CHAPTER XVII.
PAYING THE RENT.

Howarp pursued his studies diligently, and
all the amusement he sought was a visit to the
brown cottage now and then, and the rare treat
of a trip to Bessie’s Island.

Delightful hours were they, when Tom and
he tried experiments in the log-cabin. They
talked of acids and alkalies; nay more, they
bought them, and soon a row of bottles with
colored fluids stood upon the rough shelf, and
bits of cloth of all shapes and sizes—blue, red,
green, brown and yellow, ornamented the
rough sides of the cabin. Tom was learning to
be a dyer as fast as he could.

Early on the morning of the first of July,
Tom prepared himself to go to Rose Lawn,