Page:Ballinger Price--The Happy Venture.djvu/55

Rh which they had lurched through miles of flat, mist-hung country for the past forty minutes.

The station-agent sat on a tilted-up box and discussed the new arrivals with one of his ever-present cronies.

"Whut they standin' ther' fer?" he said. "Some folks ain't got enough sense to go in outen the rain, seems so."

"'T ain't rainin'—not so 's to call it so," said the crony, whose name was Smith. "The gell's pretty."

"Ya-as, kind o'," agreed the station-agent, tilting back critically. "Boy's upstandin'."

"Which one?"

"Big 'n. Little 'un ain't got no git-up-'n'-git fer one o' his size. Look at him holdin' to her hand."

"Sunthin' ails him," Smith said. "Ain't all there I guess."

The station-agent nodded a condescending agreement, and cocked his foot on another box. At this moment the upstanding boy detached himself from his companions, and strode to where the old man sat.

"I beg your pardon," he said, "can you tell me how far it is to the Baldwin farm, and