THE BUTTERFLY HUNTERS. 95 



in his box. As he approached the house he saw Hal 

 sitting under the Elm. Hal was very much out of temper. 

 There was no end to his bad luck. He had encountered 

 an angry bull, and very narrowly escaped him. Then just 

 as he was plunging forward to throw his net over a rare 

 specimen, his foot got entangled in some briers and over 

 he went, scratching his hands and breaking the staff of 

 his net as he fell. His box flew out of his hand, the cover 



* 



rolled off, and several brownies he had already captured 

 were loosened from the pins and scattered broken among 

 the brambles. 



" I will give up beat this time, Tom," said he. " Now 

 let 's see what you have caught." 



Tom showed his handsome collection. 



"You have worked like an old naturalist," said Hal, 

 " while I, like a clumsy fellow, have done nothing but 

 tumble about among the bushes. Come along," he added, 

 "I must go and cut a new stick for my net." 



When they started for the next class-meeting, Tom took 

 his box of brownies, although the teacher had said the 

 lesson would be on the genus Vanessa. 



" Have the boys caught any Vanessas } " asked Tom. 



"Yes," replied Hal, "Ben and some of the other fellows 

 had some to-day." 



When the boys reached the school-house they found Mr. 

 Benedict was just commencing. As they went in he was 



