200 The Bold Bad Bicycle.

leaned sadly against the wall, when suddenly he
caught sight of a notice nailed against the door,
and looking at it more closely read: ‘ Stolen
from this shop,” and then followed a description
of kim. He laughed so heartily at this, that he
almost fell down. Then he waited and waited,
till at last the big clock at the corner struck
“« five,’ when he crept silently round in the half
darkness and hid himself in the side doorway till
he heard the man unlocking the door. Then,
when he went for his broom, back crept the
Bicycle and took his old place among the others,
who welcomed him with shouts of glee. He told
them of his adventures, and oh, how they laughed.

“The proprietor was very angry when he found
that you were gone,” they said. ‘He thought,
of course, someone must have stolen you, and oh,
how surprised he will be when he comes in this
morning, and finds you here.”

And indeed he was. He came in soon after
with a friend, and the bicycles heard him say:

“Ves, ’t was a very bold thing to do. The
thief must have walked in through the door and