"I need you very much this morning."

"But, papa, others will be out before me, and I may lose my chance;"
and he was half ready to cry.

"Yes," I said; "there is a risk of that. Well, YOU shall decide in
this case," I added, after a moment, seeing a chance to do a little
character-building. "It is rarely best to put pleasure before
business or prudence. If you go out into the snow with those boots,
you will spoil them, and very probably take a severe cold. Yet you
may go if you will. If you help me we can be back by ten o'clock,
and I will get you a pair of rubber boots as we return."

"Will there be any chance after ten o'clock?" he asked, quickly.

"Well," said John junior, in his matter-of-fact way, "that depends.
As your pa says, there's a risk."

The temptation was too strong for the moment. "O dear!" exclaimed
Merton, "I may never have so good a chance again. The snow will soon
melt, and there won't be any more till next winter. I'll tie my
trousers down about my boots, and I'll help all the rest of the day
after I get back."

"Very well," I said quietly: and he began eating his breakfast--the
abundant remains of our last night's lunch--very rapidly, while John
junior started off to get his gun.

I saw that Merton was ill at ease, but I made a sign to his mother