the eldest, Julian Fleming, he reflected that they
were "only boys," and that their friends were probably ignorant of the
good he was doing them, and so dismissed the subject. Nevertheless, it
struck him as wonderful how the little world beneath him got on without
them. Hanky Rogers, bully, who had been kept in wholesome check by
Julian Fleming, was lively and exuberant, and his conduct was quietly
accepted by the whole school; Johnny Stebbins, Tribbs's bosom friend,
consorted openly with Tribbs's particular enemy; some of the girls
were singularly gay and conceited. It was evident that some superior
masculine oppression had been removed.

He was particularly struck by this last fact, when, the next morning,
no news coming of the absentees, he was impelled to question his flock
somewhat precisely concerning them. There was the usual shy silence
which follows a general inquiry from the teacher's desk; the children
looked at one another, giggled nervously, and said nothing.

"Can you give me any idea as to what might have kept them away?" said
the master.

Hanky Rogers looked quickly around, began, "Playin' hook--" in a loud
voice, but stopped suddenly without finishing the word, and became
inaudible. The master saw fit to ignore him.

"Bee-huntin'," said Annie Roker vivaciously.

"Who is?" asked the master.

"Provy Smith, of course. Allers bee-huntin'. Gets lots o' honey. Got two
full combs in his desk last week. He's awful on bees and honey. Ain't
he, Jinny?" This in a high voice to her sister.

The younger Miss Roker, thus appealed to, was heard to murmur that of
all the sneakin' bee-hunters she had ever seed, Provy Smith was the
worst. "And squirrels--for nuts," she added.

The master became attentive,--a clue seemed probable here. "Would Tribbs
and Fleming be likely to go with him?" he asked.

A significant silence followed. The master felt that the children
recognized a doubt of this, knowing the boys were not "chums;"
possibly they also recognized something incriminating to them, and with
characteristic freemasonry looked at one another and were dumb.

He asked no further questions, but, when school was dismissed, mounted
his horse and started for the dwelling of the nearest culprit, Jackson
Tribbs, four miles distant. He had often admired the endurance of the
boy, who had accomplished the distance, including the usual meanderings
of a country youth, twice a day, on foot, in all weathers, with no
diminu