more and more
difficult to make her. I think in a year or two it will need a charge
of dynamite. Oh, but, Tommy, we got her out in the car the other
evening--had to do it almost by main force. It was a hot evening, and
we took her for a spin along the road. She trembled like a jelly when we
started, and all the time she gripped the side with one hand and Norah's
knee with the other--quite unconsciously."

"Do you think she enjoyed it at all?" Tommy smiled.

"No, I'm jolly well sure she didn't," Jim responded. "Brownie's much too
well mannered to criticize anyone else's property, but when she got
out she merely said, 'You have great courage, my dear.' And wild horses
wouldn't get her into it again, unless we promised to 'make it walk,'
like we did the day we brought her over to help at your working bee. The
funny part of it is that Norah believes she was just as frightened that
morning, only she had a job on, and so was too busy to think of it. But
as for going in a car for mere pleasure--not for Brownie!"

"Brownie's a dear," said Tommy irrelevantly. "Jim, can't you put that
fierce animal in the stable or the horse paddock, or somewhere, and come
in for some tea? I simply must get back to my apricots."

"And I've certainly no business to be keeping you standing here in the
heat," Jim said. "No, I can't stay, thanks, Tommy--I promised dad I'd
meet him at the Far Plain gate at eleven o'clock, and it's nearly that
now. You run in to your apricots, and don't kill your little self over
them; it's no day for cooking if you can avoid it."

"Oh, but I couldn't," Tommy answered. "They were just right for
bottling; the sun to-day would have made them a bit too soft. And it's
better to get them done; to-morrow may be just as hot, or hotter."

"That's true enough," Jim said. "Feeling the heat much, little Miss
Immigrant?"

"Oh, not enough to grumble at," she answered, smiling. "And the
bathing-hole in the creek is a joy; it's almost worth a hot day to get a
swim at the end of it. Bob has built me a bathing-box out of a tree, and
it's a huge success; he's very pleased with himself as an architect."

"That's good business," approved Jim. "You two never grumble, no matter
what comes along."

"Well, but nothing has come along but good luck," Tommy said. "What have
we had to grumble at, I should like to know?"

"Oh, some people find cause for grousing, no matter how good their luck
is," Jim answered. "I believe you and old Bo