[Illustration: "Such stray waifs as you are not willing ta do anything."]

The tinker was very much pleased with Sami's harvest and his wife said
very kindly, if he kept on doing like that, he would get along all right,
but he must sit down at once and have some supper. The four little
children were no longer there. Sami guessed that they were lying out in
the wagon asleep. On the fire a pot was now standing. It was bubbling
merrily inside and from under the cover came forth a very inviting odor.
Sami had never been so hungry in his life before, for he had had nothing
the whole day but the rest of the piece of bread which the driver had
given him the day before in Chateau d'AEux.

The woman took the cover off the pot and filled three dishes with the
good-smelling soup. Each of the three now placed his dish before him on
the ground, and the meal began.

Nothing had ever tasted so good to Sami in all his life as this soup. It
was not a thin soup, it was as thick as pulp, of cooked peas and
potatoes, and with this quite large lumps of meat came into his spoon.

When he had finished, the woman said:

"You can go to sleep whenever you want to. In the back of the wagon there
is room, and your bundle will make a good pillow."

This seemed a little strange to Sami, and he said:

"Must I sleep in my clothes?"

The woman thought he would find that he would not be too warm in the