eriment. Mr. Lowington had watched it and
nursed it with the most assiduous care, and now it bore about a dozen
remarkably large and beautiful peaches. They were not quite ripe enough
to be gathered, but Shuffles was confident that they would "mellow" in
his trunk as well as on the tree. The experiment of the cultivator had
been a success, and he had already prepared, with much care and labor, a
paper explanatory of the process, which he intended to read before the
Pomological Society, exhibiting the fruit as the evidence of the
practicability of his method. To Mr. Lowington, therefore, the peaches
had a value far beyond their intrinsic worth.

Shuffles gathered a couple of the peaches, and urged his companion to
use all possible haste in stripping the tree of its rich burden.

"Hallo, there! What are you about?" shouted some one, who hastened to
make his presence known to the plunderers.

Monroe began to retreat.

"Hold on!" interposed Shuffles. "It's no one but Harry Martyn."

"He can tell of us just as well as anybody else."

"If he does, he will catch it."

"What are you doing?" demanded Harry Martyn,--who was a nephew of Mr.
Lowington, and lived with him,--as he crossed the rustic bridge that
spanned the brook.

"Don't you see what I'm doing?" replied Shuffles, with an impudent
coolness which confounded Harry.

"Stop that, Shuffles!" cried Harry, indignantly. "My uncle wouldn't take
ten dollars apiece for those peaches."

"That's more than he'll get for them," added Shuffles, as he reached up
and gathered another peach.

"Stop that, I tell you!" said Harry, angrily, as he stepped up, in a
menacing attitude, before the reckless marauder.

"Shut up, Harry! You know me, and when I get all these peaches, I've got
something to say to you."

Shuffles was about to gather another of the peaches, when Harry, his
indignation overcoming his prudence, grasped his arm, and pulled him
away from the tree.

"What do you mean, Harry Martyn?" exclaimed Shuffles, apparently
astonished at the temerity of the youth. "I can't stop to lick you now;
but I'll do it within twenty-four hours."

"Well, don't you touch those peaches, then."

"Yes, I will touch them. I intend to have the whole of them; and if you
say a word to your uncle or any one else about it, I'll pulverize that
head of yours."

"No, you won't! You shall not have those peaches, anyhow," replied the
resolute little fellow, who was no match, physically,