k. He went to school day
after next, and the boys were sick with envy. They asked and asked,
but Leon wouldn't tell much. He didn't seem to like to talk about it,
and he wouldn't play the game or even watch us. He talked a blue
streak about the money. Father was going to write to every sheriff of
the counties along the way the man said he had come, and if he could
find no one before spring who had been robbed, he said Leon might do
what he liked with the money. I used to pretend it was coming to me,
and each day I thought of a new way to spend it. Leon was so sure he'd
get it he marched right over and asked Mr. Pryor about a nice young
thoroughbred horse, from his stables, and when he came back he could
get a coltlike one so very cheap that father and Laddie looked at each
other and gasped, and never said a word. They figured up, and if Leon
got the money, he could have the horse, and save some for college, and
from the start he never changed a mite about those two things he wanted
to do with it. He had the horse picked out and went to the field to
feed and pet it and make it gentle, so he could ride bareback, and
mother said he would be almost sick if the owner of the money turned up.

Pulling his boots one night, father said so too, and that the thoughts
of it worried him. He said Mr. Pryor had shaded his price so that if
the money had to go, he would be tempted to see if we couldn't manage
it ourselves. I don't know how shading the price of a horse would make
her feel better, but it did, and maybe Leon is going to get it.

CHAPTER X

Laddie Takes the Plunge

"This is the state of man: to-day he puts forth
The tender leaves of hopes; to-morrow blossoms,
And bears his blushing honors thick upon him;
The third day comes a frost, a killing frost,
And, when he thinks, good, easy man, full surely
His greatness is a-ripening, nips his root,
And then he falls, as I do."

"Watch me take the plunge!" said Laddie.

"'Mad frenzy fires him now,'" quoted Leon.

It was Sunday after dinner. We had been to church and Sunday-school in
the forenoon, and we had a houseful of company for dinner. All of them
remained to spend the afternoon, because in our home it was perfectly
lovely. We had a big dinner with everything good to start on, and then
we talked and visited and told all the news. The women exchanged new
recipes for cooking, advised each other about how to get more work done
with le