-white heifer browsing at a little
distance looked up from her meal and surveyed the intruders with mild
attention, but apparently satisfied that they contemplated no invasion
of her rights, resumed her agreeable employment. Over an irregular stone
wall our travelers looked into a thrifty apple-orchard laden with fruit.
They halted beneath a spreading chestnut-tree which towered above its
neighbors, and offered them a grateful shelter from the noonday sun.

From the box underneath the seat, the pedler took out a loaf of bread,
a slice of butter, and a tin pail full of doughnuts. Paul, on his side,
brought out his bread and gingerbread.

"I most generally carry round my own provisions," remarked the pedler,
between two mouthfuls. "It's a good deal cheaper and more convenient,
too. Help yourself to the doughnuts. I always calc'late to have some
with me. I'd give more for 'em any day than for rich cake that ain't
fit for anybody. My mother used to beat everybody in the neighborhood on
making doughnuts. She made 'em so good that we never knew when to stop
eating. You wouldn't hardly believe it, but, when I was a little shaver,
I remember eating twenty-three doughnuts at one time. Pretty nigh killed
me."

"I should think it might," said Paul, laughing.

"Mother got so scared that she vowed she wouldn't fry another for three
months, but I guess she kinder lost the run of the almanac, for in less
than a week she turned out about a bushel more."

All this time the pedler was engaged in practically refuting the saying,
that a man cannot do two things at once. With a little assistance from
Paul, the stock of doughnuts on which he had been lavishing encomiums,
diminished rapidly. It was evident that his attachment to this homely
article of diet was quite as strong as ever.

"Don't be afraid of them," said he, seeing that Paul desisted from his
efforts, "I've got plenty more in the box."

Paul signified that his appetite was already appeased.

"Then we might as well be jogging on. Hey, Goliah," said he, addressing
the horse, who with an air of great content, had been browsing while his
master was engaged in a similar manner. "Queer name for a horse, isn't
it? I wanted something out of the common way, so I asked mother for a
name, and she gave me that. She's great on scripture names, mother
is. She gave one to every one of her children. It didn't make much
difference to her what they were as long as they were in the Bible. I