harge.

"Of course you are. All little boys are hungry." She cast a challenging
glance around the group of interested spectators.

"Fix the fire, one of you, while I get something hot for the kid," she
said, and ambled toward the lean-to.

If the men thought to have their curiosity concerning the youngster
satisfied by word of mouth, however, they were doomed to be
disappointed; for when Rankin himself entered it was as though nothing
out of the ordinary had happened. He hung up his coat methodically, and,
with the boy by his side, partook of the hastily prepared meal
impassively, as was his wont. It could not have escaped him that the
small Benjamin ate and ate until it seemed marvellous that one stomach
could accommodate so much food; but he made no comment, and when at last
the boy succumbed to a final plateful, he tilted back against the wall
for his last smoke for the day. This was the usual signal of dismissal,
and the hands put on their hats and filed silently out.

Without more words the foreman and his wife prepared for the night. The
dishes were cleared away and piled in the lean-to. From either end of
the room bunks, broad as beds, were let down from the wall, and the
blankets that formed their linings were carefully smoothed out. Along
the pole extending across the middle of the room, another set was drawn,
dividing the room in two. Then the two disappeared with a simple
"Good-night."

Rankin and the boy sat alone looking at each other. From across the
blanket partition there came the muffled sound of movement, the impact
of Graham's heavy boots, as they dropped to the floor, and then
silence.

"Better go to bed, Ben," suggested Rankin, with a nod toward the bunk.

The boy at once went through the process of disrobing, and, crawling in
between the blankets, pulled them up about his chin. But the blue eyes
did not close. Instead, they rested steadily upon the man's face. Rankin
returned the look, and then the stubby pipe left his mouth.

"What is it, Ben?"

The boy hesitated. "Am I to--to stay with you?" he asked at last.

"Yes."

For an instant the questioner seemed satisfied; then the peculiar
inquiring look returned.

"Anything else, son?"

The lad hesitated longer than before. Beneath the coverings his body
moved restlessly.

"Yes, sir, I want to know why nobody would come to help my mamma if
she'd sent for them. She said they wouldn't."

The pipe left Rankin's mouth, his great jaws cl