in doing the work.

"Never mind, honey," said Bob. "Jack and I don't care whether you work
or not. You are worth your keep, any time."

"Yes," said Jack, "we even tried hard yesterday to catch a young owl to
make a pet of, but we couldn't get it. You see, we're so lonesome."

"I suppose I'll do for a pet owl, won't I?" said little Columbus, with a
strange and quizzical smile on his meagre face. And as he sat there in
the boat, with his big head and large eyes, the name seemed so
appropriate that Bob and Jack both laughed outright.

But the Pet Owl made himself useful in some ways. I am sorry to say that
the housekeeping of Bob and Jack had not always been of the tidiest
kind. They were boys, and they were in a hurry. But Columbus had the
tastes of a girl about a house. He did not do any cooking or chopping to
speak of, but he fixed up. He kept the house neat, cleaned the
candlestick every morning, and washed the windows now and then, and as
spring advanced he brought in handfuls of wild flowers. The boys
declared that they had never felt at home in the old house until the Pet
Owl came to be its mistress. He wouldn't let anything be left around out
of place, but all the pots, pans, dishes, coats, hats, books, slates,
the lantern, the boot-jack, and other slender furniture, were put in
order before school time, so that when they got back in the afternoon
the place was inviting and home-like. When Judge Kane and his wife
stopped during their Sunday-afternoon stroll, to see how the lads got
on, Mrs. Kane praised their housekeeping.

"That is all the doings of the Pet Owl," said Bob.

"Pet Owl? Have you one?" asked Mrs. Kane.

The boys laughed, and Bob explained that Columbus was the pet.

That evening, the boys had a box of white honey for supper, sent over by
Mrs. Kane, and the next Saturday afternoon Jack and Bob helped Judge
Kane finish planting his corn-field.

One unlucky day, Columbus discovered Jack's box of Indian bones under
the house, and he turned pale and had a fit of shivering for a long time
afterward. It was necessary to move the box into an old stable to quiet
his shuddering horror. The next Sunday afternoon, the Pet Owl came in
with another fit of terror, shivering as before.

"What's the matter now, Lummy?" said Jack. "Have you seen any more
Indians?"

"Pewee and his crowd have gone up to the Indian Mound," said Columbus.

"Well, let 'em go," said Bob. "I suppose they know the way, don't they?