I had now to arrange for their conveyance from the town to my plot of land--a portentous matter.

Just as I was on the point of leaving Klaas's, and was tightening the saddle-girth on my sturdy little pony, Oom Jan Willem himself sidled up to me with a mysterious air, his broad face all wrinkled with anticipatory pleasure.

He placed a sixpence in my palm, glancing about him on every side as he did so, like a conspirator.
"What am I to buy with it ?" I asked, much puzzled, and suspecting tobacco.

Tant Mettie declared he smoked too much for a church elder.
He put his finger to his lips, nodded, and peered round.

"Lollipops for Sannie," he whispered low, at last, with a guilty smile.