e mole a little beyond it; and thus there would be a
solid wooden block, firmly fixed in the end of the mole.

"But how shall we fasten our flag-staff to it?" said David.

"Why you must get an augur, and bore a hole down in the middle of it,
and make the end of your flag-staff round so that it will just fit in."

The boys thought this an excellent plan, and went off after the log.
While they were gone, Mary Anna asked Caleb if he had fed his squirrel
that evening, and Caleb said he had not.

"Hadn't you better go now and feed him before it is too dark?"

"Why, no," said Caleb, "I don't want to go now; besides, I am going to
let Dwight feed him to-night. I promised Dwight that I would let him
feed him sometimes."

The truth was that Caleb wanted to stay and see the boys fix their log.
He had had his squirrel now several days, and had lost his interest in
him, as boys generally do in any new play-thing, after they have had it
a few days. He was really, under this show of generosity and faithful
performance of his promise, only gratifying his own selfish desires, but
he did not see it himself. The heart is not only selfish and sinful, but
it is deceitful; it even deceives itself.

So, presently, when Caleb saw David and Dwight rolling the log down from
the house, he ran off to meet them, and said,

"Dwight you may feed my squirrel to-night, and I will help David roll
down the log."

Dwight looked up with an air of indifference, and said he did not want
to feed the squirrel that night.

Caleb was quite surprised at the answer; and he walked along by the side
of Dwight and David towards the mole, as they rolled the log along,
scarcely knowing what to do. He did not want to leave the poor squirrel
without his supper; and, on the other hand, he did not want to go away
from the mole. Mary Anna saw his perplexity, and she understood the
reason of it.

Now, it happened that Mary Anna had been forming a very curious plan
about the squirrel, from the very day when he was brought home; though
she had not said any thing to the boys about it. To carry her plan into
execution, it was necessary that the squirrel should be hers; and she
resolved from the beginning, that as soon as a convenient opportunity
should offer, she would try to buy him. She determined, therefore, to
wait quietly until she saw some signs of Caleb's being tired of his
squirrel, and then she determined to buy him.

She did not suppose that Caleb would