It was a few days after the arrival of the two strangers in town that Roger and Adrian were walking along the road that led to the village of Tully. There was nothing for them to do about the farm just then, and Adrian thought it would be a good plan to "prospect" a bit, as he called it, to see if he might come upon a deposit of old bones anywhere. For he had not forgotten his plan of selling them, or anything else he might happen upon, to raise all the money he could.
It was a fine, warm spring day, with the air full of sweet smells from the damp earth, with the tender green grass just showing above the brown soil and tiny leaves bursting from the trees. The two boys hurried on, for they too felt the sap running up in their veins, and they wanted to hop and skip and shout aloud in the very enjoyment of being alive. As for Roger, he never felt better in his life, and he knew that even his short stay in the country, though it had been during a severe and cold winter, had been of great benefit to him.
"I'll beat you down to the old button-ball tree," cried Adrian suddenly, pointing to a big sycamore about six hundred feet ahead of them on the road.
"I'll go you."
"One, two, three," counted Adrian, "Ready!" and the boys were off at the word.
For nearly three quarters of the distance Roger held his own with his cousin. Then the more sturdy legs of the country boy and his better wind told, and he drew gradually away, though Roger did not give up until the very end, when Adrian finished five feet in advance.
"You—did—better—than—I thought—you would," panted Adrian, as he flopped down on the grass under the tree to rest.
"I'm picking up," admitted Roger, modestly. "I didn't think I could keep up at all. I never could run as far as this without getting a pain in my side. But it don't seem to bother me a bit now."
"Keep at it, and when you get back home, you'll be able to challenge the best of 'em," said Adrian, as he jumped up to throw a stone at a tin can in the road, hitting the object with a resounding clang.
The boys resumed their walk, talking on topics of interest to them and keeping their eyes "peeled," as Adrian expressed it, for old bones, that they might know where to locate them when they came another day. They had gone about two miles, rambling slowly along, when, as they turned a bend in the road, they caught sight of two men carrying valises, hurrying on, just ahead of them.