The lad's face instantly brightened. "Yes, I would," he cried. "I'd like it very much." Although the scheme was not a brilliant one, it was far better than hanging about Elversham day after day. To go to the city would mean new sights, new sounds, and doubtless luncheon with his father--a treat to which he had always looked forward since a small boy. "Really now!" commented Mr. Burton, beaming down at him. "Well, I am surprised. I feared you would not even listen to the proposal. So you like it, eh? Oh, not for long, of course--I understand that; but simply as a filler." Christopher was all cordiality. "It wouldn't be half bad." "Don't imagine I shall set you to work," continued Mr. Burton hastily. "I'd rather work if there was anything I could do." "I am afraid there wouldn't be," was the reply. "Ours is a trade that has, for the most part, to be learned." "I suppose so." "No, I shall not set you to work--or entertain you, either. You will have to look out for yourself. However, as you say, it may amuse you to go to the store, and perhaps when you get there you can make some sort of a niche for yourself. We'll see." "Certainly there must be errands to run," Christopher suggested. Mr. Burton eyed the boy pleasantly, but shook his head. "Even our errands have to be detailed to skilled men--at least, most of them. Now and then, it is true, there are ordinary messages to be delivered; but in most cases any packages we send out are too valuable to be entrusted to boys your age. They might be held up." "Held up!" repeated Christopher incredulously. "Surely. Such things have happened," Mr. Burton nodded. "We never feel safe about sending out valuable goods unless they are well guarded." "It would be mighty exciting to be held up!" Christopher gasped, his eyes wide with interest. "Exciting!" mimicked his father sarcastically. "Exciting! Humph! I guess you would find it something more than exciting if a group of yeggs thrust a pistol under your nose. You seem to forget that persons who hold up a messenger do it to get the goods." "But they don't always succeed?" came breathlessly from Christopher. "Not in moving pictures," was the grim retort. "In the movies, somebody always happens along at the crucial moment, rescues the hero, captures the villain, and everything is all right. That is the sort of hold-up you are accustomed to, son. But in real life the villain is a desperate character armed with a gun that goes off. You forget that." Christopher looked crestfallen and flushed uncomfortably. "Perhaps I am shaking your courage a little and you won't be so eager to go to town with me," jested Mr. Burton. "On the contrary, the scheme appeals to me more than ever." "You actually hanker to meet a bandit or two?" "It would certainly add a thrill to life to encounter a bandit," grinned Christopher.