The cool spring air blew across the fields softly, bringing with it the fresh smell of the sodden earth and the scent of the wet pines.
"The Judge will be here in a minute," said Launcelot; "he stayed in the carriage, and Perkins put up the curtains, so that they managed to keep pretty dry.
"I wonder if there will be room for me to ride home?" Tommy asked. "I am dead tired."
"I guess so. The Judge has the big wagon with the three seats. Pretty long tramp you had, didn't you?" and Launcelot looked at the boy's dusty shoes.
"Awful," said Tommy, with a quiver in his voice at the remembrance.
"Hungry?" questioned Launcelot, briefly.
"Awful," said Tommy again. "I haven't had a square meal for a week," and now the quiver was intensified.
Amelia clasped her hands tragically. "Oh, Tommy," she asked in a stricken tone, "didn't you almost die?"
But just then Tommy caught Judy's eye on him, and was forced to continue his character of bold adventurer.
"Oh, a man must expect things like that," he asserted. "Suppose it had been a desert island—"