osy faces and excited, sparkling eyes.

The tramp, in the shadow of the trees, caught his breath sharply, then
laughed to himself at Peace's supposition and Cherry's horrified
exclamation, "Why, Peace Greenfield, what ever put such a crazy idea
into your head?--supposing the sun was a frying pan?"

"I bet it would make a good one, and I'll bet the cakes would be dandy,
too! Um--m--m! I can smell 'em now. I am starving hungry, and it does
take so long for the girls to cook pancakes in our little frying pan.
Hurry up! It must be breakfast time already. I wish I had wings to fly
home with. S'posing we were birds, we would be there in a jiffy."

"Let's play we were," suggested Allee. "That will make the way seem
shorter."

"All right," the sisters assented; and with their great bouquets
flapping wildly in the wind, the trio sped swiftly out of sight up the
road, leaving the tramp again to his thoughts.

"Pancakes! Makes me hungry, too. Guess I better wash and be moving on in
search of a breakfast. I wonder if those youngsters live near here."

He knelt beside the clear stream and ducked his head again and again in
the cool water, finally drying his face on a clean handkerchief, and
running his fingers through his bushy gray hair in place of a comb. His
toilet done, he set out briskly down road the children had taken,
whistling under his breath, and keeping a careful lookout for
farmhouses on the way.

At the first place he approached, the watchful housewife had loosed a
vicious-looking bulldog, and the tramp wisely passed by without
stopping. The next house was deserted, the door of the third place was
slammed in his face before he could even make known his wants, and he
was beginning to wonder if he must go breakfastless when a shrill,
childish treble rang out clearly on the still morning air:

"'The Campbells are comin' Oho, Oho,
The Campbells are comin', Oho, Oho.'"

So sudden was the discordant burst of song, and so close by, that the
tramp stopped in his tracks and stared in the direction of the voice.

"Well, of all things! That announcement quite took my breath away!" he
ejaculated, hurrying forward once more. "The voice sounds like 'S'posing
Peace.' I wonder if it can be she."

It was, indeed. Another rod and he found himself in front of a gate, on
the high post of which was perched a diminutive, bare-legged girl in
a soiled, damp frock, superintending the drying of three pair of
mud-covered sho