he afternoon, his heart so moved with pity for the juvenile
offenders that he almost forgot where he was, making a touching plea for
the boys, as if their destiny depended upon his own exertions. The hall
was so still that the fall of a pin might be heard while Nat was
pleading the case. Everybody was taken by surprise. They could hardly
believe their senses.

"Their brother," answered one man, in reply to the inquiry, "Who is that
lad?" He did not know himself, but he thought that possibly a brother
might plead thus for them.

The justice was not long in deciding the case, after such a plea. He
simply reprimanded the two boys, gave them some wholesome counsel, and
discharged them, much to the gratification of Nat, and many others.

"That was the youngest lawyer I ever heard plead a case," said Mr.
Payson, after the court adjourned.

"The most impudent one, _I_ think," replied Mr. Sayles, to whom the
remark was addressed. "If I had been in the place of the justice, I
would have kicked him out of the hall. Little upstart! to come in there,
and presume to speak in behalf of two reckless boys!"

"You misjudge the boy entirely, Mr. Sayles. There is nothing of the
'upstart' about Nat. He is a good boy, a good scholar, and very amiable
indeed. The neighbors will all tell you so. It was his sincere pity for
the boys that led him to plead for them. He did not mean to conceal
their guilt, but he thought, as _I_ do, that such small boys better be
reproved and tried again, before they suffer the penalty of the law."

"I hope it is so," replied Mr. S.

"I _know_ it is so," continued Mr. P. "Nat is very kind and
sympathizing, and he cannot endure to see a dog abused. It might seem
bold and unmannerly for him to address the court as he did, but Nat is
not such a boy. He is very mannerly for one of his age, and nothing but
his deep pity for Harry and Tom induced him to speak. The act has
elevated him considerably in my estimation, though I thought well of him
before."

Mr. Payson took the right view of the matter. In addition to his
sympathy for his school-fellows, Nat felt that it was hardly right to
take those little boys before a court for the offence charged, since
they were not vagrants, and were not known as bad boys. If Ben and Sam
Drake had been there instead of Harry and Tom, he would not have
volunteered a plea to save them from the clutches of the law. But he
felt that it was dealing too severely with them, and thi