y shouted to one of the boys to saddle Selim, and when the horse was
brought around in an incredibly short time--four negroes having clapped
on his saddle and bridle--Harry ran into the house to get his hat; but
just as he had bounced out again, his mother appeared at the front door.

"Harry!" she cried, "you're not going off without your breakfast!"

"Oh, I don't want any breakfast, mother," he shouted.

"But you cannot go without your breakfast. You'll be sick."

"But just think!" expostulated Harry. "The things have been there all
night."

"It makes no difference," said Mrs. Loudon. "You must have your
breakfast first."

Mr. Loudon now put in a word, and Selim was led back to the stable.

"Well, I suppose I must," said poor Harry, with an air of resignation.
"Come in, Tom, and have something to eat."

The news spread rapidly. Harvey Davis was soon on hand, and by the time
breakfast was over, nearly every body in the village knew that the
telegraph things had come.

Harry and Tom did not get off as soon as they expected, for Mr. Loudon
advised them to take the spring-wagon--for they would need it to haul
their apparatus to the telegraphic stations--and the horse had to be
harnessed, and the cases which were to protect the instruments, when not
in use, were to be brought from the carpenter-shop, and so it seemed
very late before they started.

Just as they were ready to go, up galloped Brandeth Price and Wilson
Ogden. So away they all went together, two of the Board in the wagon and
three on horseback.

Kate stood at the front gate looking after them. Do what she would, she
could not help a tear or two rising to her eyes. Mr. Loudon noticed her
standing there, and he went down to her.

"Never mind Kate," said he. "I told them not to unpack the things until
they had hauled them to the creek; and I'll take you over to Aunt Judy's
in the buggy. We'll get there by the time the boys arrive."

CHAPTER XVIII.

THE ARRIVAL.

When Kate and her father reached Aunt Judy's cabin, the boys had not yet
arrived, but they were anxiously expected by about a dozen colored
people of various ages and sizes, and by two or three white men, who
were sitting under the trees waiting to see the "telegraph come."

Telegraph apparatus and wires were not at all novel in that part of the
country, but this was to be the first time that anything of the kind had
been set up in that neighborhood, in those familiar old woods a