Tito raised a grubby hand and pointed. "Right away beyont where you see the water shinin'. It's a sort of island--I was out there after I come back but the hole was all washed away and filled up." "_You_ were out there? Do you know the way?" Tito spit calmly, almost contemptuously. "_Me? _I bin often--there ain't a trail I don't know. I could lead you straight acrost. I took a tramp wonct; anyways I would have took him if he'd let me." "A tramp!" Mark straightened up. "When?" The episode of the tramp had almost faded from Tito's mind. What still lingered was not the memory of his fear but the way he had been swindled. Now in company with one who always understood and never scolded, he was filled with a desire to tell it and gain a tardy sympathy. He screwed up his eyes in an effort to answer accurately. "I guess it was last fall. Yes, it was, just before school commenced. I wouldn't 'a done it--Pop'd have licked me if he'd 'a known--but he promised me a quarter." "Who promised you a quarter?" "Him--the tramp. And I was doin' it, but he got awful mean, swore somethin' fierce and said I didn't know. And how was he to tell and us only halfway acrost?" "You mean you only took him halfway?" "It was all he'd let me," said Tito, on the defensive. "I tolt him it was all right, but he just stood up there cursin' me. And then he got to throwin' things, almost had me here"--he put his hand against his ear--"like he was plumb crazy. But I guess he wasn't, for he wouldn't give me the quarter." "Did you leave him there?" "Sure I did. I run, I was scairt. Pop and Mom'd always be tellin' me to have nothin' to do with tramps. And it was awful lonesome out there and him swearin' and firin' rocks." Tito did not receive that immediate consolation he had looked for. His friend was silent; a side glance showed him studying the tules with meditative eyes. For a moment the little boy had a dreary feeling that his confidence was going to be rewarded by a reprimand, then Mark said: "Do you remember what the man looked like?" "Awful poor with long whiskers all sort 'er stragglin' round. He'd a straw hat and a basket and eyes on him like he was sleepy." Again Mark made no response, and Tito, feeling that he had not grasped the full depths of the tragedy, piped up plaintively: "I'd 'a stood the swearin' and I could 'a dodged the rocks if he'd given me the quarter. But I couldn't get it off him--not even a dime." That had a good effect, much better than Tito's highest hopes had anticipated. "Well, he treated you mean, old man. And, take it from me--don't you go showing the way to any more tramps. They're the kind to let alone. As for the quarter I guess that's due with interest. Here it is." And a half dollar was laid on Tito's knee.