“Well, there’s still a week,” said Judge Parker, finally.  “We’ll wait a little longer before we decide.”

Several days later, Todd Walters ran breathlessly up the alley that led to the back of the Morgan place, and scrambled over the high board fence.  “Hi, Ab!” he called, as he dropped lightly to the ground.  “Have you heard the news?”

“No,” answer Ab, dropping the basket he was carrying, and straightening up to listen.

“Chicky is in luck.  He’s had a perfectly splendid position offered him in an express-office in another town.  He’ll make as much in one month there as he did here in a whole year.  I’m going down after dinner to ask all the particulars.  All I know now is that some strange gentleman telephoned down to the District Messenger Office a few days ago for them to send the trustiest employee that they had up to the hotel as quick as possible.  Something important had to be attended to, and he didn’t want anybody that couldn’t be trusted in every way.  And out of the whole bunch Chicky was the one they picked, as the most reliable one in the office.

“The gentleman was sick and couldn’t go to take some important papers somewhere that they had to go, and he was a stranger, and didn’t know anybody in town.  But he told Chicky it was very particular that they should get there on time, and he would make it all right with the company for sending him out of town.  Then he gave him some money to buy a railroad ticket, and told him just where to go, and what to do and everything.

“Well, there was a wreck on the road, somewhere along in the night, and lots of people were hurt.  Chicky got a bad cut on his head that bled awfully, and sprained his shoulder besides.  But when he shook himself together, and got somebody to tie up his head, he found that the train would be seven hours behind time on account of that smash-up.  And that kid just started off on foot.  He walked all the rest of the night, and, when he got to the town where he was to leave the papers, he was so near done for that he had to hire a hack to haul him up to the man’s house.  It turned out that he got there just in time to save the stranger a big lot of property in some way or another, and the man said he’d been looking for years for a boy like that, who could be faithful to a trust, and now that he’d found him he intended to stand by him.  I think it was real brave of Chicky to go all that way in the dark, all alone on a strange road.  I’ll bet it will be in all the papers.”

[Illustration]

“And I’ll bet he’ll get the bicycle now,” said Ab, gloomily, as he sat down on the wheel-barrow and kicked his heels against it.  “I feel it in my bones.  All my summer’s work’s gone for nothing.”

“I wanted it awfully bad, too,” said Todd, with a sigh and a sudden clouding of his bright little face.  “Of course, I’d be glad for Chicky to have it, when he hasn’t any home or nothing, but I’ve worked so hard for it, and I can’t help feeling disappointed.”