, "they are not red exactly. They are a
kind of reddish brown, so that they are not very pretty, even in
color. I am afraid that my squirrel will be a red one."

"I am afraid so, too," said Wallace.

"The red squirrels are altogether the most common," said Phonny.

"There are the bars," said Wallace, "now we shall soon see."

They had arrived in fact, at the bars. Phonny jumped off his horse and
gave Wallace the bridle, and then went to take down the bars. As soon
as he had got them down, he left Wallace to go through with the
horses, at his leisure, and he himself ran off toward the rock where
he had left the trap, to see what sort of a squirrel he had.

Wallace went through the bars in a deliberate manner, as it was in
fact necessary to do in conducting two horses, and then dismounted,
intending to put the bars up. He had just got off his horse when he
saw Phonny coming from the direction of the place where the trap had
been left, with a countenance expressive of great surprise and
concern.

"Wallace," exclaimed Phonny, "the squirrel has gone, trap and all."

"Has it?" said Wallace.

"Yes," said Phonny; "I left it on that rock, and it is gone."

So saying Phonny ran to the place and put his foot upon the rock,
looking up to Wallace, and added,

"There is the very identical spot where I put it, and now it is gone."

Wallace seemed at a loss what to think.

"Somebody must have taken him away," said he.

"Hark!" said Phonny.

Wallace and Phonny listened. They heard the voices of some boys in the
woods.

"There they are now," said Phonny.

"Mount the horse," said Wallace, "and we will go and see."

Phonny mounted his horse as expeditiously as possible, and he and
Wallace rode off through the woods in the direction of the voices.
They followed a path which led down a sort of glen, and after riding a
short distance they saw the boys before them, standing in a little
open space among the trees. The boys had stopped to see who was
coming.

There were three boys, one large and two small. The large boy had the
trap under his arm.

"Halloa!" said Phonny, calling out aloud to the boys, "stop carrying
off that trap."

The boys did not answer.

"I have bought that squirrel," said Phonny, "you must give him to me."

"No," said the great boy; "it belongs to Espy, and I am going to keep
it for him."

"Hush," said Wallace, in a low tone to Phonny; "_I_ will speak to
him."

Then calling out aloud again,