ng off at a corner they
vanished a minute and re-appeared without their plunder. Rob ran to the
place, and in a hollow under the leaves he found a heap of the stolen
property hidden away to be carried off to the holes by and by.

"Oh, you little villains! I'll cheat you now, and not leave one," said
Rob. So he cleared the corner and the corn-barn, and put the contested
nuts in the garret, making sure that no broken window-pane could
anywhere let in the unprincipled squirrels. They seemed to feel that the
contest was over, and retired to their hole, but now and then could not
resist throwing down nut-shells on Rob's head, and scolding violently
as if they could not forgive him nor forget that he had the best of the
battle.

Father and Mother Bhaer's crop was of a different sort, and not so
easily described; but they were satisfied with it, felt that their
summer work had prospered well, and by and by had a harvest that made
them very happy.

CHAPTER XIX. JOHN BROOKE

"Wake up, Demi, dear! I want you."

"Why, I've just gone to bed; it can't be morning yet;" and Demi blinked
like a little owl as he waked from his first sound sleep.

"It's only ten, but your father is ill, and we must go to him. O my
little John! my poor little John!" and Aunt Jo laid her head down on
the pillow with a sob that scared sleep from Demi's eyes and filled his
heart with fear and wonder; for he dimly felt why Aunt Jo called him
"John," and wept over him as if some loss had come that left him poor.
He clung to her without a word, and in a minute she was quite steady
again, and said, with a tender kiss as she saw his troubled face,

"We are going to say good-by to him, my darling, and there is no time to
lose; so dress quickly and come to me in my room. I must go to Daisy."

"Yes, I will;" and when Aunt Jo was gone, little Demi got up quietly,
dressed as if in a dream, and leaving Tommy fast asleep went away
through the silent house, feeling that something new and sorrowful was
going to happen something that set him apart from the other boys for
a time, and made the world seem as dark and still and strange as those
familiar rooms did in the night. A carriage sent by Mr. Laurie stood
before the door. Daisy was soon ready, and the brother and sister held
each other by the hand all the way into town, as they drove swiftly and
silently with aunt and uncle through the shadowy roads to say good-by to
father.

None of the boys but Franz an