as severely reprimanded, of course, and told that he was
ungrateful, as well as stupid.

But in the woods he was free to do as he liked, and there was no one to
scold or find fault with him, and he had many dumb but affectionate
friends there among the squirrels, rabbits and birds.

So he always took his way to the woods every Saturday as soon as he had
cleaned up the yard about his aunt's house, filled all the
water-buckets, cut the kindling for the kitchen stove, and attended to
the dozen or more other chores Miss Potter required of him.

He never shirked the least of them, no matter how anxious he was to get
away; for he had been so frequently told how much he owed to his aunt,
that he believed he could not do too much for her.

It was while exploring the depths of the woods, one day, that he
discovered the secret retreat of the "Mystic Nine," a club of nine boys
who disappeared from the village regularly every Saturday morning during
the spring, summer and fall, and remained away until sunset, often
returning with torches to have a street parade after dark, or with a bag
of plump birds for a grand "fry" in the kitchen of some indulgent
mother.

That they had a hiding-place of some sort, where they held meetings and
ate the generous lunches they carried with them, all the boys outside
the nine felt sure; but none of the Mystics ever answered any questions
concerning it, and threw out vague but impressive warnings as to the
terrible fate that would befall any one whose curiosity led him to seek
to penetrate the secret they guarded so closely.

Davy stumbled upon it quite by chance. Following the trail of a bird
with a wounded wing, he found himself in a part of the wood he had never
been in before, and came suddenly upon a great pile of brush a dozen
feet high, behind which was the entrance to a deep cave in a rocky
hillside.

He entered, and found it well furnished with rough blankets, a table,
an oil stove, and many other things necessary to the comfort and
convenience of nine boys. A large window in the roof, which was
carefully covered with brush, afforded a means to obtain light, when
that given by the mouth of the cave did not prove sufficient, or when
bad weather made it necessary to drop the canvas which did duty as a
door.

Davy, afraid of getting into trouble, kept his discovery to himself, but
he made frequent stolen trips to the cave, and resolved that some day he
would use his knowledge for the