[Illustration:  BEN AND LITA AT THE BROOK.]

“I don’t think it’s fair that I should have so much trouble—­first losing father and then Sanch.  If it wasn’t for Lita and Miss Celia, I don’t believe I could stand it,” he said, one day, in a fit of despair, about a week after the sad event.

“Oh, come now, don’t give up so, old fellow.  We’ll find him if he’s alive, and if he isn’t I’ll try and get you another as good,” answered Thorny, with a friendly slap on the shoulder, as Ben sat disconsolately among the beans he had been hoeing.

“As if there ever could be another half as good!” cried Ben, indignant at the idea; “or as if I’d ever try to fill his place with the best and biggest dog that ever wagged a tail!  No, sir, there’s only one Sanch in all the world, and if I can’t have him I’ll never have a dog again.”

“Try some other sort of a pet, then.  You may have any of mine you like.  Have the peacocks; do now,” urged Thorny, full of boyish sympathy and good-will.

“They are dreadful pretty, but I don’t seem to care about ’em, thank you,” replied the mourner.

“Have the rabbits, all of them,” which was a handsome offer on Thorny’s part, for there were a dozen at least.

“They don’t love a fellow as a dog does; all they care for is stuff to eat and dirt to burrow in.  I’m sick of rabbits.”  And well he might be, for he had had the charge of them ever since they came, and any boy who has ever kept bunnies knows what a care they are.

“So am I!  Guess we’ll have an auction and sell out.  Would Jack be a comfort to you?  If he will, you may have him.  I’m so well now, I can walk, or ride anything,” added Thorny, in a burst of generosity.

“Jack couldn’t be with me always, as Sanch was, and I couldn’t keep him if I had him.”

Ben tried to be grateful, but nothing short of Lita would have healed his wounded heart, and she was not Thorny’s to give, or he would probably have offered her to his afflicted friend.

“Well, no, you couldn’t take Jack to bed with you, or keep him up in your room, and I’m afraid he would never learn to do anything clever.  I do wish I had something you wanted, I’d so love to give it to you.”

He spoke so heartily and was so kind that Ben looked up, feeling that he had given him one of the sweetest things in the world—­friendship; he wanted to tell him so, but did not know how to do it, so caught up his hoe and fell to work, saying, in a tone Thorny understood better than words: 

“You are real good to me—­never mind, I wont worry about it; only it seems extra hard coming so soon after the other——­”

He stopped there, and a bright drop fell on the bean leaves, to shine like dew till Ben saw clearly enough to bury it out of sight in a great hurry.

“By Jove!  I’ll find that dog, if he is out of the ground.  Keep your spirits up, my lad, and we’ll have the dear old fellow back yet.”