reach, grasped him firmly, and with one strong, steady pull, drew him
out of the cannon.

When he got him out, Bert presented so comical a spectacle that his
stalwart rescuer had to lay him down and laugh until the tears rolled
down his cheeks. Mrs. Lloyd, too, relieved from all anxiety, and feeling
a reaction from her first fright, could not help following his example.
His face, black with grime, which was furrowed with tears, his hands
even blacker, his nice clothes smutched and soiled, and indeed, his
whole appearance suggested a little chimney-sweep that had forgotten to
put on his working clothes before going to business. Bert certainly was
enough to make even the gravest laugh.

Beyond a bruise or two, he was, however, not a whit the worse for his
curious experience, which had come about in this way:--While they were
playing with the ball, one of the children had, out of mischief, picked
it up and thrown it into the cannon, where it had stayed. They tried to
get it out by means of sticks, but could not reach it. Then Bert, always
plucky and enterprising to the verge of rashness, undertook to go after
the ball himself. The other boys at once joined forces to lift him up
and push him into the dark cavern, and then alarmed by his cries and
unavailing struggles to get out again, began to cry themselves, and thus
brought Mrs. Lloyd to the scene.

Mr. Lloyd was very much amused when he heard about Bert's adventure.

"You've beaten Shakespeare, Bert," said he, after a hearty laugh, as
Mrs. Lloyd graphically described the occurrence. "For Shakespeare says a
man does not seek the bubble reputation in the cannon's mouth, until he
becomes a soldier, but you have found it, unless I am much mistaken,
before you have fairly begun being a schoolboy."

Bert did not understand the reference to Shakespeare, but he did
understand that his father was not displeased with him, and that was a
much more important matter. The next Sunday afternoon, when they went
for their accustomed stroll in the fort, Bert showed his father the big
gun whose dark interior he had attempted to explore.

"Oh, but father, wasn't I frightened when I got in there and couldn't
get out again!" said he earnestly, clasping his father's hand tightly,
as the horror of the situation came back to him.

"You were certainly in a tight place, little man," answered Mr. Lloyd,
"and the next time your ball gets into one of the cannons you had better
ask one of the a