Part 22 (1/2)

Ita dirt road It was no longer an object to the searchers He believed the wo to rejoin it at some appointed place when all exciteht he had the very woive hi anybody to certainly identify theive nantly

The ht be slipped off by her keeper

”Where have you got theoin' into Sunday-school, marm,” explained Zene

”There's awith his whip

”It's the unlikeliest place that ever was,” said thehis horse's wet neck ”And I suppose that's what the woht when she slipped in there If I hadn't happened by in the nick of tioin'

up the steps, with her back to the road, and the meetin'-house sets a considerable piece froh to drown a horse's feet in the dust”

”And both were like the descriptions you had?” said Mrs Tracy

”So nigh like that I half-pulled up and had a notion to go in and see for -the ones that would know for sure There ain't no harain, Grandett told the man to turn back and direct thee with his load He could jog leisurely in the wake of the carriage, to avoid getting separated from it: that would be all he need attempt

She took up her whip to touch Hickory and Henry

After turning off on the by-road, Grand in the wake of the carriage, and remembered for a s in his load He drove all the way to thetheir noses froe curtains; up swells, when the road wound through stuullies, when all his ainst the unusual speed they had to endure Zene was as anxious to reach the -house as the man who cantered ahead

They drew up to where it basked on the rising ground, an old brown fra the roof There were two front doors, a flight of wooden steps leading up to each, and three high s along the visible side All these stood open letting out a pleasant huh which the cracked voice of an old man occasionally broke No hump of belfry stood upon its back The afternoon sun was the bell which called that neighborhood together for Sunday-school

And this unconscious duty perforraves which crowded to the very fence, brought out the glint and polish of the new rooved naraves were enclosed by rails, and others barely lifted their tops above the long grass There were baby-nests hollowing into the turf, and clay-colored piles set head and foot with fresh boards And on all these aunt Corinne looked with an interest which graves never failed to rouse in her, no ht be

[Illustration: THE FIRST MESSENGER]

The horses switched their tails along the outside of the fence One backed his vehicle as far as his hitching-strap would let hiy, that other i by a sied Hickory and Henry and the saddle-horse with speaking whinneys ”Whe-hee-hee-hee! You going to be tied up here for the grass-flies to bite too? Where do you co to afternoonin hot June time?”

The pilot of the caravan had helped take horse-thieves in his time, and he considered this a similar excursion He dismounted swiftly, but with an air of caution, and as he let down the carriage steps, said he thought they better surround the house

But Mrs Tracy reached the ground as if she did not see hiate with her black draperies flowing in a rush behind her Robert Day and aunt Corinne were anxious to follow, and the ett's horses to a rail fence across the road, while soainst the white cover of Zene's er as he trotted up the grass path after Mrs Tracy, the spirit of the country Sunday-school came out of doors to meet him

There were the class of old men and the class of old women in the corner seats each side of the pulpit, and their lesson was in the Old Testa ladies listened to the instruction of the shborhood, and his sonorous words rolled against the echoing walls He usually taught the winter district and singing schools The young girl who did for summer schoolmiss, had a class of rosebud children in the house, and they crowded to Her lap and crawled up on her shoulders, though theirheads at theled with the woody s shut close six days out of seven Two rascals in the boys' class, who, evading their teacher's count, had been down under the seats kicking each other with stiff new shoes, eed just as the librarian caood-naturedly over the one with the brightest cover The boy who got possession would never read the book, but he could pull it out of his jacket pocket and tantalize the other boy going home

The Sunday-school was a wholeso heathen ere enjoying their bodies too much to care particularly about their souls And when the superintendent stood up to rap the school to order for the close of the session, and line out one of Watts's sober hy ready, and the s-fork froainst his teeth so he could set the tune He wore a very short-tailed coat, and had his hair brushed up in a high roach froive him a brisk and wide awake appearance as he stepped into the aisle holding a singing book in his hand

But no peaceful, long-drawn hyh the s and wandered into the woods The twang of the tuning-fork was drowned by a succession of cries The s man's eyebroent up to meet his roach while he stood in the aisle astonished to see a lady in trailing black clothes pounce upon a child strange to the neighborhood, and exclaim over, and cover it with kisses