determined that, as he had acted very foolishly in the affair of Bob, he
would take great care with the stilts, and, therefore, when he arrived at
the edge of the river, he mounted cautiously, as Jenny had advised him to
do. For the first half of the way, he went very well; but, when in the
middle of the stream, he found her precautions very necessary, for the
water was nearly above his feet, and the current was so rapid as to
require all his strength to move the stilts. As the difficulty increased,
he was obliged to stop and rest himself. "Aha!" said he, "a fall here
would be worse than even over Bob's ears. Surely this is a bad beginning
for my practice in service. I think if I meet with many days like this, I
am likely to have but little comfort in it; however, my poor father has
often told me, there is nothing like perseverance, and I am sure I found
it in learning my letters; for, when I first began, I thought it nearly
impossible that I should remember the names of those crooked ill-shaped
things, and yet I became sooner acquainted with them than I thought I
should; so I will even try again to get out of this scrape." So resolving,
he began to move forward, and at last, by taking great care, reached the
opposite side in safety.

He soon ran on to Mr. Hume's where he found Archie, and delivered Mr.
Martin's message. Archie said he could not go down so far as Craigie Hall
that day, being obliged to finish his day's work at the Roman Camp. He had
already spent all his spare time with Mr. Hume; but he promised faithfully
to bring his new-found treasure down to Mr. Martin's the next evening,
after work hours; and he bade John tell Mr. Martin that he would not part
with the urn, or any of the coins till he had seen them. He then good
naturedly said he would see John over the river, for it was not safe for
such a little boy as he to cross it alone, while it was so full and
strong. As soon as John got over the water, he set off as fast as he could
walk to Jenny's for the pony, and putting the bridle round his arm, he