soon be back at his work. Of course, he hopes that his father
will be at work, soon; for when the old man stops working the
younger man will very likely have to go to work himself."

"You don't mean, doctor, that that big, healthy-looking fellow
is supported by his father?" gasped Dick Prescott.

"That's just what I mean," nodded the man of medicine.

"Why, I didn't suppose that old Mr. Hinman earned much."

"In the tin-peddler's business it's nearly all profit except the
wear and tear on horse and wagon," smiled the physician. "One
who isn't fitted for that line of work would starve to death at
it, but Reuben Hinman has always been a shrewd, keen dealer in
his own line of work. Strange as it may seem, Reuben is believed
to make more than three hundred dollars a month. He gives it
all to that son and two daughters. He wanted to bring his children
up to be ladies and gentlemen---and they are! They are all three
of them too shiftless to do any work. They take the old man's
money, but they won't live with him. They are too busy in 'society'
to bother with the old man. On what he is able to turn over to
his children every month they keep a rather pretentious home in
Fenton, though they live a full mile away from their father. They
never go near him, except for more money. If they meet him on
his wagon, or when he is walking in his old clothes, they refuse
to recognize him. Yet, though Reuben Hinman isn't a fool in anything
else, he is very proud of the fact that his son is a 'gentleman,'
and that his daughters are 'ladies.' Now, in a nutshell, you know
the tragedy of the old man's life. Young Tim Hinman would, if
he could, take the old man's money away from him at once and let
him go to the hospital as a charity patient."

"Humph!" muttered Dick, and then was silent.

Timothy Hinman, when Dr. Hewitt and the boys stepped outside the
tent, was inspecting the dingy old red wagon with a look of contempt
on his face.

"What am I going to do with this crazy old rattle-trap?" inquired
young Hinman plaintively. "Would one of you boys accept a dollar
to drive this over to Fenton, and put the horse up in my father's
barn? The trip can be made in two days of good driving."

Dick Prescott shook his head in order that he might avoid speaking.

"I came by train, within five miles of here, then hired a horse
and rode over here," the younger Hinman went on. "So I've got
to take the horse back to where I got it,