Ne eee | 98 WREATHS OF FRIENDSHIP. aaa | hole which I saw in one of the hives, and bring out some of the honey. My brother and Julian did not quite agree with me in this matter. They thought, as nearly as I can recollect, that there were three good reasons against this mode of ob- taining honey: first, I should be likely to get pretty badly stung ; secondly, the act would be a very mean and cowardly piece of mischief; and, thirdly, I should be found out. Still, 1 was bent on the chivalrous undertaking. I procured a stick of the right size, and marched up to the hive to make the attack. While I was deliberating, with the stick already a little way in the hole, whether I had better thrust it in sud- denly, and then scamper away as fast as my legs could carry me, or proceed so deliberately that the bees would-not suspect what was the matter, Cap- tain Perry happened to come into the garden ; and I was so busy with my mischief, that I did not notice him until he advanced within a rod. or two of the bee-hives. He mistrusted what I was about. “Roderick,†said he. I looked around. I am sure I would have given all 1 was worth in the world, not excepting my little pony, which I