io Hopkins's Pond. 



when he went to that log in the morning. 

 The boy's interest and labor were well re- 

 warded, and he caught more muskrats 

 than any of the other boys who went to 

 their traps when it was convenient and 

 who did not set them in very good places 

 anyway. It was a matter of so much 

 pride to the boy to be successful that 

 he told all of the other boys about his 

 luck, and expected that they would pat 

 him on the back and sing his praises as a 

 famous hunter ; but, ah ! how much more 

 had he learned about muskrats than about 

 human nature. The other boys simply 

 would not believe at first that he had such 

 luck as he described, but he made them 

 believe it by taking them out to the barn 

 and showing them the skins carefully 

 stretched upon shingles with flat tails all 

 in a row. Did that end the difficulty ? 

 No indeed ! The other boys straightway 

 got ugly about it and said that if he had 

 such luck as that he must have taken the 

 muskrats out of their traps, and they told 

 Nellie and Susie what they thought about 

 it. Nellie and Susie responded with that 



