nce he made, as he kicked and swung his arms, and
swayed to and fro, vainly struggling to get away.

"So you are the thief, are you? How do you like being hung up by the
heels? Are the grapes sweet or sour?" Mr. Leatherby asked, not offering
to relieve him.

"Please let me go, sir. I won't do so again," said Bob, whining.

"It won't hurt you to hang awhile, I reckon," Mr. Leatherby replied,
going into the house and telling Mrs. Leatherby what had happened, then
calling up Mr. Shelbarke, who lived near by, and also Mr. Noggin.

"I reckon that this isn't your first trick, Bob," said Mr. Leatherby,
when he returned with his neighbors. He liked Paul, and had been loath
to believe that he was guilty of stealing. "It is you who have been
playing tricks all along. Come now, own up," he added.

"It ain't me, it is Philip,--he told me to come," said Bob, who was
thoroughly cowed by the appearance of Mr. Noggin and the others, and who
feared that he would be harshly dealt with.

"O ho! Philip Funk is at the bottom, is he?" Mr. Leatherby exclaimed,
remembering how Philip suggested that it was Paul who had stuffed his
chimney with old paper.

"If you will let me down, I will tell you all," said Bob, groaning with
pain from the cord cutting into his ankle.

"We will hear your confession before we let you down," said Mr.
Leatherby.

Bob begged, and whined, but to no purpose, till he told them all about
the Night-Hawks,--that Philip set them on, and that Paul did not take
Mr. Noggin's honey, nor smoke out Mr. Leatherby. It was Philip who
sheared Miss Dobb's puppy, who took Mr. Shelbarke's watermelons, and
robbed Deacon Hardhack's hen-roost. When Bob had told all, they let him
go. He went off limping, but very glad that he was free.

In the morning Mr. Leatherby and Mr. Noggin reported what had happened;
but Philip put on a bold face, and said that Bob was a liar, and that
there wasn't a word of truth in what he had said. The fact that he was
caught stealing Mr. Leatherby's grapes showed that he was a fellow not
to be believed; for if he was mean enough to steal, he would not
hesitate to lie.

Deacon Hardhack called upon Paul. "I have been requested by the
committee to call and see you. They wish you to take charge of the
singing again," he said, with some confusion of manner; and added,
"Perhaps we were hasty in the matter when we asked you to sit down
stairs, but we are willing to let bygones be bygones."

"Am I to und