Buddy on The Farm

Front matter

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Chapter I The Big Splash

URRAY! Hurray! No more school!’ **What fun we’ll have!”’ **No more home work! Hurray! Hurray!”’ Boys and girls ran out of the yard, along the streets and across the fields. They swung their straps of books around their heads in joy at being let out for the long vacation. ‘““Whoop!’’ cried Buddy, jumping up and down as he shook his dark red hair back out of his dancing, blue eyes. ‘‘Whoop de doodle! No more school for a long, long time!’’ He tossed his books, in their strap, high up over his head, letting them go.

“Oh, look what Buddy did!’’ yelled Tom

Gordon, whose hair was as black and glossy 1 as a erow’s wings. ‘‘Look what Buddy did!’’

“He threw his books up in the tree!’’ shouted Harry Clee.

“‘Oh, Buddy Martyne!’’ exclaimed Mary Norse, shaking her flaxen hair out of her blue eyes. ‘‘Oh, Buddy!’’

For in his joy at being out of school for the long vaeation of nine weeks, Buddy, that sturdy little boy who was so lively, had tossed his books higher than he meant to and up into a tree they sailed like some queer bird.

‘‘They’ll come down again!’’ said Buddy, standing under the branch and waiting for his books to fall. He was going to catch them in his hands.

But the books did not fall. The strap had tangled around the tree branch and there the books dangled like some big cocoanut.

‘*Oh-00-00-00! You’ll get it when you go home, Buddy!’’ said Agnes Fleck, the fattest little girl in Clover school.

‘*Pooh, that’s nothing!’’ said Buddy, whose real name was Dick. But everyone called him

Buddy, just as soldiers call one whom they like very much that same name. All the children liked Buddy Martyne. ‘‘They’re only my old books,’’ said Buddy. ‘‘T’ll have new ones next term!’

“That’s sol’? said Tom Gordon. ‘I guess T’ll throw my books up in a tree, too!”’

‘*Don’t you dare do that, Tom Gordon!”’ cried his sister Lucy. ‘“‘If you do I'll tell mother !”’

‘‘ Aw, don’t be a tattle-tale!’’ Tom started to chase his sister.

‘‘Anyhow, maybe if you chucked up your books they’d come down, even if Buddy’s didn’t,’’ said Harry Clee, as Tom came back, not having caught his sister who was a good runner.

‘‘Maybe they will,’ agreed Tom. ‘I’m going to try,’”’ and he looked at his sister as if daring her to run home and tell. But, for all that Lucy had said she would do this, she decided to stay and see what happened. Then Buddy had a bright idea.

‘Throw your books up, Tom,’’ he said to his playmate, ‘‘and see if you can knock mine down. Then I won’t have to climb the tree after them.’’

‘Oh, are you going to climb the tree?’’ asked fat Agnes.

“Sure [am!’’ boasted Buddy. ‘‘I can climb bigger trees than that!’’ and he pointed to the one along the sidewalk in front of the school, from a branch of which his strap of books dangled.

“Wait ’till I see if I can knock ’em down!”’ offered Tom.

‘‘Let Buddy throw your books up,’’ suggested Harry. ‘‘Buddy’s a good shot. He pitches on our ball team.”’

“I’m going to throw my own books,’’ decided Tom. ‘Then if they get stuck it won’t be Buddy’s fault.’’

‘“'That’s sol’? and Buddy laughed, which showed his white, even teeth flashing in the sun. ‘‘One bunch of books stuck in a tree is enough for me in one day. Go ahead, Tom!?’

So, while the other boys and girls gathered around him and Buddy, Tom swung his strap of books around and around his head to get a good aim. Then he let them fly so they would shoot upward into the tree.

‘*Watch ’em go!”’ he cried.

Up Tom’s books went through the branches, close to, but not quite hitting Buddy’s. There was a silent pause while the children waited to see what would happen. ‘Then, instead of Tom’s books knocking Buddy’s down, the second bunch also caught in the tree branches.

