received with a cheer by the boys; and their friends were not a
little astonished to hear that the dinner they had partaken of had
been entirely prepared and cooked by these little women.

After four months' gardening, Mr. Hardy placed the boys with a
farmer who lived a mile distant, and made an arrangement for them
to breakfast there, so that they now remained at work from six in
the morning until twelve. Here they obtained some idea of
harnessing and driving horses, of plowing, and of the other farming
operations.

They now only went four days a week to the carpenter's, for their
papa had one day said to them when they were alone with him before
dinner: "Do not put on your working clothes this afternoon, boys; I
am going to take you out with me, but do not say anything about it
at dinner. I will tell you why afterward."

Rather surprised, they did as he told them, wondering where they
could be going. Their father said nothing on the subject until they
reached the town, which was a quarter of a mile distant from their
house. Then he said: "Now, boys, you know we are going out to a
country of which a great portion is still unsettled; and as land is
a good deal cheaper at a short distance from the inhabited parts,
we shall perhaps have no one within many miles of us. Now it is
just possible that at first the Indians may be disposed to be
troublesome. I do not suppose that they will, but it is just as
well to be prepared for everything. There is no reason why you boys
should not be able to shoot as straightly as a man, and I have
therefore bought two carbines. They are the invention of an
American named Colt, and have a revolving breech, so that they fire