duty with
Harry, since the other boys were not familiar with guns. So all night
long Tom and Harry, relieving one another every two hours, marched up
and down in front of the tent, keeping a sharp watch for robbers, and
prepared for a desperate fight every time they heard the slightest
noise.

[TO BE CONTINUED.]

EASY BOTANY.

AUGUST WILD FLOWERS.

The wild flowers of August have their own distinguishing
characteristics. We find the road-sides gleaming and glowing with
brilliant colors, and all the tribes of strong-growing and
strong-scented plants that prefer the later summer months.

Among others the singular desmodium, or bush trefoil, is interesting
from having the leaves and flowers grow on separate plants, quite
unconnected apparently, and often some little distance apart.

The large, spreading leaves grow on a stalk as if they had nothing to do
with anything else; but the young botanist who may grasp this plume of
leaves will find that the root leads along under-ground, till suddenly
up comes _another plant_--a tall stem with panicles of purplish flowers.
All these freaks or peculiarities become delightful to the observant
eye.

The ground-nut, or wild bean, is a very handsome climber, and peculiar
in appearance. The clusters of waxy flowers are rich brown and white,
growing very thick, and having the scent of violets. The tubers are
often eaten.

The wild kidney-bean is found in copses and along road-sides from
Connecticut to Illinois. It climbs high from a perennial root, with
clusters of small bright purple flowers.

In rich woodlands in the Middle States and west the pea-nut is very
interesting to young searchers. The plant bears two kinds of flowers,
the upper ones ripening no fruit, but the lower or under-ground ones
bearing the well-known pea-nuts.

Try to find a remarkable plant belonging to the convolvulus family, the
wild-potato vine, or "man of the earth." It is not very easily
overlooked. Several stems spring from the same root, growing and twining
seven or eight feet high. The leaves are large, and of various
shapes--heart-shaped, pointed, and fiddle-shaped. Three or four large
blossoms, several inches broad, grow in clusters; the flowers are white,
with purple in the tube. This remarkable vine is found in sandy fields
and by road-sides from Connecticut to Illinois and south.

A large plant grows by the end of an old country bridge near Canaan,
Connecticut. The stems are long