t arm into the hole and
bringing out a nest. "Now, a wood-pecker's egg," he said, carefully
lifting an egg out and then replacing it, "'ud be pearly white."

"How did you learn all that?" sneered Jud.

"Oh, by keepin' out of a cotton mill an' usin' my eye," said Archie
B., winking at Bonaparte.

Bonaparte glared back.

"I'd like to git you into the mill," said Jud. "I'd put you to wuck
doin' somethin' that 'ud be worth while."

"Oh, yes, you would for a few years," sneered back Archie B. "Then
you'd put me under the groun', where I'd have plenty o' time to
res'."

"I'm goin' up there now to see yo' folks an' see if I can't git you
into the mill."

"Oh, you are?--Well, don't be in sech a hurry an' look heah at yo'
snake-skin fust--didn't I tell you it 'ud be lined with a
snake-skin?" And he threw down a last year's snake-skin which
Bonaparte proceeded to rend with great fury.

"Now, come under here," went on Archie B. persuasively, "and I'll
sho' you they're not pearly white, like a wood-pecker's, but
cream-colored with little purple splotches scratched over 'em--like a
fly-ketcher's."

Jud rode under and looked up. As he did so Archie B. suddenly turned
the nest upside down, that Jud might see the eggs, and as he looked
up four eggs shot out before he could duck his head, and caught him
squarely between his shaggy eyes. Blinded, smeared with yelk and
smarting with his eyes full of fine broken shell, he scrambled from
his horse, with many oaths, and began feeling for the little branch
of water which ran nearby.

"I'll cut that tree down, but I'll git you and wring yo' neck," he
shouted, while Bonaparte endeavored to tear it down with his teeth.

But Archie B. did not wait. Slowly he slid down the tree, while
Bonaparte, thunder-struck with joy, waited at the foot, his eyes
glaring, his mouth wide open, anticipating the feast on fresh boy
meat. Can he be--dare he be--coming down? Right into my jaws, too?
The very thought of it stopped his snarls.

Jud's curses filled the air.

Down--down, slid Archie B., both legs locked around the tree, until
some ten feet above the dog, and, then tantalizingly, just out of
reach, he suddenly tightened his brown brakes of legs, and thrusting
his hand in his pocket, pulled out a small rubber ball. Reaching
over, he squirted half of its contents over the dog, which still sat
snarling, half in fury and half in wonder.

Then something happened. Jud could not see, being dow