“Want any more?” Junior coolly asked, as the fellow got up.

Evidently he didn’t, for he slunk off, followed by jeers and laughter.

At noon there was an immense pot of coffee with crackers and cheese, placed on a table near the kitchen door, and we had a free lunch.  To this Bobsey paid his respects so industriously that a great, gawky mountaineer looked down at him and said, with a grin, “I say, young ‘un, you’re gettin’ outside of more fodder than any critter of your size I ever knowed.”

“’Tain’t your fodder,” replied Bobsey, who had learned, in the streets, to be a little pert.

The day came to an end at last, and the cow and calf, the old bay horse, the wagon, and the harness were mine.  On the whole, Mr. Jones had bought them at reasonable rates.  He also bid in for me, at one dollar per pair, two cocks and twenty hens that looked fairly well in their coop.

For my part, I had secured the chair and blooming geranium.  To my surprise, when the rest of the flowers were sold, Junior took part in the bidding for the first time, and, as a result, carried out to the wagon several other pots of house-plants.

“Why, Junior,” I said, “I didn’t know you had such an eye for beauty.”

He blushed, but made no reply.

The chickens and the harness were put into Mr. Jones’s conveyance, the wagon I had bought was tied on behind, and we jogged homeward, the children exulting over our new possessions.  When I took in the geranium bush and put it on the table by the sunny kitchen window, Junior followed with an armful of his plants.

“They’re for Mousie,” he said; and before the delighted child could thank him, he darted out.

Indeed, it soon became evident that Mousie was Junior’s favorite.  She never said much to him, but she looked a great deal.  To the little invalid girl he seemed the embodiment of strength and cleverness, and, perhaps because he was so strong, his sympathies went out toward the feeble child.

The coop of chickens was carried to the basement that we had made ready, and Winnie declared that she meant to “hear the first crow and get the first egg.”

The next day the horse and the cow and calf were brought over, and we felt that we were fairly launched in our country life.

“You have a bigger family to look after outdoors than I have indoors,” my wife said, laughingly.

I was not long in learning that some of my outdoor family were anything but amiable.  The two cocks fought and fought until Junior, who had run over before night, showed Merton that by ducking their heads in cold water their belligerent spirit could be partially quenched.  Then he proceeded to give me a lesson in milking.  The calf was shut up away from the cow, which was driven into a corner, where she stood with signs of impatience while Junior, seated on a three-legged stool, essayed to obtain the nectar we all so dearly loved.  At first he did not succeed very well.