ave very neat
fingers to tie so many bows, but suddenly, while he was looking,
his feet began to feel heavy, and he stooped down to take off his
boots; but he could not untie the knots quick enough, and soon he
started falling very fast. And while he was falling, he heard the
wind in the telegraph wires, and the shouts of the boys who sell
papers in the street, and then he fell on the top of a house. And
they took him to the hospital, and cut off his legs, and gave him
wooden ones instead. But he could not fly any more because they
were too heavy."

For days afterwards all the children would tie their bootlaces in
bows.

Sometimes they would all look into the dark tank, and George would
tell them about the splendid fish that lived in its depths. If the
tank was only half full, he would whisper to the fish, and the
children would hear its indistinct reply. But when the tank was full
to the brim, he said that the fish was too happy to talk, and he would
describe the beauty of its appearance so vividly that all the children
would lean over the tank and strain their eyes in a desperate effort
to see the wonderful fish. But no one ever saw it clearly except
George, though most of the children thought they had seen its tail
disappearing in the shadows at one time or another.

It was doubtful how far the children believed his stories; probably,
not having acquired the habit of examining evidence, they were
content to accept ideas that threw a pleasant glamour on life. But the
coming of Jimmy Simpson altered this agreeable condition of mind.
Jimmy was one of those masterful stupid boys who excel at games and
physical contests, and triumph over intellectual problems by sheer
braggart ignorance. From the first he regarded George with contempt,
and when he heard him telling his stories he did not conceal his
disbelief.

"It's a lie," he said; "there ain't no fish in the tank."

"I have seen it, I tell you," said George.

Jimmy spat on the asphalt rudely.

"I bet no one else has," he said.

George looked round his audience, but their eyes did not meet his.
They felt that they might have been mistaken in believing that
they had seen the tail of the fish. And Jimmy was a very good man with
his fists. "Liar!" said Jimmy at last triumphantly, and walked away.
Being masterful, he led the others with him, and George brooded by the
tank for the rest of the evening in solitude.

Next day George went up to Jimmy confidently. "I