this
afternoon, Richard," the lady remarked.

"She thanked me, Mrs. Gibbs; that was enough for me," he replied, and
somehow Bessie blushed as she met his laughing eyes.

Then the carriage drove on, and Dick stood there looking after it with a
queer feeling in his heart; he was wondering what the uncertain future
had in store for him, and if his dear little mother would ever see the
day when she could ride in her own vehicle.

He heaved a long sigh, and once more plodded along the road; but somehow
he did not seem quite so tired as before meeting the carriage that
contained Bessie Gibbs and her mother.

He found supper ready, and the usual warm welcome from his waiting
mother.

And over the meal he described in detail all that had happened during
that rather eventful day.

She hung upon his every word, for like most fond mothers she believed
there could be no boy like her own; and when Dick told in as dramatic a
manner as possible how he had chased across the point upon hearing those
shrill screams, she waited in real suspense until he described what
really met his view upon bursting forth, and the change from impending
tragedy to a farce was so great that Mrs. Morrison sank back in her
chair, smiling, but looking a little pale.

"I remember Bessie very well. Last winter she sang in the church choir
with a number of your school companions; and I think I recollect that
you saw her home one night when some accident happened to the horse, and
no vehicle came after her," she mused, looking roguishly at Dick, who
blushed as he turned the subject.

Before going to bed Dick spent half an hour digging more bait, and then
even enlarged the little homely seine made of mosquito netting; if the
fish must be tempted with minnows it was up to him to give them what
they wanted, and in order to make a decent haul of live bait he knew
that a larger net was necessary.

He was up before dawn, and gone before his mother came downstairs to get
breakfast; but this did not surprise the good woman, for she knew Dick's
ways, and that if his heart was set on anything he never let the grass
grow under his feet.

So shortly after sunrise the boy was settled at his old stamping ground
alongside the favorite hole, and had his lines out ready for an early
prize; while he worked his little seine and scooped up many fine minnows
to be transplanted into the shallow pond made ready for their occupancy.

And his prediction seemed in a fair w