ho seemed scarce old enough to receive a joke,
much less to make one, looked first at Charlie and winked with his left
eye, then at Thursday and winked with his right one.

"You're winkin' again, sir," cried Sally, sharply.

"Yis, mum, but with _bof_ eyes this time, vich isn't naughty, you know."

"But it _is_ naughty, sir, unless you do it with both eyes at _once_."

"Oh, with bof at vunce!" exclaimed Dan, who thereupon shut both eyes
very tight indeed, and then opened them in the widest possible condition
of surprise.

This was too much for Sally. She burst into a hearty fit of laughter.
Her class, being ever ready to imitate such an example, followed suit.
Charlie tumbled forward and rolled on the grass with delight, little Dan
kicked up his heels and tumbled back over the log in ecstasy, and
Thursday October swayed himself to and fro, while the other two got up
and danced with glee.

It was while the school was in this disorganised state that John Adams
came upon them.

"That's right, Sall," he said, heartily, as he patted the child's head.
"You keep 'em at it. Nothin' like havin' their noses held to the
grindstone when they're young. You didn't see anybody pass this way,
did you?"

"No," replied the child, looking earnestly up into the seaman's
countenance.

It was a peculiarity of these children that they could change from gay
to grave with wonderful facility. The mere putting of the question had
changed the current of their minds as they earnestly and gravely strove
to recollect whether any one had been seen to pass during the morning.

"No," repeated Sally, "don't think nobody have pass this mornin'."

"Yis, there vas vun," said little Dan, who had become more profoundly
thoughtful than the others.

"Ay, who was that, my little man?" said Adams.

"Isaac Martin's big sow," replied Dan, gravely.

The shout of laughter that followed this was not in proportion to the
depth but the unexpectedness of the joke, and John Adams went on his
way, chuckling at the impudence of what he called the precocious snipe.

In a short time the seaman found himself in a thicket, so dense that it
was with difficulty he could make his way through the luxuriant
underwood. On his left hand he could see the sky through the leaves, on
his right the steep sides of the mountain ridge that divided the island.

Coming to a partially open space, he thought he saw the yellow side of a
hog. He raised his gun to fire, when