en came Rollo's
mother leaning on his uncle's arm. His uncle had a basket of berries in
his other hand. Finally, Rollo and his father walked together behind,
with each a basket in his hand.

Thus they walked along down the steep path, until they began to enter
the bushes. Rollo's father had made this arrangement so that he might
have an opportunity to talk with him about the difficulty with the boys,
for he thought, on the whole, it would be better to talk with him now
than to wait till they got home.

After they had walked along a little way, Rollo's father asked him
whether he had a good time blueberrying?

"Why, yes, sir," said Rollo, "pretty good."

"Have you seen any thing more of those boys?"

"No, sir."

"Your mother went to talk with you, and said you did not seem very sorry
for your fault."

"Why, father," said Rollo, "I did not do any thing to the boys at all:
it was all their fault, entirely."

"I don't suppose you did do any thing wrong towards _them_, but you
committed a great fault in respect to me."

"What fault?" said Rollo.

"Disobedience."

"Why, father, how? You did not tell me to stay close by you."

"And is a boy guilty of disobedience only when he does what his father
forbids in words?"

"I suppose so," said Rollo.

"What is disobedience?" asked his father.

"Why, it is doing what you tell me not to do; is it not?"

"That is not a sufficient definition of it; for suppose you were out
there in the bushes, and I was to beckon you to come here, and you
should not come, would not that be disobedience?"

"Why, yes, sir."

"And yet I should not _tell_ you to come."

"No, sir."

"And so, if I were to shake my head at you when you were doing any thing
wrong, and you wore to continue doing it, that would be disobedience."

Rollo admitted that it would. "So that it is not necessary that I should
tell you _in words_ what my wishes are: if I express them in any way so
that you plainly understand it, that is enough. The most important
orders that are given by men, are often given without any words."

"How, father?"

"Why, at sea, sometimes, where there is a great fleet of ships, and the
admiral, who commands them all, is in one of them. Now, if he wants all
the fleet to sail in any way; or if he wishes to have some one, vessel
come near to his, or go back home, or go away to any other part of the
world; or if he wants any particular person in the fleet to come on
board his vessel