ht
be, there was no danger of their getting at him; so he clambered out of
bed, and going on tiptoe to the door, applied his eye to the keyhole.
There was nothing to be seen; so walking to the window, he brought his
face as close to the glass as his nose would allow. There was a figure
just discernible. The lad was not trying to walk softly, and the heavy
shuffling of the well-known velschoens could be clearly heard through
the closed window as they crossed the stones in the yard. Bonaparte
listened till they had died away round the corner of the wagon-house;
and, feeling that his bare legs were getting cold, he jumped back into
bed again.

*****

"What do you keep up in your loft?" inquired Bonaparte of the Boer-woman
the next evening, pointing upwards and elucidating his meaning by the
addition of such Dutch words as he knew, for the lean Hottentot was gone
home.

"Dried skins," said the Boer-woman, "and empty bottles, and boxes, and
sacks, and soap."

"You don't keep any of your provisions there--sugar, now?" said
Bonaparte, pointing to the sugar-basin and then up at the loft.

Tant Sannie shook her head.

"Only salt, and dried peaches."

"Dried peaches! Eh?" said Bonaparte. "Shut the door, my dear child, shut
it tight," he called out to Em, who stood in the dining room. Then
he leaned over the elbow of the sofa and brought his face as close as
possible to the Boer-woman's, and made signs of eating. Then he said
something she did not comprehend; then said, "Waldo, Waldo, Waldo,"
pointed up to the loft, and made signs of eating again.

Now an inkling of his meaning dawned on the Boer-woman's mind. To make
it clearer, he moved his legs after the manner of one going up a ladder,
appeared to be opening a door, masticated vigorously, said, "Peaches,
peaches, peaches," and appeared to be coming down the ladder.

It was now evident to Tant Sannie that Waldo had been in her loft and
eaten her peaches.

To exemplify his own share in the proceedings, Bonaparte lay down on the
sofa, and shutting his eyes tightly, said, "Night, night, night!" Then
he sat up wildly, appearing to be intently listening, mimicked with his
feet the coming down a ladder, and looked at Tant Sannie. This clearly
showed how, roused in the night, he had discovered the theft.

"He must have been a great fool to eat my peaches," said Tant Sannie.
"They are full of mites as a sheepskin, and as hard as stones."

Bonaparte, fumbling in his pock