ore, so taken aback by the damaging testimony of this
unexpected witness of his sin, that he lost all self-possession, and
his looks proclaimed him guilty of the offence with which he was
charged.

Uprose from the bench beyond the group the figure sitting there, and,
striding towards the still unobservant boys, laid one hand upon
Theodore's collar, the other on that of Rob; and the startled Theodore
looked up into the stern, set face of his grandfather.

"Have I heerd aright?" said the old man in his righteous wrath. "Have I
heerd my gran'son called a thief, an' a sneak, what let a boy like Jim
be blamed for doin' what he had a right to do, if what this 'ere feller
says is true?--Kin ye prove it?" turning to Rob, while he still kept a
tight hold on either boy.

"Yes, I can," said Rob, maintaining his ground, although he was a
little frightened by the captain's looks and tones; and once more he
rehearsed the story in all its details.

By this time several persons, attracted by the somewhat unusual
spectacle of an old man holding two boys by their collars, had stopped
to hear what was going on; and there were symptoms of a crowd. Seeing
this from afar, a policeman bore down upon the scene,--the very one who
had had the dispute with the captain as to the propriety of Daisy
playing peanut-vender on the street-corner.

As he came near, Captain Yorke released his hold upon Rob's collar;
then tightening that upon Theodore's, the still stalwart old seaman
lifted the boy from his feet, and, stepping close to the basin of the
fountain, plunged him over his head in the icy water. The day had been
a mild one, sunny and bright, for spring was in the air; but the water
was still sufficiently cold to make such a sudden plunge any thing but
pleasant, and this summary method of punishment, well deserved though
most of the spectators knew it to be, was not to be tolerated in such a
public place. So thought the policeman who now came running up, as the
captain, having given his grandson three good dips, lifted him dripping
and shivering from the basin, and placed him upon his feet.

[Illustration: "PLUNGED HIM OVER HIS HEAD IN THE ICY
WATER."--_Page_ 214.]

"What's this?" asked the officer, who had long since made his peace
with the old man, who was wont to hang about the park, and in the
vicinity of our house, and who amused him vastly with his comments upon
men and things in the city. "What are you up to now, cap