pt
going higher and higher as the water rose, hopping calmly enough from
branch to branch, and roosting high up at the top, to stop picking about
till the flood was sinking, and then slowly descend with the falling
waters, to find quite a feast in the mud.

"You don't think, do you, that those two blacks, Master George--"

"What, like chickens?"

"Yes, my dear."

"The people up at the settlement say they do, and that they can't keep
any fowls at all."

"Then that's it," cried Sarah, triumphantly; "and I was right about that
smell a few nights ago."

"What smell?"

"Of something roasting in the lean-to shed where those two sleep."

"Nonsense, Sarah! It was squirrel or something of that kind that they
had knocked down and cooked."

"No, my dear; it was exactly like roast chicken, and I'm very much
afraid--"

"So am I, Sarah, that you are going to make a mistake. I don't believe
either of them would steal. Ah! Here comes Pomp all in a hurry about
something.--What is it?"

"Hi! Find um, Mass' George," cried the boy, who was in a high state of
excitement.

"Find what?" I cried.

"Oh, yes, Pomp find um; come and see."

"Yes, I'll come," I said. "But, I say, Pomp, there are two chickens
gone. Do you know anything about them?"

"Yes. Such big bird come and take um, Mass' George. Big bird fly ober
de tree, _whish_--_whoosh_! And 'tick um foot into de chickum."

Sarah shook her head in a peculiar severe way; but I guessed that she
had the question of the uniform upon her mind, and she held her tongue,
while Pomp dragged me off to see his discovery.

He led me into a part of the forest where I had not been since the
flood, and there, sure enough, twenty feet above the ground, and
preserving its perpendicular position, was the greater part of the hut,
Pomp climbing up to it in triumph, and then on to the top, with the
result that his weight was just sufficient to dislodge it, and the whole
affair came down with a crash, and with the boy seated in the ruins.

"What do dat for?" he cried in a whimpering tone as he sat rubbing
himself.

"Do what?" I cried, laughing.

"Pull um down down an' break up. How we get um back now?"

"I didn't touch it."

"Not touch um! How um tumble down den? Oh my leg--my leg!"

"No, no; you're not hurt much, Pomp. There, get up, we can't get the
hut back; and you know father said a new and better one was to be built.
We'll set this one up here and make a summe