*‘Now they’re both stuck!’’ cried Harry. ‘“Whoop-la!”’ |

For a moment no one said anything else. some of the girls looked frightened and even some of the boys, though they did not care much for studying books, seemed serious. Then Buddy cried:

“‘T’l] get ’em both down! Look out the way!’’

He jumped up in the air and clicked his heels together. It was a funny little trick which he had seen his uncle Henry do more than once.

‘‘What are you going to do, Buddy ?”’ asked Agnes Fleck as she and the others moved aside, leaving a little lane, like an aisle between their desks at school, so the auburn-haired and blue-eyed boy could get closer to the tree. ‘*What are you going to do?’’

“T’m going to climb up that tree and get Tom’s books and mine!’’ exclaimed Buddy. ‘““Whoop! Here I come!”’

Buddy was as quick and full of life as’ jumping frog. Once more he leaped into the air and clicked his heels together.

“‘T wish I could do that trick,’’ sighed Jerry Fleck who was even fatter than his sister. Jerry had tried that heel-clicking trick of Buddy’s many times but never could do it. He always fell down.

‘*Pooh, that’s nothing!’’ Buddy said as he drew nearer the tree. ‘‘You ought to see my Uncle Henry do it. He can knock his heels together verv fast three times!”’

“In one jump?’ asked Tom.

‘‘Sure, in one jump!”’

‘“Whew!’’? murmured Harry Clee. ‘‘That’s great!’’

‘*Now I’ll climb up and get both straps of books!’’ said Buddy. He knew he could do it for he had often climbed trees, not only around Mountchester, where he lived, but in the country on his grandfather’s farm. This tree was not nearly so hard to climb as manysothers up which Buddy had scrambled before, to get something that was up in the branches or just because he loved to twine his arms and legs among the leaves and hang there ‘‘like a monkey,’’ as Lola Wagg, the Martyne cook, used | to say with a laugh.

“Took out you don’t fall!’’ called Mary Norse as Buddy began to hitch himself up the trunk of the tree.

“‘T’m not afraid,’’ he answered.

And then, when Buddy had reached up and grasped, with his hands, the lowest branches of the tree, and when he intended to pull himself farther up amid the leaves, all of a sudden something happened.

“*Took out!’ yelled Tom Gordon.

“Oh, is Buddy going to fall?’’ asked Agnes, and she covered her eyes with her fat little hand.

“‘No, I’m not going to fall!’’ said Buddy.

“The books are falling! Both bunches of ’em! Look out below!” cried Harry. ‘‘ Look out !’’

And down fell Buddy’s strap of books and also 'Tom’s.

‘Buddy jiggled ’em loose!’’? said Mary, and that is what happened. The shaking of the tree, or the “‘jiggling”’ of it, as Mary called it, when Buddy was climbing up, loosened the bundles of books where they were caught on the branches, and down they tumbled. Buddy was almost hit on the shoulder by his own books which fell close to him. And Tom’s books landed on the toes of fat J erry J Fleek.

“Oh! Oh!’ yelled Jerry, aatels around on one leg. ‘‘What a bump!’

“You aren’t hurt!’’ laughed Buddy as he slid down the tree to the ground for, now that the books were free, there was no use in climbing up. ‘‘You aren’t hurt, Jerry! Don’t ery!”

Truth to tell Jerry was so cushioned with fat that he very seldom was hurt when he fell or when anything fell on him, and he was soon laughing again with the others as Buddy and Tom picked up their books and hurried along toward their homes, still chanting:

““Hurray! Hurray! No more school!’’

It was, indeed, the last day of school at the beginning of the long, summer vacation. HExercises had been held in the different rooms, and those boys and girls who had ‘‘passed”’ were given their examination marks on cards.

Then Buddy had run out with the others.

‘“Where you going this vacation, Tom?’’ asked Harry as he walked along beside Buddy, all three little lads swinging their straps of books. ‘‘We’re going to the seashore.”’

