"Harry!" she cried, "you're not going off without your breakfast!"

"Oh, I don't want any breakfast, mother," he shouted.

"But you cannot go without your breakfast. You'll be sick."

"But just think!" expostulated Harry. "The things have been there all
night."

"It makes no difference," said Mrs. Loudon. "You must have your
breakfast first."

Mr. Loudon now put in a word, and Selim was led back to the stable.

"Well, I suppose I must," said poor Harry, with an air of resignation.
"Come in, Tom, and have something to eat."

The news spread rapidly. Harvey Davis was soon on hand, and by the time
breakfast was over, nearly every body in the village knew that the
telegraph things had come.

Harry and Tom did not get off as soon as they expected, for Mr. Loudon
advised them to take the spring-wagon--for they would need it to haul
their apparatus to the telegraphic stations--and the horse had to be
harnessed, and the cases which were to protect the instruments, when not
in use, were to be brought from the carpenter-shop, and so it seemed
very late before they started.

Just as they were ready to go, up galloped Brandeth Price and Wilson