“You’re very kind, my lad,” gratefully replied the man, who seemed to be about fifty years of age. “You might get a few sticks for the fire; the night is cold, and I’ll be glad if you could find me a drink of water anywhere near by—you’ll find a cup in the hamper in the wagon. And then, if you’d not feel it was too much trouble to give those animals a mess of oats which you will find in a bag in the wagon, you will do all that I would ask of you.”
“All right,” said Dick, and he cheerfully proceeded to do what the sick man asked of him.
He found a tin cup in the hamper, which also contained a neat sandwich, half of an apple pie, a piece of gingerbread and two pieces of candle wrapped in a bit of newspaper.
Dick fortunately turning his steps in the right direction, found a spring at the back of the barn, and fetched a cupful of the cold water to the stricken stranger, which he drank with evident relish.
The boy then replenished the fire in the stove and returned to the barn.
Lighting one of the bits of candle, he took the bucket and watered the horses.
Then he released them from their traces, led them into two of the dusty stalls, and dumping a liberal quantity of oats into the bins, left them to themselves.
“Have a drink of milk?” said Dick to the sick man as he untied his bundle preparatory to eating his supper.
The stranger thankfully accepted his offer, then turned on his side and apparently went to sleep.
Dick had brought in a horse blanket which he had found folded on the wagon seat, and after he had eaten all he wanted and put more wood in the grate, curled himself up near the stove and was presently oblivious to his surroundings.