e would not be
worth the running.

Well, he would not allow the thought of failure any place in his mind.
Victory should be his--it would be, _must_ be! See how all the world
smiled on the vow he registered. The sky had never stretched more
cloudlessly above his head; the air had never been sweeter, the dancing
ripples of the bay gladder in their golden scintillations. The whole
universe throbbed with youth and its dauntless supremacy. Something
told him he would conquer and with a high heart he alighted at the door
of the dear, familiar gray cottage.

Willie came to meet him.

"Well, son," said he, reaching forth his hands, "If I ain't glad to see
you flitting home again! I've missed you like as if the two days was
two weeks. I reckon your aunt has, too. Anyhow, she took to her bed
quick as you was out of sight an' ain't been seen since."

"Aunt Tiny ill!"

"No, not sick exactly," explained Willie, as arm in arm they proceeded
up the walk. "She's just struck of a heap with a lame shoulder such as
she has sometimes. She can't move a peg, poor soul!"

"Great Scott! That's hard luck! Then since you're short-handed, I
shall be more bother than I'm worth round here. I'd better have stayed
where I was. You won't want any extra people to look out for and feed
now, I fancy."

"Oh, law, I ain't doin' the cookin'!" grinned the little inventor, as
if the bare notion of such a thing amused him vastly. "Why, I could no
more cook a dish that was fit to eat than a mariner could run a pink
tea. I'd die of starvation if the victuals was left to me. Let alone
the cookin', we'd 'a' had to have help anyhow, 'cause Tiny's too
miserable to do much for herself. So we've got in one of the
neighbors."

"It's a shame!"

"Oh, we'll pull through alive," smiled Willie, cheerfully. "We've
piloted our way through many a worse channel. This spell of Tiny's
ain't nothin' she's goin' to die of, thank the Lord! She takes cold
sudden sometimes, an' it always makes straight for that shoulder of
hers, stiffenin' up every muscle in it. She'll admire to see you home
again, I know. The sight of you will probably make her better right
away. You can run up to her room now if you choose to. I'll be round
in the shop when you want me."

With a beaming countenance the old man turned away.

Robert Morton opened the screen door diffidently, speculating as to
whom he would confront in the kitchen; then he stopped, arrested on th