al explosive grunt. "You'll git mighty tired of
livin' on _this_ one--I bet you!"

"Why should I? You've got horses, and cows, and chickens, and--and all
that--haven't you?"

"Well, we've got a pair of nags that you can plow with. But they ain't
fit for driving. Jim Courteval, who lives up the road a piece, now
_he's_ got some hossflesh wuth owning. But our old crowbaits ain't
nothing."

"Don't you love to take care of them--and brush them--and all that?"
cried the girl, eagerly.

"Not much I don't! I reckon if old Sam and Lightfoot felt a currycomb
once more they'd have a fit. And you ought to see our cow! Gee! Dad
tried to trade her the other day for a stack of fodder, and the man
wouldn't have her. He'll have ter trade her off 'sight unseen' if he
ever gits rid of her. Ye see, we never _do_ raise feed enough, an' she
certainly come through the winter in bad shape; an' our paster fence is
down in places so we can't let her get the grass."

"Why, the poor creature!" murmured Janice. "Why don't you mend the
fence, Marty, so the cow can feed in the pasture?"

"Me? Huh! I guess not," snarled Marty, starting down the potato row
again. "Let the old man do it."

It was not long after this that Marty got tired of hoeing and threw down
the implement altogether, to seek the shadow of the cherry tree in the
fence corner.

"Why don't ye quit?" he asked Janice. "You're getting all hot and mucky.
And for what? Them things will only have ter be weeded again."

Janice laughed. "I'll keep them clean as far as I can go. I won't let a
lot of old weeds beat _me_."

"Huh! what's the odds?"

"Why, Marty!" she cried. "Don't you like to see 'a good task well
done?'"

"Ya-as,--by somebody else," grinned that young hopeful. "Come on an' sit
down, Janice."

"Haven't got time," laughed his cousin.

"Pshaw! 'Time was made for slaves'--that's what Walky Dexter says. Say!
let's go up to see the Shower Bath."

"How about the potatoes?"

"Shucks! I've done a good stint, ain't I? Dad can't expect me to work
all the time. An' I bet he ain't doin' a livin' thing himself but
settin' down talkin' somewhere."

Janice, though shaking her head silently, thought this was more than
likely to be true. And Marty would not leave her in peace; so she was
willing to desert the carrot patch. But she had cleaned up quite a piece
of the bed and was proud of it.

Marty sauntered along by her side as they passed through the barnyard
and paddock