orning, they must be careful to draw
their heads out of the hole at the first stroke of the tomtom, when the
blanket is again lifted from the huge nest lest they be drawn up to the
ceiling and hanged.

THE FORGOTTEN GUNS.

BY EARLE TRACY.

Bascom and Captain Lazare's boy Narcisse were diving near the croaker
bank.

"Bet you I can stay under twice as long as you can," Bascom said,
as he and Narcisse balanced on the edge of a row-boat.
"One--two--three--jump!"

There was a sharp smack as both boys hit the water at the same instant,
and then the ripples gurgled over them. The black head of Narcisse came
up again very soon, and he puffed and blew. He was a big, thick-set,
older boy than Bascom, but short-winded and inclined toward laziness. He
had time to turn on his back and catch his breath at leisure before
Bascom reappeared. "I was studyin' me 'bout goin' down aftah you," he
drawled.

But Bascom did not answer until he had rested a minute with one hand on
the gunwale of the boat. He was very white. "I--beat--you," he panted at
last. "I--tole you--I would." His breath was coming back to him in big
draughts that he could scarcely swallow.

"Yo' can beat me a-pullin' right now if yo' want to," Narcisse offered
as they climbed into the boat.

Bascom was glad enough to take the oars. He was breathing again, and he
would rather do anything than keep still. He wanted to shout and clap
his hands and jump, but he did not wish to excite the curiosity of
Narcisse. The hot afternoon sun poured generously over them and dried
their bathing-suits into every-day clothes.

A sound of hammering came from one of the schooners at anchor near the
landing. "I hear Captain Tony," Bascom said. "I reckon I'll get out
here."

"I didn't guess yo'd pass by de little _Mystery_," Narcisse answered,
with a good-natured grin. All Potosi was used to Bascom's devotion to
the boat which he and Captain Tony had won by bringing it safely through
the great Gulf storm the year before. Narcisse was no sooner out of
sight, however, than Bascom forgot even the _Mystery_ in the excitement
it had been so hard to suppress.

"Cap'n Tony," he cried, fairly stammering with eagerness--"Cap'n Tony--
I--I--found a buried cannon on the croaker bank!"

"W-w'at?" said Captain Tony, wondering.

"It's all crusted up with barnacles, but I know it's a cannon," Bascom
insisted. "I felt all round it, and inside of it too."

Captain Tony lifted his cap