"Make a note of it," said Wilson; "Waupac--a county where a man's proposal for marriage is honored upon presentation. Sight drafts." Rivers struck up a song, while Rob stood around, patiently bearing the jokes of the crowd: "We're lookin' rather seedy now, While holdin' down our claims, And our vittles are not always of the best, And the mice play slyly round us As we lay down to sleep In our little old tarred shanties on the claim. "Yet we rather like the novelty Of livin' in this way, Though the bill of fare is often rather tame; An' we're happy as a clam On the land of Uncle Sam In our little old tarred shanty on the claim." The train drew up at length, to the immense relief of Rob, whose stoical resignation was beginning to weaken. "Don't y' wish y' had sand?" he yelled to the crowd, as he plunged into the car, thinking he was rid of them at last. He was mistaken. Their last stroke was to follow him into the car, nodding, pointing to their heads, and whispering, managing in the half-minute the train stood at the platform to set every person in the car staring at the "crazy man." Rob groaned, and pulled his hat down over his eyes--an action which confirmed his tormentors' words and made several ladies click their tongues in sympathy--"Tlck! tlck! poor fellow!" "All abo-o-o-a-rd!' said the conductor, grinning his appreciation at the crowd, and the train was off. "Oh, won't we make him groan when he gets back!" said Barney, the young lawyer, who sang the shouting tenor. "We'll meet him with the timbrel and the harp. Anybody want to wager? I've got two to one on a short brunette," said Wilson. II "Follow it far enough and it may pass the bend in the river where the water laughs eternally over its shallows." A corn-field in July is a sultry place. The soil is hot and dry; the wind comes across the lazily murmuring leaves laden with a warm, sickening smell drawn from the rapidly growing, broad-flung banners of the corn. The sun, nearly vertical, drops a flood of dazzling light upon the field over which the cool shadows run, only to make the heat seem the more intense.