bridge. I tell you to quit stoning frogs, and you shall quit."

Thomas and Samuel now came forward; for they were afraid that there
would be some fighting. John and the boy stood looking at each other for
a little while; but at last, the boy seeing that John was not afraid of
him, picked up his hat and walked off, muttering that he did not care
for any body. "He had better go," said John. When his brother began to
grow calm, Thomas told him that he ought not to get so angry, for he
could have driven off the boy just as well, by speaking quietly to him.
"I have seen him once or twice before," added Thomas, "and I hear that
he is a very bad boy."

[Illustration]




CHAPTER IX.

THE HARD BATTLE.


In coming home by some cherry trees that stood near the fence, Samuel
saw a little animal, larger than a bat, fly swiftly from one branch to
another. He asked his cousins if it was not a flying squirrel. Thomas
answered, "Yes. Several nests of them are in these trees. If you could
examine one of these squirrels closely, you would see that its wings, as
they are called, are not like bird's wings."

"They seem more like a bat's wings," said Samuel.