“I forgot that. But, look here, if there’s a stove there——”
“Yes, sir! Get us some coffee an’ bread——”
“And cook our own supper!” concluded Wayne triumphantly.
“Ain’ that fine? You take this yere money, Mas’ Wayne, an’ buy them things, an’ I’ll run back an’ fetch that blanket.” June grinned from ear to ear, displaying a wealth of glistening white teeth.
“You’re sure no one owns that car, though, June? We don’t want to get settled down there and then be put out the way they put us out of the little shed.”
“Huh, ain’ no police ever gets aroun’ there, I reckon,” answered June. “Man said it didn’ belong to no one, too.”
“All right. You get the blanket and I’ll buy what I can and meet you at the post office in fifteen minutes or so.”
June disappeared, and Wayne paid the two cheques and set out to find a grocery store. When he had completed his purchasing just one lonesome nickel remained in his pocket, but he had acquired a modest amount of cheap coffee, five cents’ worth of butter, a loaf of bread, a can of condensed milk and some sugar. Five minutes later they were footing it down the main street of Medfield, Wayne bearing the provisions and June the horse blanket which was a load in itself. It seemed that June had not underestimated the distance a particle, nor the difficulties of travel, for after they had traversed the poorer part of town their road stopped abruptly and they were forced to take to the railroad track and, since trains were coming and going frequently, make their way along by the little path on the side of the embankment. Coal yards, lumber yards, a foundry, vacant lots heaped with cinders and rubbish, and, at last, the open country, dotted here and there with small factories which, possibly because of lower land values, had been set up on the outskirts of town. June explained that he had found his way there in the morning by the road, but that the road was “way over yonder an’ a heap longer.” Presently he pointed out the stamping works, or tin factory, as he called it, and then directed Wayne’s gaze further and to the right.
“See that bunch of trees, Mas’ Wayne? See somethin’ jus’ other side of ’em? That’s it, sir!”
“Oh! But it’s a long ways from town, June.”