nter-chilled breast of Mother Earth. Her pulses leaped, rejuvenated;
the mellowing soil responded; bud and leaf put forth their effort to
reach the sun and air.

At Janice Day's casement the odors of the freshly-turned earth and of
the growing things whispered of the newly begun season. The ruins of
the ancient fortress across the lake to the north still frowned in the
mists of night when Janice left her bed and peered from the open
window, looking westward.

Behind the mountain-top which towered over Polktown it was already
broad day; but the sun would not appear, to gild the frowning fortress,
or to touch the waters of the lake with its magic wand, for yet several
minutes.

As the first red rays of the sun graced the rugged prospect across the
lake, Janice went through the barnyard and climbed the uphill pasture
lane. She was bound for the great "Overlook" rock in the
second-growth, from which spot she never tired of looking out upon the
landscape--and upon life itself.

Janice Day took many of her problems to the Overlook. There, alone
with the wild things of the wood, with nothing but the prospect to
tempt her thoughts, she was wont to decide those momentous questions
that come into every young girl's life.

As she sped up the path past the sheep sheds on this morning, her feet
were suddenly stayed by a most unexpected incident. Janice usually had
the hillside to herself at this hour; but now she saw a dark figure
huddled under the shelter, the open side of which faced her.

"A bear!" thought Janice. Yet there had not been such a creature seen
in the vicinity of Polktown for years, she knew.

She hesitated. The "bear" rolled over, stretched himself, and yawned a
most prodigious yawn.

"Goodness, mercy, me!" murmured Janice Day. "It's a man!"

But it was not. It was a boy. Janice popped down behind a boulder and
watched, for at first she had no idea who he could be. Certainly he
must have been up here in the sheepfold all night; and a person who
would spend a night in the open, on the raw hillside at this time of
year, must have something the matter with him, to be sure.

"Why--why, that's Jack Besmith! He worked for Mr. Massey all Winter.
What is he doing here?" murmured Janice.

She did not rise and expose herself to the fellow's gaze. For one
thing, the ex-drug clerk looked very rough in both dress and person.

His uncombed hair was littered with straw and bits of corn-blades from
the f