is a meal fit for a king," Douglas replied. "It's been
years since I've eaten pancakes, ham and gravy. And that bread looks
good, too. Did you bake it yourself, Mrs. Jukes?"

"Oh, yes, I do all my own cooking. But that bread isn't as good as I
generally make. We just opened a new barrel of flour, and it doesn't
seem to be as good as the last we had."

"It's no wonder that you are the best wrestler in the parish," Douglas
remarked to Jake.

"Why?" the farmer asked, with his mouth full of pancake.

"Because of what you eat. Wouldn't any one be strong with such food as
this?"

"But you put me down, though," Jake acknowledged, "an' you haven't been
eatin' sich grub."

"Ah, it wasn't my strength, remember. It was simply a little trick I
learned years ago."

"Will ye larn me the trick?" Jake asked. "I'd like to try it on Joe
Preston the next time we have a bout together. My, it would surprise
him."

"What, were you two wrestling this m