er
little school, and went away looking wonderfully thoughtful. The boys
remembered that he did not scold them so sharply that afternoon as he
had been wont to do since the tornado disturbed his temper.

One morning, as he was going out, Peakslow saw Lord Betterson in the
yard, and advanced awkwardly toward him, holding his hat in one hand and
scratching his head with the other. There was, after all, a vein of
diffidence in the rough quartz of the man's character; and somehow, on
this occasion, he couldn't help showing his neighbor a good deal of
respect.

"I'm a-gun to have a bee this arternoon,--a raisin',--gun to try to git
the logs back on to the house, an' the ruf on to the shed,--everything
ready,--some o' the neighbors comin' to help,--and if you an' your boys
can lend a hand, I'll do as much for you some time."

"Surely; very glad to serve you, Neighbor Peakslow," Lord Betterson
replied, in his magnificently polite way, much as if he had been a
monarch dismissing a foreign ambassador.

Jack came over to Long Woods that afternoon, and, having rectified Mrs.
Wiggett's noon-mark, stopped at Peakslow's raising on his way back up
the valley.

He found a group of men and boys before the house, partaking of some
refreshments,--sweetened whiskey and water, passed round in a pail with
a tin dipper by Zeph, and "nut-cakes" and "turn-overs," served by Mrs.
Peakslow and 'Lecty Ann.

The sight of Snowfoot tied to his fence made Peakslow glare; nor was his
ruffled spirit smoothed when he saw Jack come forward with a cheery face
and a compass in his hand.

Jack greeted the Bettersons, Mr. Wiggett, and one or two others he
knew, and was talking pleasantly with them, when Peakslow pushed the
inverted cut-water of his curved beak through the crowd, and confronted
him.

"So that air's the compass, is it?"

"This is the compass, Mr. Peakslow."

"Keep it in yer hand, now'days, do ye? Don't trust it in the wagon? Good
idee! No danger of its bein' stole, an' your comin' agin to 'cuse my
boys of the theft!"

Peakslow's ancient wrath rekindled as he spoke; his voice trembled and
his eyes flamed.

Jack kept his temper admirably, and answered with a frank and honest
face,--

"I have made the best amends I could for that mistake, by apologizing to
you for it, Mr. Peakslow. I don't keep the compass in my hand because I
am afraid it may be stolen. I have called--as I promised Mrs. Peakslow
the other day that I would do--to