dilemma in a way that proved the man in after-life.

"Say, you ain't a farmer?" he inquired, with a speculative glance over
his general outfit.

"Well, I am--in a small way," the Padre had replied, with a
half-smile.

The boy brightened at once.

"Then mebbe you can give me a job--I'm lookin' for a job."

The wonder of it all brought a great smile of sympathy to the
man's eyes now, as he thought of that little starving lad of eight
years old, homeless, wandering amidst the vastness of all that
world--looking for a "job." It was stupendous, and he had sat
marveling until the lad brought him back to the business in hand.

"Y' see I kin milk--an'--an' do chores around. Guess I can't plough
yet. Pop allus said I was too little. But mebbe I kin grow--later.
I--I don't want no wages--on'y food. Guess I'm kind o' hungry,
mister."

Nor, for a moment, could the man make any reply. The pathos of it all
held him in its grip. He leant over and groped in his saddle-bag for
the "hardtack" biscuits he always carried, and passed the lad a
handful.

He remembered how the boy snatched the rough food from his hands.
There was something almost animal in the way he crammed his mouth
full, and nearly choked himself in his efforts to appease the craving
of his small, empty stomach. In those moments the man's mind was made
up. He watched in silence while the biscuit vanished. Then he carried
out his purpose.

"You can have a job," he said. "I've only a small farm, but you can
come and help me with it."

"Do you mean that, mister?" the boy asked, almost incredulously.

Then, as the Padre had nodded, a sigh of thankfulness escaped the
young lips, which were still covered with the crumbs of his recent
meal.

"Say, I'm glad. Y' see I was gettin' tired. An' ther' didn't seem to
be no farms around--nor nuthin'. An' it's lonesome, too, at nights,
lyin' around."

The man's heart ached. He could stand no more of it.

"How long have you been sleeping--out?"

"Three nights, mister."

Suddenly the Padre reached out a hand.

"Here, catch hold, and jump."

The boy caught the strong hand, and was promptly swung up into the
saddle behind his benefactor. The next moment they were speeding back
over the trail to the lad's new home. Nor was the new-born hope solely
beating in the starving child's heart. The lonely farmer felt that
somehow the day was brighter, and the green earth more beautiful--for
that meeting.

Such had been the co