68 THE COUNTRY BOY 



glance at the place where my eggs were hidden 

 in a hole under the barn, when, lo and behold, 

 there was Joe Welch crawling out from under 

 our barn with my eggs in a sack. Before 

 he saw me I darted back into the house and 

 watched him from the attic window. He 

 looked all around, and then ran out of the 

 barnyard, across the street to his own home 

 and crawled under the house from the back. 

 He was gone for fifteen minutes, and when 

 he came out he brushed his clothes, looked all 

 around, and seeing no one, went downtown, 

 whistling a new tune our brass band had just 

 received from the East. I saw that the day 

 was all mine — I was born under a lucky star 

 — so I ran and got a sack, for I smelled big 

 business. Sack in hand, I crawled under Dr. 

 "Welch's house, and away up in the darkest 

 corner, next to the chimney, were the eggs 

 with my own initials on them. There was a 

 big heap altogether, and it seemed as if every 

 egg that any goose, turkey, hen or guinea 

 had laid in the neighborhood of Silverton for 

 the last year was there. I wiped my eyes at 

 first, then my heart began to beat so loudly 

 that I was afraid ^Irs. Welch, Joe's mother, 



