father one day sent him with a message; and
Mrs. Western--as this old lady was called--noticed her young friend's
expression, and asked what he was thinking of. He told her of his plans
for the desert, and inquired where such gravel was to be bought, and if
it were very dear. She replied that it was rather so, but this had been
given her by her son-in-law, who had a gravel-pit on his estate, and
added very kindly, 'You are quite welcome to have what you see there,
for I have used as much as I shall want for the present; only you must
send some one for it, for I can't ask my maid to carry gravel.' Honorius
thanked her warmly, and joyfully accepted her offer, promising to send
some one for the gravel as soon as he possibly could.

The difficulty was to know whom to send, for the Campbells' in-door
servants were all maids; and when the boys begged the old man who took
care of their father's horse and drove his gig to go to Mrs. Western's
for them, he replied surlily that he had hard work enough as it was
('night and day both, sometimes, when master is sent for from a
distance'), and declined to assist them.

'I know,' said Johnnie. 'The next half-holiday Bob Middleton would do it
for sixpence or a shilling; he could take the wheelbarrow and get a load
at a time. I declare I wouldn't mind fetching it myself, if I thought
papa wouldn't object.'

'Oh, nonsense,' said Honorius. 'Work as hard as you like here, but don't
take to wheeling gravel through the village, pray. Bob Middleton might
do, only he's such an impudent fellow. I hate having anything to say to
him.'

'Oh, I'll transmit your royal commands to him, if that's all,' said
Johnnie; 'only say yes, and I'll look him up this afternoon: perhaps he
might go to Mrs. Western's for us at once.'

Honorius gave a reluctant consent, and accordingly Johnnie appeared in
the desert soon after three o'clock, accompanied by a youth of fifteen,
very raggedly attired, and with a face which was an extraordinary
compound of ugliness and roguery. Bob undertook for a shilling to fetch
all the gravel from Mrs. Western's, and set off at once for the first
load, with which he returned ere long. He came and went several times;
but at last such a long interval elapsed between his going and
returning, that the boys began to be alarmed.

'He's gone off with the wheelbarrow, I do believe,' said Honorius.

'"Body o' me!" as old King Jamie used to say, you don't suppose such a
thing,' cried