he boys turned and saw Beechnut standing at the door of the shop,
looking at them. He continued,

"His name is Frink,
And so I think,
I'd give him a little water to drink."

So saying, Beechnut went away. Phonny took up an old tin cover which
lay upon a shelf behind the bench, and which had once belonged to a
tin box. The box was lost, but Phonny had kept the cover to put nails
in. He now poured the nails out upon the bench, and went out to the
pump to fill the cover with water.

In a minute or two he came back, walking carefully, so as not to spill
the water. He raised the lid of the trap a little, very cautiously,
and then pushed the cover in underneath it, in such a manner that
about half of it was inside the trap.

"There! That's what I call complete. Now he can have a drink when he
pleases, and we will go in to dinner."

* * * * *

At the dinner table, Phonny and Stuyvesant sat upon one side of the
table, and Malleville sat on the other side, opposite to them. Mrs.
Henry sat at the head, and Wallace opposite to her, at the foot of the
table. The dinner consisted that day, of roast chickens, and after it,
an apple pudding.

Wallace carved the chickens, and when all had been helped, Phonny
began to talk about the squirrel.

"I suppose you consider it as boyishness in me, Cousin Wallace, to
like to have a squirrel," said he.

"It is a very harmless _kind_ of boyishness, at any rate," replied
Wallace.

"Then you have no objection to it," said Phonny.

"None at all," said Wallace. "In one sense it is boyishness, for it is
boys, and not men, that take pleasure in possessing useless animals."

"Useless!" said Phonny, "do you call a gray squirrel useless?"

"He is not useful in the sense in which the animals of a farm-yard are
useful," said Wallace. "He gives pleasure perhaps, but cows, sheep,
and hens, are a source of profit. Boys don't care much about profit;
but like any kind of animals, if they are pretty, or cunning in their
motions and actions."

"I like gray squirrels," said Phonny, "very much indeed, if it _is_
boyishness."

"It is a very harmless kind of boyishness at all events," replied
Wallace. "It is not like some other kinds of boyishness, such as I
told you about the other day."

"Well, Cousin Wallace," said Phonny, "what would you do, if you were
in my case, for a cage?"

"I would take some kind of box, without any top to it," replied
Wa