comfortable in his bare feet. When he reached the kitchen, he found
that Farmer Tinch had already eaten his breakfast, though it was not
daylight. Archie was glad that he was out of the way, and good Mrs.
Tinch was glad of it, too, for she was able to give the boy a good
breakfast, and some good advice with it. "Don't you pay no attention
to what my man says, laddie. He's a powerful man to swear and carry
on, but I don't think he'll have the meanness to strike you. Ef he
does, ye must come to me, and I'll see thet he doesn't do it no more."

Archie was grateful for this spirit of friendliness, but in his heart
he thought that cruel words were often more painful than lashes, and
he heartily wished that his week was over.

All this day he spent on the farm, without once going into the road.
Farmer Tinch had warned him that if he saw him making for the road at
any time, he could go and never come back, and he would forfeit what
money he had already earned. So Archie ploughed the field from
daylight till dark, with a half hour at noon for a hurried dinner. He
was glad when darkness came, and after another supper of mush and milk
he was thankful to have a corn-husk bed to sleep on, and was soon in a
stupor which was so sound as to be almost like death.

Again the next morning he was awakened at daylight, and he was made to
work even harder than on the second day. He had by this time become
somewhat used to the labour, however, and stood it better. He was more
successful in his work, too, and Farmer Tinch had less opportunity for
cursing him. But at night he seemed more tired, even, than before, and
he longed for his home again. He thought of the cosy bed he would now
be enjoying if he had only taken his mother's advice, and he felt
almost like getting up in the night and stealing away on the road to