t well a-swinging, he let down the rope suddenly, at the moment when
the bucket was at the extent of its oscillation. The bucket filled
instantly; but, as the boat was advancing rapidly, it was caught by the
water with such force that the rope was twitched out of Marco's hand
with great force.

"Hold on!" exclaimed the sailor boy.

But it was too late. The rope fell down into the water, and the bucket,
rope and all, sailed back upon the surface of the water, until they
floated under the paddle wheel of the boat, which dashed them down
beneath the surface of the water, and they disappeared finally from
view.

"Why did not you hold on?" said the boy.

Marco was silent.

The boy looked round to see if anybody had observed what had taken
place. He found that all the seamen were busy here and there, and that
nobody had noticed what the two boys had been doing.

"Nobody has seen you," said the sailor boy; "so you say nothing, and
I'll say nothing."

"But suppose they ask you what has become of that bucket," said Marco;
"what will you tell them?"

"Oh, I'll tell them I don't know where it is," he replied; "and I don't.
I am sure I don't know where it is now: do you? Hush, here comes Joe."

Marco looked up at these words, and saw the sailor approaching whom the
boy called Joe; and the boy himself immediately stepped down from the
anchor, where he and Marco had been standing, and began coiling a rope
upon the deck. Marco walked sorrowfully away towards the stern of the
vessel, where he had left Forester.

There was something wrong and something right in the boy's proposal to
Marco, to conceal the loss of the bucket. His object was to befriend and
help Marco in his distress. This was right. The means by which he
proposed to accomplish the object were secrecy and fraud. This was
wrong. Thus, the end which he had in view was a good one, and it
evinced a good feeling in him; but the means for promoting it were
criminal. Some persons have maintained that if the end is only right, it
is of no consequence by what means we seek to promote it. Hence, they
have had this maxim, viz., "The end sanctifies the means." But this
maxim is not sound. The contrary principle is correct. It is sometimes
expressed by this saying: "We must not do evil that good may come;"
which is a much safer proverb to be guided by.

Marco's first impulse was, to go at once and tell the captain of the
steamboat that he had lost his bucket. But he did n