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Then a line of bicyclists came into view, five youths, with backs bent and heads down, making fast time. On they came with a rush and whirr, the boy in front pointing in toward the Half Way House. The line of glistening, flying wheels aimed itself fair at Colonel Witham's dog, who roused himself and stood, growling hoarsely, with ears set back and tail between his legs.
Squirming about, in the firm grasp of the person who held him, Tim turned and faced Colonel Witham. "Well, I reckon I've got yer," was Colonel Witham's comment. "No use in your trying to wriggle away." The fact was quite evident, and Tim's face clouded. "I haven't done anything to hurt," he said. "Lemme go." "Who said you had," replied Colonel Witham, grimly.
Colonel Witham paused, and reluctantly put his hand in his trousers pocket. With still greater reluctance, he drew forth a twenty-five cent piece and tendered it to the boy. "Here," he said, "it's a lot of money, but I won't say as you haven't earned it." To Colonel Witham's astonishment, however, the boy shook his head. "I don't want any money," he said. "I wouldn't take it for that."
A passing shower was sprinkling the doorsteps with a few big drops, and the girl drew back with a look of disappointment on her face. "It always rains when you don't want it to," she said. "Wish there was somebody to play with. It's pokey here, with gran' gone to Witham's. I don't know what to do."
Then, arriving within sight of it, they waited on the water silently for a time, until two figures crept along the shore and hailed them. These were John and James Ellison. "It's all right," said John Ellison, in answer to an inquiry; "Witham's at home, and the place is deserted. And who do you suppose is on watch up near the Half Way House, to let us know if Witham comes out? Bess Thornton.
Old Granny Thornton, half lifting herself from her chair, shook her head and made a reply to Colonel Witham, which Henry Burns could not hear. But what she said was perhaps indicated by Colonel Witham's reply. "Yes, I do like her," he said. "She's a flyaway and up to tricks, but I'll take that out of her. I'll bring her up better than you could. I need her to help take care of the place."
It had been erected by some former proprietor, for the patriotic purpose of flying the American flag; but, to Colonel Witham's thrifty mind, it had offered an excellent vantage for displaying a dingy banner, with the advertisement of the Half Way House lettered thereon.
Then the screeching of five shrill whistles smote upon the summer stillness, the wheels came to an abrupt stop, and the five riders dismounted at a flying leap at the very edge of Colonel Witham's porch.
Good iron rim there that'll last for ever." "Just try it a little way," said Bess Thornton. "I never saw anybody ride that had won medals," said Tim Reardon. Colonel Witham's pride was rapidly getting the better of his discretion. "Oh, I can ride it," he said, "only it's it's kind of hot to try it. Makes me feel sort of like a boy, though, to get hold of the thing."
In a certain measure, they remind one of Figs. 4 and 5, Pl 11, of Witham's "Internal Structure of Fossil Vegetables," and which were drawn from specimens of cannel coal derived likewise from Lancashire, but which are not so highly magnified.
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