accosted by a young African, who called out, "Ho, thar, old
boy! What you keepin' yer eyes peeled and yer' mouth open for? Is you
catchin' flies?"

"No, sar," replied Ike. "I's tryin' to find Miss Crane's boardin' house."

"Oh, yes; wall, it's up t'other way. You jist turn that old rackerbone of
your'n straight round and turn down that ar street, whar you see that
steeple, and, the fust house on the corner is Miss Crane's. But say, is
you and that ar quadruped jist out of the ark?"

"I dun know nothin' 'bout yer ark," said Ike, whose Scripture knowledge
was rather limited, "but I 'longs to Marster Josh, and I'm goin' to see
Miss Fanny--and now I think of it, won't you ride?"

"Lord, no," said the negro; "I'm in a great hurry; goin' arter the doctor
for ole miss, who's sartin she's goin' for to die this time."

"You don't seem in much of a hurry," said Ike.

"No," returned the other; "old miss has died a heap o' times, by spells,
so I reckon she'll hang on this time till I git back, jist so she can jaw
me for being gone so long."

So they parted, the stranger negro to go for the doctor and Ike to go to
Mrs. Crane's, with his berries, and Aunt Judy's cranberry pie. He had
often wondered during his ride whether Fanny would not give him a piece of
the pie. As often as this thought entered his brain, he would turn down
the white napkin, and take a peep at the tempting pastry; then he would
touch it with his fingers and finally take it up and smell of it just a
little!

While he was making his way into Mrs. Crane's kitchen, Julia and Fanny
were in their room, the windows of which were open and looked out upon a
balcony, which extended entirely around the house. There was no school
that day, and Fanny was just wishing she could hear from home when a
servant entered the room and said there was a boy in the kitchen, who
wished to see Miss Fanny.

"A boy want to see me," said Fanny; "who can it be?"

"Reckon he's from yer home 'case he says how he belongs to Marster
Middleton," said the negro girl.

"Oh, joy!" exclaimed Fanny, "somebody from home; how glad I am. Come,
Julia, won't you go down, too?"

"No, indeed," said Julia, scornfully, "I am not so anxious to see a greasy
nigger. I hope you will not take it into your head to ask him up here."

But Fanny did not answer, for she was already half-way down the stairs.
Going to the kitchen she found Ike and seemed as delighted to see him as
though his skin had been sn