that were continually
suggesting themselves to him, it was probable that his hundred and
fifty dollars would be gone before he had earned them.

"Halloo, there!" shouted a voice.

David looked up and saw another horseman standing beside the
fence--Silas Jones, who kept the store at the landing, and the very
man of whom he had been thinking but a moment before.

"Come here, David," continued Silas. "I am out collecting bills, and
I thought I would ride around and see if you have heard anything of
that respected father of yours during the last few days."

"No, sir; we haven't," answered David, hanging his head.

"Well, I suppose you know that he owes me eight dollars, don't you?"
said Silas.

"I knew he owed you something, but I didn't think it was as much as
that," replied David, opening his eyes. In his estimation, eight
dollars was a debt of some magnitude.

"That's the amount, as sure as you live, and if I had charged him as
much as I charge others, it would have been more. I made a little
reduction to him, because I knew that he didn't own more of this
world's goods than the law allows. What is to be done about it? Am I
to lose my money because he has run away?"

"O, no," said David, quickly. "I'll pay it, and be glad to do so. We
may want groceries some time, you know, when we have no money to pay
for them."

"That's the way to talk. Pay up promptly and your credit will always
be good."

"All I ask of you," continued David, "is that you will wait about a
month longer, until----"

"Can't do it; can't possibly do it," exclaimed Silas, shaking his
head and waving his hands up and down in the air. "Must have money
to-day. My creditors are pushing me, and I must push everybody whose
name is on my books."

"But my name isn't on your books."

"Your father's is, and if you have any honor about you, you will see
the debt paid."

"That's what I mean to do, but I can't pay it now."

"Can't wait a single day," said Silas. "If the money isn't
forthcoming at once, you can't get a single thing at my store from
this time forward, unless you have the cash to plank right down on
the counter."

"I have always paid you for everything I have bought of you," said
David, with some spirit.

"I know it; but your father hasn't, and if you want me to show you
any favors, you will pay that debt to-day. You have always been
called an honest boy, and if you want to keep that reputation, you
had better be doing something