nodded. They walked on, picking their way until they saw a boy at work, and they stood quietly watching him. He did not realize they were there and went on with his task quite as if he was alone on the island.

“What the heck is he doing?” Bob whispered. The boy had some odd sort of implement, the handles of which he grasped in both hands, stood it upright, then jumped, his feet landing in the middle; driving the queer tool deep into the ground. Then he stepped off, bent the handles as far as they would go, and raised the earth.

“I think it is some sort of shovel, or plow,” Mr. Fenton told them, “but I never saw anything like it. Listen and you’ll hear him sing, it’s a kind of a chant.” The step-brothers listened and in a moment they could hear, but the words and melody were unfamiliar. As the youngster straightened up, they could see that he was lithe, his skin was dark like his uncle’s, and his heavy hair, which was quite long for a boy’s, waved in the breeze.

“Gosh, he looks a little like an Indian, a good one,” Jim remarked.

“Will he mind if we go closer?”

“No, but I wouldn’t pay too much attention to him,” Mr. Fenton advised. “I’ll go about my job and you amuse yourselves.” He left them, and the boys proceeded to where the young farmer, or whatever he was, was engaged. They marveled at the speed with which he turned over the earth and before they were very close they saw that he was making some kind of trench. At the nearest end the work seemed to be finished, and then they could tell that he was making a terrace along the edge of the alfalfa plot. About half way down he had taken some very large rocks, fitted them with great nicety, filled in the crevices with smaller stones, filled in the space toward the hill with earth, and above the dark soil poked two rows of tiny green shoots of young corn.

“Gosh, he’s planting as he gets the land ready. Great job, isn’t it?” Bob whispered and his step-brother nodded. Presently they came up to the boy. When their shadows fell across his plow, he glanced up quickly and sprang back. They grinned cheerfully to let him know they were friendly, and Jim pointed to the new terrace.

“Fine,” he declared.

The boy smiled, his eyes lost some of the terror which had leaped into them, and his body relaxed. He eyed them for a moment, then motioning with one hand, he led them back to the other side where he showed them a narrow trench. With one scoop of his shovel 

 Prev. P 13/105 next