“‘T suess we’re going to the mountains,”’ said Tom. ‘‘Where abouts you going, Buddy ?’”’

‘‘T don’t know yet,’’ answered the red-haired boy, blinking his blue eyes. ‘“‘But I hope we go to my grandfather’s farm. I always have lots of fun there.”’

‘“‘T’d like to go on a farm,”’ said Tom.

‘So would I,’’ added Harry.

‘“You can come down to my grandfather’s,”’ invited Buddy. ‘‘It’sa big place. There’s lots of room. And he’s got cows and horses and chickens and big fields and I can ride on a horse!’’

‘*Whoo-ee! What fun!’’ sighed Tom. ‘*‘ But I guess I got to go to the mountains with my father and mother.”’

‘*Maybe there are horses in the mountains,”’ suggested Buddy.

‘*Maybe,’’ agreed Tom. ‘‘I hope so.’’

The boys took a short cut across the lots toward their homes, all of which were near together, and not far from Buddy’s house. It was a hot day, late in June, and as Buddy led the way beneath some willow trees he and the other boys heard the musical murmur of water. For there was a brook near the willow trees.

‘‘Say, let’s go in swimming!’’ cried Tom, suddenly.

“Oh, let’s!’’ agreed Harry. But Buddy shook his head.

‘*Mother told me to come straight home from school,”’ said the lively little red-haired boy.

‘*Well, go ask her if you can go in and we'll wait here for you,’’ suggested Tom. ‘“‘My mother always lets me go in when I want to and when it’s hot like it is now.”’

““It’s hot enough,’’ agreed Buddy. ‘‘ Well, you wait here for me.”’

‘‘Let’s take a look at the water first,’’ said

Tom.

“‘T hope it’s wet!’’ laughed Harry.

The three boys went to the edge of the brook where it flowed under the willow trees and looked down off a bank of grass and dirt. Below them the water was quite deep enough for swimming, though in most places the brook was too shallow for anything but wading.

“Oh, boy! That water looks cool!’’ cried Tom. ** 0% going inl”

‘‘So am I!’’ echoed Harry.

And then he suddenly went in before he was quite ready and with all his clothes on. For as he stood too close to the edge of the bank the dirt broke from beneath his feet and into the brook Harry fell with a big, loud splash.

“‘Oh! Oh!” cried Harry as he felt himself falling. ‘‘Oh! Oh!”

“Took out!” yelled Tom, but it was too late.

“T’H get you out!’’ yelled Buddy. ‘‘Hold your mouth shut so you won’t swallow any water, Harry, and I’ll get you out!”’

Buddy began taking his books out of their long strap and Tom was wondering what the red-haired lad was about to do. But Buddy knew.

‘“‘Help! Help!’’ gurgled Harry, splashing about in the water. ‘‘Help me out!”’

“Vl get you out!’ cried Buddy.

CHAPTER II THE WONDERFUL SKATES UDDY was a good swimmer for so small

a boy, but he was not going to Jump in

the brook to save his chum Harry. Buddy

knew a better way. He went as near as he

dared to the edge of the bank where the dirt

had broken away, letting the other boy fall into the water.

“‘Look out!’’ cried Tom, ‘‘or you'll fall in yourself, Buddy!’’

“‘T’ll be careful!’’ was the answer. ‘‘ Here, Tom, you stay back there where it’s safe and take hold of my left hand and brace yourself hard !’’

“What are you going to do?’’ Tom wanted toknow. All this time poor Harry was splashing about in the water. He was not a good swimmer but he had heard what Buddy said re about keeping his mouth closed, which is what everyone must do who falls in the water. And the hard splashing, that Harry was doing with his arms and legs, helped to keep him afloat, almost as if he were swimming.

“I’m going to lower my book strap down over the edge where Harry can grab hold of it!’ cried Buddy.

