he open sky--it being,
indeed, the last day of May, which, as nobody ever makes a holiday of
it, is always perfectly delightful. Therefore was he strongly tempted to
give a snapping pull at the apron-strings and make for sweet liberty--a
thing he was in the habit of doing about once a week, when the keenest
switching and the liveliest dancing that one could wish to witness would
follow, sure as fate. To do our urchin hero justice, however, he rarely
yielded to the temptation without making some considerable effort to
resist it; efforts such as older transgressors are apt to set down
largely to their own credit in their private accounts between self and
conscience, vaguely hoping thereby to bamboozle somebody besides
themselves--perhaps the recording angel. So, this morning, he hunted up
the other children, as his mother had bidden him, and made a
manful--nay, desperate--effort to be sportive at home; but the little
fort, within the shelter of whose wooden walls had been their home ever
since that melancholy night two years ago, had never seemed to him so
dull and lonesome. The hunters and field-laborers, belonging to the
station, were all abroad, and the other children seemed as little
inclined to play as himself.

Finding that quiet amusement was not likely to come of its own accord,
Bushie was minded to draw it out by a little gentle persuasion, and to
this intent challenged the tallest boy of the company--taller than
himself by a head, though not so broad--to cope with him in a boxing
match. Having already tried that game several times and invariably come
off with a savage griping in the pit of the stomach, the tall boy made
it a point just then to hear his mother's call--though heard by no one
else--which answering, he walked off briskly, under press of filial
obedience, to see what was wanted. As if hoping to force what would not
come of its own accord, or by persuasion, Bushie now laid unauthorized
hands on Grumbo's tail, and giving it a cracking pull, got his finger
bitten; ditto, then, on Tom's tail, and giving it a cracking jerk, got
his leg scratched. Evidently, quiet amusement at home to-day was a
consummation quite out of the question, however devoutly to be wished.
So, he gave it up as a moral achievement beyond his present resources,
and with the feeling of a boy who though he had failed in the discharge
of duty had yet endeavored well, he went and stood in the gate-way of
the fort, which, as it directly f