"Are you going to walk?" asked the farmer's wife.
"Yes," said Tony. "I've only got five cents in my pocket, and I can't ride far on that."
"I'm afraid you will be tired," said she, sympathetically.
"Oh, I'm used to tramping," returned Tony, lightly. "I don't mind that at all."
"Can't you put up some dinner for him, wife?" suggested the farmer. "It'll make him hungry, walking."
"To be sure I will," she replied, and a large supply of eatables were put in a paper, sufficient to last Tony twenty-four hours, at least.
The farmer deliberated whether he should not offer our hero half a dollar besides, but he was naturally close, so far as money was concerned, and he decided in the negative.
So Tony set out, taking a course directly opposite to that pursued by Abner. In this way he thought he should best avoid the chance of meeting Rudolph.
He walked easily, not being in any special hurry, and whenever he felt at all tired he stopped by the way side to rest. Early in the afternoon he lay down under a tree in the pasture and fell asleep. He was roused by a cold sensation, and found that a dog had pressed his cold nose against his cheek.