40
A HAPPY PARTY.

eee eee

IVE imps of mischief,” somebody called them once,
but that was “rather stretching it,’ as Arthur
Mayhew, one of the five, indignantly remarked.
There was no denying, however, that they were
about as full of mischief as four healthy boys
and a tricky terrier could very well be. Still, in
justice to them all it must be admitted that
their frolics rarely, if ever, took a vicious turn, and they never
wilfully hurt other people’s feelings, which is more than can
be said for some young harum-scarums of my acquaintance !

They lived, these five, in a little village on the south
coast; and the one source of pleasure of which they never
tired was the sea. Arthur Mayhew’s father was a boatman,
and a boat was at the disposal of the boys at any time.
They knew quite well how to manage the small craft; and,
as they could all swim like ducks, they were as safe on the
water as on land. In their opinion there was no way of
spending a fine, warm Saturday afternoon half so enjoyable
as to get into their boat, push it a little way from the shore,
strip, and plunge into the cool water.

Look at them in our picture. Aren’t they happy? Arthur
is sitting in the boat to mind the clothes; but he is so taken
up with the frolics of his friends that he has not noticed
until too late that mischievous Gyp has jumped overboard
with a hat, and he is swimming away with a look on his
face that seems to say he means to take that hat as far as
France, anyhow! He probably won’t get there, for Rob
Jackson is after him; but he and the boys will have their
fun all the same, so what does it matter?