"I don't know, Hiram. Maybe she did what she thought was best. But I do hope that I take after my mother's side of the family." "Which can't be any worse than the Cheltenhams in any case, eh?" chuckled Hiram. "Nice name--'Cheltenham.' Sounds as though you ought to be related to the King of England, or some of the nobility." "Now, you're laughing at me, Hiram! I'd just as lief my name was something short and nice sounding--like 'Strong,' or 'Post,' or--" "Maybe Orrin's name isn't so short and sweet." Hiram said suddenly. "You know, as I wrote you, there is a mystery as to what Orrin's name really is." "Yes, I know," said Sister thoughtfully. "And Orrin is such a nice young man. I asked him the other day, Hi, what he supposed might have become of my little brother after he ran away from the reform school." "What did he say?" "Why, he seemed real interested. He said maybe Claude--I mean, Marvin--was wise to run away. Orrin said sometimes they hire boys out from those schools to farmers who make them work like slaves. He seemed to know all about such things." "He did?" "I believe Orrin must have been in one of those schools himself when he was a boy." "Lucky if he wasn't in a worse place," thought Hiram. But he did not go any deeper into a discussion of Orrin's affairs at this time. The mystery of who and what Orrin Post really was seemed quite as far from being solved as the whereabouts of Sister's brother. The wheat was now nodding heavy heads for the harvest. The binders and extra harvest hands came to Sunnyside Farm after reaping Mr. Bronson's other wheat fields. Everybody about the place--even Sister--worked in the wheat fields, standing up the golden shocks, from early morning until nightfall. [Illustration: Everybody about the place--even Sister--worked in the wheat fields.] Close on the heels of the harvesting the great tractor drawing the threshing machine rumbled up to Sunnyside. The regular threshing crew came with it so that the work at Sunnyside went much more rapidly this time than it had the year before, although the yield of grain was far greater. But how everyone did toil at it! Threshing under the very best conditions is the hardest farm work there is. It is not such tedious work as the making of the crop--the plowing and raking, rolling and seeding, and the cultivation of it, or of the mowing and binding; but for out and out bone-breaking labor, and in the hottest part of the year, threshing takes the palm. It must be hurried, too, for there is always another grain ranch to go to. And the season, too, is that when other work on the farm is urgent. Mr. Bronson came himself to Sunnyside to watch Hiram's wheat and oats threshed. Besides, he was particularly interested in the yield of Battick's new wheat.