r what we have done, though I hardly think they will pay
us much of a compliment. But I must hurry home, or I shall have
trouble there. Come on, boys, let us go."

At this they hastened to their homes, not designing to make known the
labours of the evening, if they could possibly avoid interrogation.
They knew that their parents would disapprove of the deed, and that no
excuse could shield them from merited censure. It was not strange,
then, that they were both afraid and ashamed to tell of what they had
done. But we will let twenty-four hours pass. On the following
evening, when Mr. Franklin took his seat at his fireside, Benjamin had
taken his book and was reading.

"Benjamin," said his father, "where was you last evening?"

Benjamin knew by his father's anxious look that there was trouble. He
imagined that he had heard of their enterprise on the previous
evening. After some hesitation, he answered, "I was down to the
water."

"What was you doing there?"

"We were fixing up a place for the boat."

"See that you tell the truth, Benjamin, and withhold nothing. I wish
to know what you did there."

"We built a wharf."

"What had you to build it with?"

"We built it of stones."

"And where did you get your stones?"

"There was a pile of them close by."

"Did they belong to you?"

"I suppose not."

"Did you not know that they belonged to the man who is building the
house?"

"Yes, sir."

"Then you deliberately resolved to steal them, did you?"

"It isn't stealing to take stones."

"Why, then, did you take them in the evening, after the workmen had
gone home? Why did you not go after them when the workmen were all
there?"

Benjamin saw that he was fairly caught, and that, bright as he was, he
could not get out of so bad a scrape unblamed. So he hung his head,
and did not answer his father's last question.

"I see plainly how it is," continued his father; "it is the
consequence of going out in the evening with the boys, which I must
hereafter forbid. I have been willing that you should go out
occasionally, because I have thought it might be better for you than
so much reading. But you have now betrayed my confidence, and I am
satisfied more than ever that boys should be at home in the evening,
trying to improve their minds. You have been guilty of an act that is,
quite flagrant, although it may have been done thoughtlessly. You
should have known better, after having received so much good
instructi