he afternoon service he was
still telling them of the things he was going to do, and none of them
wanted to go into the church. Archie persuaded them to enter, however,
but he was not surprised to meet them all along the road when he left
Tinch's early Monday morning.

It was almost time to go to bed when they reached the farmhouse that
night, so Archie went at once to his attic, being anxious to start fresh
on his journey the next day. He was now determined to push on as rapidly
as possible, hoping to reach the city within three or four days. He was
somewhat afraid that he wouldn't be able to do this, but he was going to
try, anyhow.

At daylight Monday morning he was on the way, and when the various boys
he met the day before said good-bye to him and wished him good luck,
he felt that his stay at Tinch's had not been without benefits of some
sort. He had made some boy friends, and he was four dollars richer,
Archie was sensible enough, too, to realise that his experience would be
a valuable one to him in the future. He knew now what hard work was, at
any rate.

The morning walk was delightful. The September weather was perfect, and
all along the road were fruit-trees laden with every sort of good
thing to eat a boy could wish for. And as the trees were on the public
thoroughfare, Archie did net hesitate to help himself freely as he went
along, so that he didn't require any meal at noon.

As night drew near, however, he began to wonder what he would do for a
bed, and the question became more important with every hour. He had come
to no towns since morning, and knew that he couldn't expect to reach
one of any size until the next day, anyhow. There were farmhouses, of
course, but after his experience of the past week the lad felt that he
would rather remain outdoors all night than risk being thrown in with
another Hiram Tinch. He didn't know enough of farmers to know that few
of them resemble Mr. Tinch in nature, and he did what he thought was
best in keeping away from farmhouses after this.

It was five o'clock in the evening, and Archie was beginning to feel
very tired and hungry, when he came to the ruins of an old colonial
mansion, which lay far back from the road, surrounded by trees, and
almost hid with shrubbery. "How interesting," he thought to himself. "It
looks just like the pictures of old ruins we see in geographies. I think
I must go up and see what they look like at close range." And, fired
with a spi