inch and proceed to make an ell out of it. It would be far wiser to
stay away. So she shook her head. "Not now, Mary Rose," she said
gently. "Some other time."

After a quick glance at her face Mary Rose did not tease but went off
with the others. They found Mr. Jerry in the back yard. He looked
beyond them as if he found the party too small but as no one followed
to complete it he gave his attention to Solomon and pronounced him
something of a dog. When Jimmie had put him through his tricks again
Mr. Jerry gravely shook hands with both boy and dog.

"You've been a fine teacher," he said to Jimmie. "I congratulate you."

Jimmie's face was as scarlet as the poppies in Mr. Jerry's Aunt Mary's
garden. "Oh, go on!" he murmured in delighted embarrassment.

"Just think, they walked all the way from Mifflin!" exclaimed Mary Rose
in a voice of awe. "It took an automobile and a train and a taxicab to
bring me."

"Well, I didn't have money for an auto nor a train nor a taxi," grinned
Jimmie, "so Sol and I walked. Not all the way. Folks gave us a lift
now and then."

"Of course they did. You'd be sure to find friends," Mary Rose told
him jubilantly. "That's the beautiful part of traveling. You find
friends everywhere."

"Sure!" Jimmie winked at Mr. Jerry and Bob Strahan. "I found one
friend so glad to see me that he had me arrested."

"Why, Jimmie Bronson!" Mary Rose's eyes were as large as the largest
kind of saucers. "What for? Was Solomon arrested, too?" She looked
reprovingly at her dog.

Jimmie chuckled. "I told you I had more than one chance to sell the
brute," with a loving kick at Solomon. "And one man was so mad when I
told him 'nothing doing' that he had me arrested. Said I had stolen
the dog from him. You see there's some class to old Sol but there
isn't much to me. The judge didn't know which of us was lying until I
told him that Sol was a trick dog and would the man who was trying to
put one over on me run through his tricks to show they had worked
together. The cuss turned green and stammered that he wasn't no animal
tamer. The judge gave me a chance and we had a great performance in
the courtroom. When it was over the judge said he guessed if I'd had
Solomon long enough to teach him so much the man, if he was the owner,
should have found him before. He fined the other chap a greenback and
gave it to me. We had beefsteak and potatoes for supper instead of
going to jail, didn'