THE BUTTERFLY HUNTERS. 1 33 



Ben was bright and good-natured. The walk over the 

 mountain to the other end of the gorge was rather hard 

 climbing, and several of the ladies grew discouraged and 

 preferred remaining on the top of the cliff to going on 

 any farther. It was a dizzy place, for on one side the 

 precipice was many hundred feet high, and so perpendicu- 

 lar that a plumb-line might swing clear almost to the 

 bottom. Some of the more daring ones crept to the edge 

 and looked over at the torrent rushing at the bottom of 

 the gorge far below. The boys all had their nets, but 

 used them to little purpose, as here among the rocks and 

 briers there was no opportunity to give chase to the shy 

 insects. 



"There," said Frank, to a gentleman who had taken a 

 great fancy to him, and talked with him all the way over 

 the mountain, — " there, I lost that fellow ! " 



" What do you want it for, my boy ? " asked the gentle- 

 man. 



" O, we boys are studying Lepidoptera," said Frank, 

 twisting his little tongue slowly and with great effort round 

 the big word, "and we came on this pedestrian tour 

 (Frank was bound to do credit to his teaching) on pur- 

 pose to get new specimens." 



He then told all about their collection, and promised to 

 show it to the gentleman when they returned to the hotel. 

 Just then another butterfly darted past them, for which 

 Frank threw his net but missed a2"ain. 



