. Tommy glanced shrewdly up at this window from whence
proceeded the melancholy refrain. He must not let Aunt Cindy see him
leave the yard. That morning after breakfast his father and mother had
driven off hurriedly in the car, following a telephone message from
Greenville that said Aunt Janet, his mother's sister, was sick in a
hospital. His mother had told him she would be gone several days, and
meanwhile he must do everything Aunt Cindy told him to do and nothing
she did not tell him to do.

But Tommy had no doubt whatever what Aunt Cindy's answer would be if he
asked permission to leave the yard and follow Frank into the woods. She
would put her foot down on it flat, and Aunt Cindy had a big foot.
Better leave right now, while the old woman was in the midst of her
churning and her song.

"All right, F'ank," whispered Tommy.

They went by a circuitous route that placed first the garage, then the
barn, between them and the kitchen window. Then they broke into a run
across the cottonfield and entered the woods, Frank leading. They had
not gone far when Tommy stopped--stopped suddenly. Ahead of him was an
opening where the sun blazed down; and in the midst of this opening was
a creature picking blackberries.

Its face, round and sunburned, was smeared with the red juice, as were
its hands, with which it was reaching for more. It stopped eating when
it discovered Tommy's presence and looked steadily Tommy's way. It was a
boy about Tommy's own size, a boy he had never seen before!

Under a white cloth hat Tommy's eyes narrowed. What right did that boy
have to come on his father's place and pick blackberries? He didn't have
on any hat, either; his hair looked as if it had never been cut; his
clothes were ragged. Ordinarily, Tommy rather admired these things, but
now, taking in the whole appearance of the intruder, he glanced about
quickly at some rocks that lay near-by, rocks the right size to throw.

But evidently the boy didn't want to fight.

"Heh!" he said.

"Heh," said Tommy.

"What's your name?"

"Tommy--what's yours?"

"Joe."

A minute's silence followed this exchange of essential information.
Tommy drew nearer Joe. Joe drew nearer Tommy.

"That your dog?"

"Yes--he's my dog."

"He come down here just now. What's his name?"

"F'ank."

Another silence. Then the boy spoke.

"I seen some fishes down thar in the crick jus' now."

"I've seen 'em--lots of times."

"Say--what about goin' down th