had got a safe distance from the man.

"It was so," replied Alfred; "and it was lucky for you that he did n't
catch you."

"Why, what do you suppose he would have done?"

"He would have taken you up for stealing, I guess, for he looked mad
enough to do anything," said Alfred.

"Stealing? Pooh, a man must be a fool to make such a fuss about a
cent's-worth of nuts," replied Joseph.

"I knew a boy," said Oscar, "who stole a cake of maple sugar from one
of these stands, and his father had to pay two or three dollars to get
him out of the scrape."

"I would n't have done it," said Joseph; "I 'd have gone to jail
first--that 's just my pluck."

"But the boy did n't do it--it was his father that paid the money,"
added Oscar.

"O, then, I suppose the boy was n't to blame," said Joseph, with all
seriousness; as though he really believed that somebody was to blame,
not for stealing the maple sugar, but for satisfying the man who had
been injured by the theft.

They were now upon one of the bridges which cross Charles River, and
connect the cities of Boston and Charlestown. After passing half-way