"Hurrah! hurrah! hurrah!" shouted his comrades, and all
scampered off home and to bed, to dream of to-morrow's sport.

In the morning the masons came to begin their work. But what was
their surprise to find the stones all gone! The master mason,
looking carefully on the ground, saw the tracks of many little
feet, some with shoes and some barefoot. Following these to the
water side, he soon found what had become of the missing building
stones.

"Ah! I see what the mischief is," said he; "those little rascals
who were here yesterday have stolen the stones to build a wharf
with. And I must say that they understand their business well."

He was so angry that he at once went to make a complaint before
the magistrate; and his Honor wrote an order to "take the bodies
of Benjamin Franklin, and other evil-disposed persons," who had
stolen a heap of stones.

If the owner of the stolen property had not been more merciful
than the master mason, it might have gone hard with our friend
Benjamin and his comrades. But, luckily for them, the gentleman
had a respect for Ben's father, and, moreover, was pleased with
the spirit of the whole affair. He therefore let the culprits off
easily.

But the poor boys had to go through another trial, and receive
sentence, and suffer punishment, too, from their own fathers.
Many a rod was worn to the stump on that unlucky night. As for