"Don"t you ever eat anything, kid?"

Mr. Wharton was standing beside him, a flicker of amus.e.m.e.nt in his gray eyes.

"I didn"t know it was noon," gasped Ted.

"We"ll have to tie an alarm clock on you," chuckled the manager. "The gang stopped work a quarter of an hour ago."

"I didn"t notice they had."

The boy flushed. He felt very foolish to have been discovered working there all by himself in this ridiculous fashion.

"I wanted to finish this side of the field and I forgot about the time," he stammered apologetically.

"Have you done it to your satisfaction?"

"Yes, I"m just through."

For the life of him Ted could not tell whether the manager was laughing at him or not. He kicked the turf sheepishly.

"Aren"t you tired?" inquired Mr. Wharton at length.

"No--at least--well, I haven"t thought about it. Perhaps I am a little."

"And well you may be. You"ve put in a stiff morning"s work. You"d better go and wash up now and eat your lunch. Take your full hour of rest. No matter if the others do get back here before you. Stevens says you are worth any two of them, anyway."

"It"s just that I"m used to it," was the modest reply.

"We"ll let it go at that," Mr. Wharton returned ambiguously. "And one thing more before you go. You needn"t worry about staying on. We can use you one way or another all summer. There"ll always be work for a boy who knows how to do a job well."

CHAPTER III

GOING TO HOUSEKEEPING

Thus it came about that Ted Turner began the long, golden days of his summer vacation at the great estates of the Fernalds, and soon he had made himself such an indispensable part of the farming staff that both Mr. Wharton and Mr. Stevens came to rely on him for many services outside of those usually turned over to the men.

"Just step over to the south lot at Pine Lea, Ted, and see if those fellows are thinning the beets properly," Mr. Wharton would say. "I gave them their orders but they may not have taken them in. You know how the thing should be done. Sing out to them if they are not doing the job right."

Or:

"Mr. Stevens and I shall be busy this morning checking up the pay roll.

Suppose you have an eye on the hilling up of the potatoes, Ted. Show the men how you want it done and start them at it. I"ll be over later to see how it"s going."

Frequently, instead of working, the boy was called in to give an opinion on some agricultural matter with which he had had experience.

"We are finding white grubs in the corner of the Pine Lea garden. They are gnawing off the roots of the plants and making no end of trouble.

What did you do to get rid of them when you were up in Vermont?"

"Salt and wood ashes worked better than anything else," Ted would reply modestly. "It might not be any good here but we had luck with it at home."

"We can try it, at least. You tell Mr. Stevens what the proportions are and how you applied it."

And because the advice was followed by a successful extermination of the plague, the lad"s prestige increased and he was summoned to future conclaves when troublesome conditions arose.

Now and then there was a morning when Mr. Stevens would remark to Mr.

Wharton:

"I"ve got to go to the Falls to-day to see about some freight. Ted Turner will be round here, though, and I guess things will be all right. The men can ask him if they want anything."

And so it went.

First Ted filled one corner, then another. He did errands for Mr.

Wharton, very special errands, that required thought and care, and which the manager would not have entrusted to every one. Sometimes he ventured valuable suggestions which Mr. Stevens, who really had had far less farming experience than he, was only too grateful to follow.

If the boy felt at all puffed up by the dependence placed upon him, he certainly failed to show it. On the contrary he did his part enthusiastically, faithfully, generously, and without a thought of praise or reward. Although he was young to direct others, when he did give orders to the men he was tactful and retiring enough to issue his commands in the form of wishes and immediately they were heeded without protest. He never shirked the hard work he asked others to perform but was always ready to roll up the sleeves of his blue jeans and pitch with vigor into any task, no matter how menial it was. Had he been arrogant and made an overbearing use of his authority, the men would quickly have rated him as a conceited little popinjay, the pet of the boss, and made his life miserable; but as he remained quite unspoiled by the preference shown him and exhibited toward every one he encountered a kindly sympathy and consideration, the workmen soon accepted him as a matter of course and even began to turn to him whenever a dilemma confronted them.

Perhaps Ted was too genuinely interested in what he was doing to think much about himself or realize that the place he held was an unusual one. At home he and his father had threshed out many a problem together and each given to it the best his brain had to offer, without thought of the difference in their ages. Sometimes Ted"s way proved the better, sometimes Mr. Turner"s. Whichever plan promised to bring the more successful results was followed without regard for the years of him who had sponsored it. They were working together and for the same goal and what did it matter which of them had proposed the scheme they finally followed? To get the work completed and lay low the obstacles in their path were the only issues of importance.

So it was now. Things at Aldercliffe and Pine Lea must be done and done well, and only what furthered that end counted. Nevertheless, Ted would not have been a human boy had he not been pleased when some idea of his was adopted and found to be of use; this triumph, however, was less because the programme followed was his own than because it put forward the enterprise in hand. There was a satisfaction in finding the key to a balking problem and see it cease to be a problem. It was fun, for example, to think about the potatoes and then say to Mr. Wharton:

"Do you know, Mr. Wharton, I believe if we tried a different spray on that crop that isn"t doing well it might help matters."

And when the new concoction was tried and it did help matters, what a glow of happiness came with the success!

What wonder that as the days pa.s.sed, the niche awarded the lad grew bigger and bigger!

"There is no way you could come up here and live, is there, Ted?" Mr.

Wharton inquired one day. "I"d give a good deal to have you here on the spot. Sometimes I want to talk with you outside working hours and I can"t for the life of me lay hands on you. It"s the deuce of a way to Freeman"s Falls and you have no telephone. If you were here----" He paused meditatively, then continued, "There"s a little shack down by the river which isn"t in use. You may remember seeing it. It was started years ago as a boathouse for Mr. Laurie"s canoes and then--well, it was never finished. It came to me the other day that we might clean it up, get some furnishings, and let you have it. How would the notion strike you?"

Ted"s eyes sparkled.

"I"d like it of all things, sir!" returned he instantly.

"You wouldn"t be timid about sleeping off there by yourself?"

"No, indeed!"

"Well, well! I had no idea you would listen to such a plan, much less like it. Suppose you go down there to-day and overhaul the place. Find out what would be required to make you comfortable and we will see what we can do about it. I should want you fixed up so you would be all right, you know. While we could not afford to go into luxuries, there would be no need for you to put up with makeshifts."

"But I am quite used to roughing it," protested Ted. "I"ve often camped out."

"Camping is all very well for a while but after a time it ceases to be a joke. No, if you move up here to accommodate us, you must have decent quarters. Both Mr. Fernald and Mr. Clarence would insist on that, I am certain. So make sure that the cabin is tight and write down what you think it would be necessary for you to have. Then we"ll see about getting the things for you."

"You are mighty good, sir."