‘‘Oh, IT see!’’ exclaimed Tom. ‘‘Then we’ll pull him out, same as we did when you fell through the ice once when you were skating.”’

“‘That’s it!’ said Buddy. ‘‘Grab hold of me and hold tight, Tom!’

By this time Buddy had slipped his right hand through the loop of his book strap and was holding the other dangling end over the edge of the bank. It was long enough so that it dipped into the water. Buddy then reached his left hand back where Tom could take hold of it. And Tom did this, at the same time bracing his feet in the soft ground as he had often braced himself when he and Buddy were playing football. They had to brace, then.

THE WONDERFUL SKATES 15

“Grab hold of the strap and we’ll pull you out!’’ cried Buddy to the boy in the water and Harry knew enough to do this. He splashed his way to the hanging strap, caught hold with both hands and began to pull himself up.

If Buddy had been all alone on top of the bank he might not have been strong enough to pull Harry out. But with the help of Tom he could easily do this, for two boys are stronger than one. And ina short time Harry was safe up on shore again with his chums. Dripping wet he was, but safe.

““Oh! Oh!”’ he cried with a little shiver, not because he was cold, but because he had been frightened. ‘‘Oh! Oh! Look at me! I’m all wet!”’

‘Course you are!’’ laughed Buddy. ‘‘You ean’t fall in the water with all your clothes on and not get wet! Ha! Ha!’’

“Ha! Ha!’’? laughed Tom, for, now that Harry was safe, it was a sort of joke. Then Harry stopped being afraid and as he saw the water running out of his pockets, and from the bottoms of his short trousers, he, too, began to laugh. After all it was more of a joke than anything else.

“‘T went in swimming with my clothes on!”’ laughed Harry.

‘Well, you’d better go home, now, and take ‘em off,’’ said Tom.

““YVes,’’? agreed Buddy, ‘‘I guess you had, Harry. Come on, we’ll go with you and tell your mother how it happened so she won’t blame you.”’

‘‘Oh, she won’t blame me when she knows I didn’t mean to fall in,” said Harry. ‘‘Say, I’m nice and cool, now!’’ he added. ‘‘And it was a good thing you thought of pulling me out by that strap, Buddy. That water was deep and I can’t swim very good with my clothes on.’’

“It is hard,”’ said Buddy. ‘‘Yes, I’m glad I had my strap,’’ and he loosened it from his wrist and began picking up his books. By this time a man, who had started to run across the field toward the brook when he heard the

THE WONDERFUL SKATES 17 shouts of the boys, reached the place. The man thought some accident had happened.

‘*Is anybody drowned 2?” he asked, as he saw the three boys, one all wet.

“TY almost did,’’? Harry said, ‘‘but Buddy and Tom got me out.”’

“Mhat’s good,’’ said the man. ‘‘But you shouldn’t push each other in the brook. It’s too deep here for such fooling.”’

‘“‘Nobody pushed him in, mister!’’ said Buddy.

“‘T fell in myself,’’ said Harry. ‘‘But I didn’t mean to.”’

“Oh. then there’s no harm done,’’ spoke the - man with a laugh and, making sure the boys were all right, he turned away.

Buddy and Tom helped Harry wring as much of the water from his clothes as could be squeezed out and then they hurried along with him by a short cut to hishome. Mrs. Clee was somewhat frightened when she saw her boy, dripping wet, coming up the walk, but Buddy and Tom soon told her how it had happened, and she did not even scold Harry.

‘‘Get your wet things off,’’ she said. ‘‘It’s too bad you had on your second best suit, but it can’t be helped. I guess I can iron out the wrinkles. And I’m much obliged to you, Buddy and Tom, for pulling Harry out.”’

‘‘Oh, we liked to do it,’’ said Buddy with a little laugh. ‘‘Didn’t we, Tom ?”’

‘‘Sure!’? answered Tom. ‘‘It was quite exciting !”’

‘“*T’ll say it was!’’ exclaimed Harry.

