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“I will do anything I can for you,” repeated Mr. Brigham, seating himself in the nearest chair and taking a newspaper from the table. “If you will go through the four years’ course with flying colors, and come out at the head of your class, I shall be highly gratified, and I assure you that you will lose nothing by it.”

Mr. Brigham fastened his eyes upon his paper, and Lester, taking this as a hint that he had nothing more to say just then, picked up his cap and went out. He made his way directly to his own room, and taking his squirrel rifle down from the antlers that supported it—purchased antlers they were, and not trophies of the boy’s own skill—he buckled a cartridge belt about his waist and left the house. He wanted to go off in the woods by himself and think the matter over; but it is hard to tell why he took his rifle with him, for he had no intention of hunting, and he could not have killed anything if he had. Perhaps it was because he had fallen into the habit of carrying a weapon on his shoulder wherever he went, just as Godfrey and Dan did.