thoughtfully at the ground all the while, as if he were revolving
some perplexing question in his mind, and then quickened his pace to
overtake him.

"Le' me carry some of them things," said he, as he came up with
David.

"No, I thank you," replied the latter, who knew that Dan never would
have offered to help him, if he had not hoped to gain something by
it. "I can get along very well by myself. The load is not a heavy
one."

"You're an amazin' lucky feller, Davy," continued Dan. "What you been
a doin' to Silas, to make him speak so kind to us poor folks?"

"I haven't done anything to him. I don't know how to account for it,
any more than you do."

"What's the matter, now? Forgot something?" asked Dan, as his brother
suddenly stopped and looked toward the landing, as if he had half a
mind to turn around and go back there.

Yes, David had forgotten something, and it was very important too, he
thought. He knew that Dan was always on the lookout for a chance to
make a penny without work, and David was afraid that he might be
tempted to repeat the trick which he and his father had played upon
Don and Bert with so much success.

It would be a very easy matter for Dan to make up some plausible
story to tell the grocer, and perhaps on the strength of his