A rough, angry man glared at the mill owner and bawled, "You old moss-back, do you think that you own this road? When somebody takes a wheel off of that old ark, it may"--the voice was very doubtful--"knock some sense into your bean. Don't you know enough to put out your hand when you stop, you mutton-headed fool. If there was a constable about I'd have you chucked into the calaboose." Obadiah sat speechless under this insolence. Possibly he was becoming inured to unkind words. As the car disappeared in the distance his tongue was loosened, "Kate, did you get their number?" he inquired with great anxiety. "No. Why on earth should I want their number? I hope I never see them again." He almost stammered in the flood of his wrath. "If I had it, I'd prosecute them--have them fined and put in prison." "What for--scolding us?" inquired Aunt Kate softly. He did not answer for a time. When he turned his temper had departed. "Kate, I was wrong, I suppose," he said. She looked at him curiously and there was affection in her glance; but her voice was stern as she replied, "Obadiah, you were headstrong and it led you into trouble, as it used to when you were a boy." "Yes, Kate." In Obadiah's tones was a new note. Thereafter, Archimedes pursued his way in the safety of the gutter until they turned into a little used lane where great trees, decked in wonderful autumnal colors, arched overhead, and unkempt hedges brushed their wheels. The birds, disturbed in their preparations for their trip South, made short, noisy flights ahead of the vehicle, protesting against the intrusion. Regardless of this, Obadiah and Archimedes, meditating upon recent injuries, pursued the path that fate would have them follow. CHAPTER XXI THE TRIUMPH When Virginia and Helen came up the path towards the Curtis home, they missed the little figure of Charles Augustus hobbling forth to meet them with joyous greetings. "We'll go to the front door," suggested Helen. So they passed around the house and, ascending the steps, knocked at the weather-beaten front entrance. "Come in," cried the shrill voice of Charles Augustus. "I can't open the door." Virginia obeyed the command of the child with a smile of delight. As she swung the door back, the pleasant odor of frying doughnuts assailed her nostrils. Looking through the rooms, she could see Mrs. Curtis in the kitchen, fork in hand, awaiting their entrance with a look of inquiry which melted into a smile of welcome as she recognized them. In the midst of pillows, Charles Augustus sat in one chair with his legs propped up upon another. As usual, he was bright, cheerful and talkative. Virginia turned towards the child and then she gave a little gasp of joy as a big fellow with black eyes and a wonderful smile lifted himself with a cane and limped towards her. "Joe!" she trilled, her sparkling blue eyes revealing her heart's rejoicing. "Joe!" she repeated, in a voice which breathed its own enchantment.