ere bad, selfish boys, they would want to keep
all the good places to themselves."

If Rollo had only asked his father, in a modest manner, how it could be
that the boys were bad, when they wanted to show him the best place for
blueberries, it would have been very proper; but his manner of speaking
showed a silly confidence in his own opinion, which was very wrong. His
father, however, did not attempt to reason with him, but only said,

"I think they are bad boys, for I overheard them using bad language; and
I wish you to have nothing to do with them."

He then found a good place for them to begin to gather their berries.
It was a beautiful spot of open ground, between the thick woods on one
side, and a broken, rocky precipice on the other.

Uncle George took Jonas forward alone, until they were out of sight, and
presently returned without him. Rollo asked where Jonas was gone, and
his uncle told him that that was a secret at present. They heard, soon
after, the strokes of his hatchet in the woods, on before them, but
could not imagine what he could be doing.

Thus things went on very pleasantly, and they gathered a large quantity
of berries. There was, indeed, in the course of the day, a serious
difficulty between Rollo and the bad boys; and there is an account of it
given in the next story of "TROUBLE ON THE MOUNTAIN." With Ibis
exception, every thing went on well until about, noon, when Rollo
observed that Jonas had been missing a long time.

THE SECRET OUT.

"Where is Jonas, all this time?" said Rollo to Lucy.

Lucy said that he had been busy, a long time, doing something over
beyond some rocks, but she did not know what, for her father told her
she must not go to see. Rollo wondered what the secret was, and he was
just going to ask his father to let him go and see what Jonas was doing,
when they saw him coming out from the bushes. He came up to Rollo's
father, and told him that it was all ready. Then Rollo's father called
to all the company, and told them it was time to stop gathering berries,
and they might take up their baskets and follow him.

The baskets and pails were heavy and full, and the whole party walked
along, carrying them carefully towards the place where Jonas had come
from. Rollo's Hither led the way. They entered into a little thicket,
and passed through it by a narrow path. They came out presently into a
sort of opening, on a brow of the mountain. On one side they could look
down upo