teacher would doubtless thank Plato for arranging that so great an
honor should fall upon her. Mars Geo'ge had given him fifty cents
twice, and would now give him a dollar. Noble Mars Geo'ge! Fortunate
teacher! Happy Plato!

"Very well, Plato. I think we can arrange it so that you can kill the
two rabbits at one shot. Suppose that we go over the road that she will
take to go home."

They soon arrived at the schoolhouse. School had been out an hour, and
the clearing was deserted. Plato led the way by the road through the
woods to a point where, amid somewhat thick underbrush, another path
intersected the road they were following.

"Now, Plato," said Tryon, pausing here, "this would be a good spot for
you to leave the teacher and for me to take your place. This path
leads to the main road, and will take you to town very quickly. I
shouldn't say anything to the teacher about it at all; but when you and
she get here, drop behind and run along this path until you meet
me,--I'll be waiting a few yards down the road,--and then run to town
as fast as your legs will carry you. As soon as you are gone, I'll
come out and tell the teacher that I've sent you away on an errand, and
will myself take your place. You shall have a dollar, and I'll ask her
to let you go home with her the next day. But you mustn't say a word
about it, Plato, or you won't get the dollar, and I'll not ask the
teacher to let you go home with her again."

"All right, Mars Geo'ge, I ain't gwine ter say no mo' d'n ef de cat had
my tongue."

XXXI

IN DEEP WATERS

Rena was unusually fatigued at the close of her school on Wednesday
afternoon. She had been troubled all day with a headache, which,
beginning with a dull pain, had gradually increased in intensity until
every nerve was throbbing like a trip-hammer. The pupils seemed
unusually stupid. A discouraging sense of the insignificance of any
part she could perform towards the education of three million people
with a school term of two months a year hung over her spirit like a
pall. As the object of Wain's attentions, she had begun to feel
somewhat like a wild creature who hears the pursuers on its track, and
has the fear of capture added to the fatigue of flight. But when this
excitement had gone too far and had neared the limit of exhaustion came
Tryon's letter, with the resulting surprise and consternation. Rena
had keyed herself up to a heroic pitch to answer it; but when the
ine