future. And--and," said Harry,
breaking down as he spoke; "and--and--indeed, Papa, I wish it had been
me to-day sooner than poor Fred, for we do feel that we ought to take
care of him when he's a visitor; don't we, Philip? But I am such an
unlucky beggar; I'm always doing something wrong when I want to do
right, and it does make me so miserable, and so it did when I pitched
into Fred the first afternoon he was here, and I couldn't help it."

"What's that?" said Mr Inglis; "pitched into Fred? What, have you two
been fighting?"

Harry was in too great trouble to speak, so Philip narrated the little
skirmish, concluding with the loss of the poor ferret.

Mr Inglis did not say any more upon the subject; but a smile passed
between him and Mrs Inglis, and then, shaking hands with his boys, they
all went on tiptoe up the stairs to have a look at Fred--Mr Inglis, in
spite of the events of the past few days, evidently of the opinion that
his boys were not so much worse than boys in general.

Fred was fast asleep, breathing regularly; and the maid said he had not
moved; so he was left to his rest, strict injunctions being given that
Mrs Inglis should be called directly the invalid woke, or showed
symptoms of so doing.

CHAPTER ELEVEN.

BUMPITTY BUMP.--THE WOPSES.

For two or three days Fred remained very unwell, as might easily be
supposed from the shock he had received; but the boys spent the greater
part of the days with him reading or playing, and in the evenings came
Mr and Mrs Inglis to sit in his bedroom, when Mr Inglis told them
natural history anecdotes, or talked about the wondrous changes of
insects in so interesting a manner, that the little auditory heard him
with the most rapt attention.

On the second evening, in answer to a question, Fred related how it was
he managed to be carried away by the stream. It appeared that it was
through a sudden fright; for, while wading about with the water up to
his armpits, he felt what he thought was a great fish touch him--but
which was more probably a piece of wood--and he was so startled and
alarmed with the idea that it might be a great pike, such as he had once
seen in the river, and also caught by Mr Inglis, that he rushed away
from the fancied peril, and, by mishap, this was done on the wrong side;
so that directly afterwards he was splashing and paddling in the water,
out of his depth, and with the stream bearing him away quite fast. He
could remember the