‘*Well, I hope it doesn’t happen again,”’’ said Mrs. Clee with a smile.

‘“‘See you after supper, fellows!’’ called Harry to his chums as he went in, his shoes making queer ploppity-plop sounds because of the water inside them.

‘‘So-long!”’ called Buddy and Tom as they turned to go to their own homes. Buddy’s was farther off than was Tom’s and the red-haired boy soon parted from his friend and hurried along by himself, swinging his books, thinking what a good thing it was he had a strong strap

THE WONDERFUL SKATES 19 and wondering what he would do, now that the long vacation was here.

‘“‘T wonder where we’ll go?”’ said Buddy to himself as he walked along through the streets. “*I didn’t hear Daddy or Mother say whether we would go to Grandpa’s this summer or to Uncle Henry’s. But I guess we’ll go somewhere; we always do.”’

Thinking of the fun that was before him, in the happy summer days that were to come, Buddy began to whistle. He swung his books in a big circle at the end of the strap, and, as he suddenly turned a corner he nearly hit Bungo, the big, shaggy dog belonging to Mr. Tort, the grocer. Bungo was trotting around the corner and the books just missed his nose.

“Wuff!?? howled Bungo in = surprise.

“Wuff!’’

“‘Oh, excuse me!’’ exclaimed Buddy. ‘‘Did I hurt you, Bungo old boy? I didn’t mean to!”’

Bungo, who did not quite know what to make of those swinging books, had been going to run away, thinking some one was trying to hit him, but when he saw and smelled Buddy, whom he well knew, and when the dog heard Buddy’s kind voice, he wagged his tail joyfully and thrust his cold nose into the boy’s hand.

‘‘Good old Bungo!’’ murmured Buddy for he liked the animal. ‘‘IT wouldn’t hurt you for anything.”’

He patted the dog, who wagged his tail harder than ever, and the two walked along the street together, as they often did when meeting, and Buddy began whistling again.

Then, all of a sudden he stopped and stared at the window of Mr. Rudolph’s toy shop. There was something in the window that made Buddy forget all about Bungo and all about his whistling and even about having pulled Harry from the water with a strap.

‘“‘Gee! What wonderful skates!’’ murmured Buddy and he went so close to the window to look in that his nose was pressed quite flat against the outside glass. ‘‘Oh, what wonderful roller skates! I wish I had a pair.’’

THE WONDERFUL SKATES 21

Among the toys, books and games in the show window were some new roller skates. They were of a kind Buddy had never seen before. Not only were they of shiny nickle, and ball bearing, as a sign on them said, but the bright wheels were covered with soft rubber tires.

‘‘Noiseless skates.’ That is what they were called on the sign attached to them.

Buddy had a pair of the old-style ball bearing roller skates. Once they had been shiny and new, but they had never been noiseless. The wheels made a great racket as Buddy rolled along on them over the pavements.. In _ fact, for a time, Buddy and his boy and girl friends rather liked the noise their skates made. But now Buddy’s skates were old. He had lost one of the ball-bearing wheels and had replaced it with a common sort, not so good. And the skates were more noisy than ever.

‘‘But if I had a pair of these,’’ said Buddy to himself, looking at the rubber wheeled ones in the window, ‘‘I could ride along without any noise. It would be almost like ice skating !”’ he whispered. ‘It would be—it would be like a shadow scooting along! Oh, I wish I had a pair of those wonderful skates!”’

He spoke these last words out loud in his excitement and his nose was now pressed so close against the glass that, almost without knowing it, Buddy was giving himself quite a pain. But he didn’t eare.

“Oh, how I wish I had those wonderful skates!’’ he spoke again. And, then, to his surprise, a voice behind him said:

‘*Well, maybe you can have them!”’

Buddy gave a little jump, turned half around and looked up.

Chapter III “money! Money!’

Pp . half thought he might see some kind, old gentleman, with a white beard like the one Santa Claus wears in pictures, standing back of him, holding out a purse of money with which to buy the wonderful new skates. It would have been a great, delightful surprise to the little boy if this had happened.

