“Come, twinnies,” laughed auntie, “we’ll go and look after him and see that he doesn’t lose himself again.”
“Boy,” called Zaidee, “will you come and let us find you again?”
Brown-Eyes nodded, but kept on his way. At the gate they saw a lady running towards them, from the direction of the village.
“I are dust comin’ home, mamma,” called Phelps, his fat legs quickening their rate to a run.
His mamma caught him in her arms, and this time he was quite content to nestle in her neck.
Auntie told her how it had all happened, and, now that the fright was over, Mrs. Bennett could laugh at the story, and she promised that her little boy should come and see the twins, even if they could not keep him as their own.
CHAPTER XX.
MAMIE’S MESSAGE.
The doctor’s farmer, ’Gustus John, as everyone called him, stood at his little white gate, looking down the road. Dr. Ward was coming up from the village, with his hands full of letters, and ’Gustus wanted to speak to him.
“I say,” he drawled, as the doctor came within speaking distance, “I seen yer comin’, an’ I wanted to tell you about thet new caow o’ yourn, thet we bought over to the Fair last week. ’T ain’t no bargain, I’m thinkin’, ’n’ the critter’s all-fired cross. Nigh on to horned me out of the stable this mornin’. What do you say to fattening her up for beef straight off?”
“Just as you like,” returned the doctor, absently, for he had some important letters in his hand, which he had been glancing at as he walked. “I never like to have cross animals on the place, lest some accident might happen with so many children about.”