“Oh! I thought it was a chestnut,” laughed Jack. “It’s so good that it would bear repeating anyway. This man started out to please his father, taking ten chickens in the wagon and a pair of horses, one gray and the other a roan. If he found that the woman bossed the house he was to leave a fowl; and should he ever come across a home where the man was absolutely the ruler one of the horses was to be given to the happy couple!” “That’s interesting. Honest, Jack, I’ve never heard the story before, either.” “From house to house the man went. In every case he learned that woman ruled the ranch, and so by degrees his supply of fowls got down to a single specimen. Then he came to a place where there was a big burly man and a small sharp-eyed wife. When he stated his case he learned that in this home the man did just as he pleased. Both declared this, and it looked as though he had at last hit on an ideal couple, which would please his father very much. “‘Since in this house the man is the sole boss,’ he told them, ‘I am empowered by my father to make you a present of a horse. Now choose which one of these two animals you would want to have.’ “‘The gray one strikes me as just about right,’ said the man. “‘It’s a good horse,’ admitted the woman, ‘but don’t you think the roan a little the finer, John? It seems to me if there is any choice I’d take the roan.’ “At that the man told them to step aside and settle the matter; so after some talk the husband came forward a little sheepishly and said: “‘Mister, if it’s all the same to you I think we’ll take the roan horse!’ “‘You’ll take a hen,’ said the traveler, as he chucked the last fowl out of the wagon, and drove back to tell his father that woman was supreme in every home.” Amos laughed heartily at hearing the conclusion. Anxieties do not wholly suppress young blood, which is capable of throwing cares aside at will. “Here they come to the door again,” he told Amos. “I wonder what they think of hearing me laugh so loud.” This time the door was thrown wide open by the man. “Enter, young messieurs. We will do the best we can to entertain you. But after such a terrible winter it is little any Belgian family possesses to keep body and soul together. Lucky are those who still have a roof over their heads.” The old woman looked at them, and nodded her head as both boys saluted her respectfully. They were given chairs, and seemed glad to sit down to rest, being more or less tired after walking. “What a wonderful day this has been for us, taken in all,” Amos was saying as they looked out of the small window and saw how steadily the rain was coming down. “We’ll have to mark it with a white stone in our log of this trip abroad to the battlefields of the world war,” Jack asserted. “Do you think they mean to keep us over night?” asked Amos, in a low tone, as he noted that both man and woman seemed to be stirring around, getting the fire started afresh, as though meaning to do some cooking.