Billy received the boodle as if it had been chewing gum or a soiled
handkerchief, and stuffed it indifferently into his already bulging
pocket in a crumple as if it were not worth the effort.

"A'rright. I'll be here!" he declared, and mounting his wheel with an
air of finality, sailed away down the platform, curved off the high
step with a bump into the road and coasted down the road below the
tunnel toward Monopoly, leaving Sabbath Valley glistening in the
sunshine off to the right. With all that money in his pocket what was
the use of going back to Sabbath Valley for his lunch and making his
trip a good two miles farther? He would beat the baseball team to it.

The thick one stood disconsolately, his grimy cap in his hand and
scratched his dusty head of curls in a troubled way.

"Gosh!" he said wrathfully, "The little devil! Now I don't know what
he'll do. I wonder--! But what else could I do?"




II


Over in Sabbath Valley quiet sweetness brooded, broken now and again by
the bell-like sound of childish laughter here and there. The birds were
holding high carnival in the trees, and the bees humming drowsy little
tunes to pretend they were not working.