The first house I came to was a small yellow frame, close to the road, with a yellow dog chained on the porch, and a woman frying ham in the kitchen. “Please, ma’am,” said I. “G’way!” said she. “Here, Tige!” “Please, ma’am--” “G’way, I say! We don’t want no tramps hookin’ everything they kin lay their hands on!” “Please, ma’am,” I persisted, mildly, “I am not a tramp. I want something to eat”--the woman started to unchain the dog--“for which I am willing to pay.” “Come right in,” said the woman, with a broad smile. “I declare I couldn’t have the heart to turn anybody away hungry. Tramps bother a person so that I get kinder suspicious, but I could see right away you were different from the general run.” While she was talking she was busily engaged in setting the table with fried ham, potatoes, bread and butter and coffee, and I lost no time in falling to. I paid a quarter for it when I had finished, and got away as quickly as possible, as I feared the arrival of some of the men folks, who might have their suspicions aroused. All that night I traveled on and slept in the woods again. Not to enter into particulars, it is sufficient to say that I kept this up for a week, until I found myself in the vicinity of Williamsport, and by that time I judged myself to be reasonably safe. So I boldly entered that city in broad daylight, had a bath and my hair cut, a complete change of underclothing, and enjoyed a day of rest. When I started out again, the next morning, I had recovered my usual spirits, and took to the road, determined to keep going as long as my money and strength held out. I had twenty-five dollars of the former and an unlimited supply of the latter. All that day I tramped on steadily enough, buying both my dinner and supper for trifling sums; and, when night came on, I thought it would be just as well to camp in the woods again. For that purpose I left the road, and, plunging into the forest on my left, I soon came to a secluded spot, near a ravine or gully, and there I made myself a bed of dry leaves. On this I lay down, and was fast drifting into the Land of Nod, when I was aroused by a sound something like the rattling of tinware. I promptly sat up and listened. Again I heard the rattling, and as it evidently come from the ravine, I arose and began an investigation. Peering over the edge of the gully, I saw at the bottom, about fifteen feet below, a bright light, and the rattling sound again smote my ears. By this time my curiosity was excited to the utmost, and, catching hold of a small sapling, I leaned far over the edge to observe the why and wherefor. As I did so, I felt the sapling giving away, and I made a desperate attempt to recover myself. It was no use. Down went the sapling into the ravine and I along with it. CHAPTER XV. I MEET AN ECCENTRIC DOCTOR AND ENTER INTO HIS SERVICE. The sapling and I fell directly on a fire of branches, from which came the light at which I had been gazing.