At noon he heard a conch shell blown, and washing up as Mr. Cartwright had directed him, he proceeded to the house, where he sat down to a bountiful spread that was certainly a joyous sight in the eyes of a hungry boy.
He only wished the little mother were sitting beside him instead of big Toby, now well on the road to recovery.
And all that afternoon, when he felt tired from the unusual employment of his muscles, he cheered himself up with the thought of how proud he would be to place that first dollar and a quarter in the hand of the waiting little woman in the cottage by the river bank—for it was one of the miller's peculiarities to do a cash business, and pay any one working for him each day after the hour for stopping arrived.
It was a tiresome walk back to town and then out home, but Dick strode along with a light heart, and having changed his mind about his homecoming stopped in town to buy something in the way of groceries which he knew would fill a long-felt want at home.
In the gloaming then he arrived, to find his mother beginning to grow nervous over his long absence; and only when her arms were about his neck he told of his success in obtaining work.
Doubly sweet was the humble fare that night, for he felt that he had really done his part toward the support of the Morrison family, and that he was in a fair road toward filling that place at the head made vacant by the death of his father.
CHAPTER IV
IN SEARCH OF A JOB
The job with the miller lasted just five days.