He was staring into the valley at a wriggling, blue smoke serpent made by the night express to New York.

And something leaped in Roger, for he had once felt just like that! But the woman's harsh voice cut in on his dream, as she shouted to her son below, "Hey! Why the hell you standin' thar ?" And the boy with a jump of alarm turned back quickly to his work.

At home a few days later, George with a mysterious air took his grandfather into the barn, and after a pledge of secrecy he said in swift and thrilling tones, "You know young Bill Elkins?
Yes, you do--the boy up on the Elkins place who lives alone with his mother.

Well, look here!" George swallowed hard.

"Bill has cleared out--he's run away! I was up at five this morning and he came hiking down the road! He had a bundle on his back and he told me he was off for good! And was he scared?
You bet he was scared! And I told him so and it made him mad! 'Aw, you're scared!' I said.
'I ain't neither!' he said.