d left to grow up in weeds and tangled vines.

The sun was warm, the sky was a perfect blue, and it seemed a delightful
day in every way. But it made Archie sad to walk through a district
which had been made so desolate, and he hadn't walked many hours before
he wished that he might soon reach a town, where he could find some
life, and where he could remain overnight. For by the middle of the
afternoon he was tired walking, and made up his mind that fifteen miles
was enough for any one to do in one day. But he was obliged to keep on
walking for two hours longer before he reached a village, and the great
sun was just sinking behind the blue hills in the distance when he
entered the one main village street, which was long and narrow, winding
in and out among the cabins and huts, as if it had been laid out after
the houses were built, for the convenience of the people. It was a poor
excuse for a public thoroughfare. There had probably been a pavement of
some sort at one time, but now the street was a mass of rubbish of every
sort, straw, dust, old bricks, and bits of stone being thrown together
in every rut, so that it was exceedingly difficult to walk along with
any comfort.

There was no life visible in the settlement. Almost every hut had its
shades drawn at the windows, and there was absolutely no one to be seen
in the street. As he passed down the road, Archie could catch occasional
glimpses of black eyes staring at him through a lattice, or he could
hear some muttered word as he walked close to a window. From these signs
he knew that he was observed, and he felt very much embarrassed as he
continued his walk down this deserted lane, for he felt instinctively
now that hundreds of eyes were watching his every movement.

Finally, he came to the public square, and he sat down here to look
about him. From general appearances, he judged this to be a town of
some two thousand inhabitants, for there was a very respectable
administration building, and a good-sized church. There were but two
streets of any consequence, the one by which he had entered the town,
and another running at right angles in the opposite direction. In this
latter street, as he stood in the square, he noticed a three-story
structure with a sign outside, and he decided to go there and make
inquiries as to where he might be able to secure a lodging for the
night. It looked as if it might be an inn of some sort, or at least a
store, so he walked rapidly u