e brook into the woods."

Mrs. Horton, coming into the sitting room to remind Sunny Boy to wash his
face and hands before dinner, found her little boy crying as though his
heart would break in Grandpa's arms.

"What in the world--" she began.

"There--there--it's all right," soothed Grandpa. "We're in a peck of
trouble, Olive, because we took some papers from Grandpa's desk to make a
kite with and now they turn out to be two Liberty Bonds. And the
kite--like the pesky contrivance it is--got away and is hiding somewhere
in the woods. But we're going out right after dinner and hunt for it,
aren't we, Sunny Boy?"

Sunny Boy felt Mother's kind hand smoothing his hair.

"Oh, my dear little boy!" said Mother's voice. "My dear little son! How
could you? Didn't you know how wrong it was to touch a single thing on
Grandpa's desk?"

"I forgot," said Sunny Boy in a very little voice.

"Why I wouldn't have believed that my Sunny Boy could forget," grieved
Mother. "And now Grandpa's money is lost! And Daddy coming next week!
What will he say?"

"We're going to find it long before Daddy comes," said Grandpa stoutly.
"Right after dinner we're going over to the woods. Sunny can remember
about where he thinks the kite fell. Cheer up, Olive--we're sorry we
didn't remember about 'hands off' when other people's property is about,
but every one forgets once in a while. And I was careless--I'm as great a
sinner as Sunny. And now forgive us both before we're quite drowned in
our tears."

Mother and Sunny Boy had another little cry all to themselves upstairs
and he told her that never, _never_ would he touch anything that did not
belong to him again without first asking. Then they both bathed their
faces in clear cold water and felt better. No one mentioned bonds at
dinner, and there was strawberry short-cake which Sunny Boy declared was
as good as his favorite chocolate ice cream. And right after dinner he
and Grandpa went out to hunt for the lost kite.

CHAPTER X

GOING FISHING

But though Grandpa and Sunny Boy hunted and hunted and hunted, till it
seemed as though they must have covered every inch of the big woods;
though they searched the tangled thickets where the briery blackberry
bushes grew along the edge of the brook; though they looked up at the
trees till their necks ached, hoping perhaps to find the kite caught in
the branches; still they had to come home without the precious Liberty
Bonds.

"Never mind,"