Yes, but the whole thing was so absurdly twisted. The care of his children occupied his entire time now, so that his work, in seeking that which was required to support them, had to be entirely neglected. He had fifty dollars between him and starvation for his children. Nor could he see his way to earning more. The struggles of his unpractical mind were painful. It was a problem quite beyond him. He struggled nobly with it, but he saw no light ahead, and, with that curious singleness of purpose that was his, he eventually abandoned the riddle, and devoted his whole thought to the children. Any other man would probably have decided to hire himself out to work on the claims of other men, and so hope to earn sufficient to hire help in the care of the twins, but not so Scipio. He believed that their future well-being lay in his claim. If that could not be worked, then there was no other way. He had just finished clearing up his hut, and the twins were busy with their games outside in the sun, aided by their four-legged yellow companion, whose voice was always to be heard above their excited squabblings and laughter. So Sunny Oak found things when he slouched up to the hut with the result of the Trust's overnight meeting in his pocket. The loafer came in with a grin of good-nature on his perspiring and dirty face. He was feeling very self-righteous. It was pleasant to think he was doing a good work. So much so that the effort of doing it did not draw the usual protest from him. He glanced about him with a tolerant eye, feeling that henceforth, under the guidance of the Trust he represented, Scipio's condition would certainly be improved. But somehow his mental patronage received a quiet set-back. The hut looked so different. There was a wholesome cleanliness about it that was quite staggering. Sunny remembered it as it was when he had last seen it under his regime, and the contrast was quite startling. Scipio might be incapable of organization, but he certainly could scour and scrub. Sunny raked at his beard with his unclean finger-nails. Yes, Zip must have spent hours of unremitting labor on the place since he had seen it last. However, he lost no time in carrying out his mission. "Kind o' busy, Zip?" he greeted the little man pleasantly. Scipio raised a pair of shadowed eyes from the inside of the well-scoured fry-pan he was wiping. "I'm mostly through fixin' these chores--for awhiles," he replied quietly. Then he nodded in the direction of the children's voices. "Guess I'm goin' to take the kiddies down to the creek to clean 'em. They need cleanin' a heap." Sunny nodded gravely. He was thinking of those things he had so carefully written out. "They sure do," he agreed. "Bath oncet a week. But not use a hand-scrubber, though," he added, under a wave of memory. "Kids is tender skinned," he explained.