AT THE FARM 



107 



to set traps for you, I should catch you every time 

 as long as I used this ancient bait. 



There was a merry little pair of rogues called 

 Billy and Betty, only son and daughter of John and 

 Mrs., who continued to find their way at times into 

 that sacred chamber as long as there were any apples 

 left. The door was kept locked, as a rule, but 

 sometimes JNlrs., who was a busy woman, was called 

 away in a hurry, and forgot to take the key out of 

 the lock, and then steps w^ould be heard along the 

 passage, the key would be stealthily turned, and my 

 pair of friends w^ould make a bolt for the shelves, 

 seize what their hands and pockets could hold, and 

 beat a hasty retreat, to devour their booty in some 

 secret hiding-place. iNly own tactics were much 

 the same, though the matter of the key did not 

 concern me, as I had a private entrance of my own. 

 I could always climb into the bottom shelf, where 

 the smaller apples were scattered ; there I would 

 select a juicy-looking specimen and drop him over 

 the edge of the shelf, jumping down after him 

 myself, to fix my teeth securely in his side and carry 

 him off* to my den in the wall. 



I suppose that we were rank thieves, all three of 

 us, because we took what did not belong to us ; but 

 personally I consider that all things belong to me. 



