irst
and taken him from us."

Then Freddie kissed Sandy good-bye. It was not the kind of a caress
that girls give, but the two little fellows said good-bye, kissed each
other very quickly, then looked down at the ground in a brave effort
not to cry.

Mrs. Bobbsey gave Sandy a real mother's love kiss, and he said:

"Oh, I'm comin' beck--to-morrow. I won't stay in the city. I'll just
run away and come back."

So Sandy was gone to another home, and we hope he will grow to be as
fine a boy as he has been a loving child.

"How lonely it seems," said Nan that afternoon. "Sandy was so jolly."

Freddie followed John all over the place, and could not find anything
worth doing. Even Dinah sniffed a little when she fed the kittens and
didn't have "dat little buttercup around to tease dem."

"Well," said Uncle Daniel next day, "we are going to have a very poor
crop of apples this year, so I think we had better have some cider made
from the early fruit. Harry and Bert, you can help John if you like,
and take a load of apples to the cider mill to-day to be ground."

The boys willingly agreed to help John, for they liked that sort of
work, especially Bert, to whom it was new.

"We'll take the red astrachans and sheepnoses to-day," John said.
"Those trees over there are loaded, you see. Then there are the orange
apples in the next row; they make good cider."

The early apples were very plentiful, and it took scarcely any time to
make up a load and start off for the cider mill.

"Old Bennett who runs the mill is a queer chap," Harry told Bert going
over; "he's a soldier, and he'll be sure to quiz you on history."

"I like old soldiers," Bert declared; "if they do talk a lot, they've
got a lot to talk about."

John said that was true, and he agreed that old Ben Bennett was an
interesting talker.

"Here we are," said Harry, as they pulled up before a kind of barn. Old
Ben sat outside on his wooden bench.

"Hello, Ben," they called out together, "we're bringing you work early
this year."

"So much the better," said the old soldier; "There's nothing like work
to keep a fellow young."

"Well, you see," went on John, "we can't count on any late apples this
year, so, as we must have cider, we thought that we had better make hay
while the sun shines."

"How much have you got there?" asked Ben, looking over the load.

"About a barrel, I guess," answered John "Could you run them through
for us this morning?"

"Certainl