"I don't know. Glue--I guess," replied Bob, turning pale.

"Glue, eh? Seems to be about as sticky as that on the minister's
chair."

At the mention of glue several persons about Bob and the captain
looked curiously at them. Mrs. Henderson, who was just then
passing, carrying a big platter of baked beans, stopped to listen to
what the seaman was saying.

"Yes, it's glue," remarked the mariner. "Just like that on the
chair. Bob," he asked suddenly, "did you put that glue there?"

Now, with all his faults, Bob would never tell a lie. He regarded
that as cowardly, and he was always willing to take whatever
punishment was coming to him for his "jokes."

"Yes, captain," he said in a low voice. "I did it."

"Ha! I thought so."

"Bob Henderson!" exclaimed his mother, her face flushing red with
mortification. "Did you play that horrid joke on the minister?"

"Yes, but I didn't mean to."

"You didn't mean to?"

"No. I thought some one else was going to sit on that chair."