Don’t you think it would ?

But it did not.

Instead he saw his own father standing there, looking down at him and smiling. Buddy put his hand up to his nose for in his eagerness he had pressed it so hard against the window that now it seemed to have no feeling init. For a moment Buddy began to fear that he had lost his nose. But it was safe on his face, though still a bit flat. Then he asked: 23

“Did you say I could go in and buy those skates, Daddy ?”’

“No, I didn’t exactly say that,’’ answered Mr. Martyne, laughing a little. ‘‘Are they good skates, Buddy ?”’

“‘Dandy skates! The best I ever saw!’’ exclaimed the small boy. ‘‘'They have ball bearings and if you got me these skates I could roll all around our stone walk at the side of the house and I wouldn’t make any noise, even when Mother has a headache. They have rubber tired wheels, Daddy!’’

More than once, when playing with his old rollers, Buddy had been told to go farther away from the house as he made so much noise his mother could not sleep. But with these rubber wheeled skates— Oh! Oh!

‘Are you going to buy them for me, Daddy ?”’ asked Buddy, eagerly.

“Oh, no, I couldn’t do that,’’ Mr. Martyne answered, still smiling. ‘‘Of course I could but I don’t want to.”’

‘But you said I could get them.”’

““T said maybe you could have them, Buddy,’’ answered his father. ‘‘When I came along and saw how hard you were looking at them, it came into my mind that there might be a way for you to get these skates.”’

“‘How, Daddy?” asked Buddy eagerly. **How can I get those wonderful skates ?”’

‘¢With money !’’

‘*Oh, Daddy! Now you are teasing me!”’

““No, really I’m not,’’ and Mr. Martyne put his hand on the little boy’s shoulder. ‘‘ You wouldn’t expect Mr. Rudolph to hand you a new pair of skates out of his window for nothing; would you?”’

“‘No, of course I wouldn’t,’’ Buddy answered. ‘‘They cost money.’’ And then he had another idea. ‘‘Oh, Daddy!’ he almost shouted, ‘‘do you mean I can take the money out of my bank at home and buy these skates ? Do you?’’

‘“‘How much money have you in your bank, Buddy ?”’ Mr. Martyne asked.

Buddy had to stop and think. Then he slowly answered his father with a smile:

‘‘T guess I got about a dollar ’n sixteen eents.”’

Mr. Martyne did not need to point to the sign on the skates in Mr. Rudolph’s window. Buddy could see it as plainly as could his father. The skates were five dollars.

“*T—TI guess I’ll never get them,”’ sighed the little boy, and he seemed rather sad. He didn’t whistle any more and he had forgotten all about the jolly vacation fun he was going to have. But again a bright thought came to him.

“Oh, Daddy!’’ he eried. ‘‘Do you mean you'll put enough with my dollar and sixteen cents so I can get the skates? Do you?’’ Once more Buddy was eager.

Slowly Mr. Martyne shook his head.

‘What do you mean, Daddy ?’’ Buddy was puzzled.

‘*Well, Buddy,’’ said his father and he was still smiling, ‘‘when anybody wants anything and they haven’t the money to pay for it, what do they do ?’’

Buddy did not have to think long for an answer. He and his father had talked this over before, for they were great pals, chums and buddies.

‘Why, if you haven’t money you must earn it! Is that what you mean, Daddy 2?”’ he asked. Once more he began to have hope and once more he pressed his nose flat against the window that he might see the wonderful skates better.

““Of course—that’s it—earn money if you haven’t it,’’ said Mr. Martyne. ‘‘That’s what I have to do.”’

‘And that’s what I’m going to do!’’ said Buddy firmly. ‘‘I’ve got a dollar and sixteen cents in my bank at home,’’ he went on. ‘‘ These skates cost five dollars. I’ll need—’’ Buddy was trying to do mental arithmetic, or number-work, as he did it in class. But in his excitement, and considering this was the last day of school and that he had just pulled Harry out of the brook, he had so much to think of it is no wonder he could not think of the figures.

