fellows, and the boys felt that they had anything but pleasant visitors to deal
with.

‘‘Where’s your folks?” demanded the foremost man, as Johnnie looked into
the room.

“Gone to mill,” answered Johnnie. “Why? Do you want to see father?”

“Not much; do we, Elder?” laughed the man who had asked the question.

“Wall, not pertickler,” answered the one addressed as “Elder,” with a
chuckle. ‘I'd like to see some o’ that supper I smell, though.”

“So’d I,” said the other. “See here, youngsters, when’s your folks comin’
back?”

“I don't know,” answered Johnnie, from his position in the door-way.
“Father said maybe he’d be back to-night, and maybe not.”

“I guess we're safe enough in stayin’ to tea,” laughed the man. “We've
come to borry some o’ that corn you've stowed away up loft. Now, while we’re
gettin’ it put up, you just put some o’ that meat an’ things you're a-cookin’ on to
the table, and we'll take supper with you. Be spry, ’cause we can’t stay all
night, an’ we wont have any foolin’, you mind that!”

The men went up the ladder leading to the chamber, and Johnnie and Rob
iooked at each other, as if questioning what they should do. :

“I tell you what. I wish we had Johnson here,” whispered Rob. ‘“Them’s
the very men that stole his corn, I'll bet anything.”

“I wish we could trap ’em some way,” said Johnnie, thoughtfully. “Every-
body wants’em tookup. Don’t yous’pose we could get 'em into the cellar, Rob 2”

‘How?’ asked Rob, in an awe-struck tone.

“If we take up the ladder, of course, they can’t get out if we get ’em down
there, can they?” said Johnnie.

“No,” answered Rob, “‘of course not, ’cause it’s all stoned up inside, and
banked with dirt and logs outside.”

“Well, now s’pose we take up the ladder and put it in the wood-shed.
Then we can lean the trap-door up against the wall and spread this piece of
old carpet over the hole, and put something heavy on the corners of it, so it'll
look just as 1f it was spread over a floor. You see this hole where we go down
cellar is right square in front of the door they'll have to come in through to eat.
Now the minute they step on this carpet down they’ll go, ’cause there ain't
anything to hold ’em up, and if we can get ’em down there and shut the trap-
door over ’em, we've got ‘em sure, and they can’t get away.”

“Yes,” answered Rob,.somewhat doubtfully; “but what if one of ’em
should go down and the other one didn’t?”

“But we've got to make 'em,” said Johnnie; “you can stand there by the