cking
over other people's chickens, and running off with them, is stealing.
It's a nasty word, but that's the plain English of it. If the chickens
were dead and lying in a shop, you wouldn't take them, I know that, any
more than you would apples out of Griffith's basket; but there's no real
difference between chickens running about and apples on a tree, and the
same articles in a shop. I wish our morals were sounder in such matters.
There's nothing so mischievous as these school distinctions, which
jumble up right and wrong, and justify things in us for which poor boys
would be sent to prison." And, good old Holmes delivered his soul on the
walk home of many wise sayings, and, as the song says--

"Gee'd 'em a sight of good advice"--

which same sermon sank into them all, more or less, and very penitent
they were for several hours. But truth compels me to admit that East at
any rate forgot it all in a week, but remembered the insult which had
been put upon him by Farmer Thompson, and with the Tadpole and other
harebrained youngsters, committed a raid on the barn soon afterwards, in
which they were caught by the shepherds and severely handled, besides
having to pay eight shillings, all the money they had in the world, to
escape being taken up to the Doctor.

Martin became a constant inmate in the joint study from this time, and
Arthur took to him so kindly, that Tom couldn't resist slight fits of
jealousy, which, however, he managed to keep to himself. The kestrel's
eggs had not been broken, strange to say, and formed the nucleus of
Arthur's collection, at which Martin worked heart and soul; and
introduced Arthur to Howlett the bird-fancier, and instructed him in the
rudiments of the art of stuffing. In token of his gratitude, Arthur
allowed Martin to tattoo a small anchor on one of his wrists, which
decoration, however, he carefully concealed from Tom. Before the end of
the half year he had trained into a bold climber and good runner, and,
as Martin had foretold, knew twice as much about trees, birds, flowers,
and many other things, as our good-hearted and facetious young friend
Harry East.

CHAPTER V.

THE FIGHT.

"Surgebat Macnevisius
Et mox jactabat ultro,
Pugnabo tua gratia
Feroci hoc Mactwoltro."--_Etonian._

THERE is a certain sort of fellow--we who are used to studying boys all
know him well enough--of whom you can predicate with almost positiv