‘¢Here’s a pencil and paper,’’ said Mr. Martyne. ‘‘Can you tell how much more you would need to buy the skates ?’’

Buddy took the pencil and paper, laid his books on the ledge of the toy store show window and began to do the little example in arithmetic. He subtracted $1.16 from $5.00 and what do you think he got for an answer ? Yes, of course, $3.84.

‘Three dollars and eighty-four cents!’’ exelaimed Buddy. ‘‘That’s right; isn’t it, Daddy ?”’

‘“Yes, that’s right.”’

**Tt’s a lot of money!’’ said Buddy with a sigh. ‘‘How can I ever earn all that ?”’

He seemed very anxious.

‘*Well,’”’ said his father, ‘‘you don’t have to go to school for a long time. Maybe you can earn some money during vacation, cutting grass, running errands and things like that.”’

“Oh, sure I can!’’ cried Buddy in delight. “And I’m going to! Oh, gee! Won’t it be great to have those wonderful skates! They won’t make any noise and they’ll go as fast as anything! Do you think I can really earn money enough to get them, Daddy ?”’

“‘T don’t see why you can’t. You have a start, with the dollar and sixteen cents in your bank. You earned that; didn’t you?’’

‘All but a quarter that Uncle Henry gave me when I got so I could jump up in the air and click my heels!’’ Mr. Martyne laughed as he remembered when that happened.

‘*Well,’’ he said, ‘‘if you earned some, you ought to earn more, for you are a bigger boy now than you were then, Buddy. Have you been home since you got out of school?”’

*““No, Daddy. I was on my way but Harry Clee fell in the brook and I pulled him out and then Tom and I went home with him to tell his mother. I was going home now when I saw these skates and then you came along. I didn’t know who you were when you spoke.”’

Buddy laughed a little.

‘“‘T slipped up behind you,”’ said Mr. Martyne who had a law office down town and who was coming from court when he saw his son. ‘“‘T thought I’d tease you a little. Was Harry hurt ?’’ he asked Buddy, anxiously.

‘‘Oh, no, he just slipped in when the bank caved with him. I got him out with my book strap. But say, Daddy, do you think I could go in and look at those skates—I don’t mean to buy them now.’’ said the small boy, quickly. “‘T’d just like to look at ’em.’’

“‘T don’t see any harm in that,’’ agreed Mr. ° Martyne with a smile. ‘‘Come along!’’

From beneath his bushy eyebrows and over the tops of his big glasses Anton Rudolph, the toy man, looked at Buddy and his father.

‘Dose ball bearing rubber skates?’’ he exclaimed in his jolly, gruff voice that seemed half alaugh. ‘‘Sure I show dem! Dot iss der ferry latest in der new roller skates!’’ he went on as he handed one to Buddy over the counter. ‘‘Noiseless skates!’’ he said with a chuckle.

Buddy turned the skate over and over. He spun the wheels and listened to the click of the ball bearings. He ran the rubber wheels along the counter and noticed that not a sound was to be heard.

‘*A fellow could go like lightning on these!’’ he said. ‘‘Oh, but I want a pair!’’

‘Shall I wrap dem up for him?”’’ asked Mr. Rudolph with a look at Mr. Martyne.

““Not yet,’’ was the answer. ‘‘Buddy must earn the money for these new skates if he gets them. I bought his other pair, but they are good yet, and——”’ .

‘‘Oh, Daddy! One wheel is broken and they make a lot of noise!’’ It was Buddy’s last plea.

“They still have a lot of fun in them,”’ said Mr. Martyne. ‘‘I don’t mind him having a new pair, Mr. Rudolph, but he must earn the money—at least part of it,’’ and this last was said in such a low voice that Buddy, who was again spinning the wheels, did not hear it.