along, and let’s go down the garden.”

The abundance of the fruit made Fred forget his pain; and, having seen the boys’ gardens, the next thing was to have a look at the little pond with the rock-work fountain, which they had made, and which played by means of a barrel of water hid in the shrubbery behind, the stream being conveyed through a piece of small piping. Here it was that Harry and Philip kept all the finny treasures they captured, and the little pond was rich in carp, roach, dace, and perch; while, amongst other valuables, Fred was informed of the existence of an eel a foot long, which had been put in two months before, and never seen since, but was no doubt fattening in the mud at the bottom.

Neddy had been seen, but round in the stable-yard there was Dick, the terrier, who could catch rats, rabbits, or anything, so Harry said; and then there was Tib, the one-eyed, one-winged raven, which hopped about with his head on one side, and barked at the visitors, and then began to dig his beak into Fred’s leg, and could only be kept at a distance by Philip poking at him with the handle of the stable broom, when he hopped off, and sat upon the dog-kennel, every now and then giving a short angry bark; but nothing like such a bark as Dick the terrier gave when he found that, in spite of all his leaping, whining, and howling, he was not to be let out that afternoon, but left straining at the end of his chain, with his eyes starting out of his head, while the boys went to see Harry’s pigeons and Philip’s rabbits.

Just then Harry went to a box in the stable, and pulled out a long, lithe, scratching and twisting thing, that looked more like a short snake than a quadruped, and offered it to Philip to hold.

“No; I won’t hold it,” said Philip; “I’m afraid of it. Perhaps Fred will.”

“No, that I won’t,” said Fred, shrinking back; “I never saw such a nasty-looking thing in my life. What do you keep it for?”

“Keep it for? you cowards,” said Harry, stuffing the animal into his pocket; “you’ll see to-morrow, when we are off rabbiting: why, it’s the best ferret for miles round.” And Harry really believed it was, for the old keeper that he bought it of had told him so, which was quite enough for Harry; but although it was such a good ferret, it had a nasty habit of stopping in a hole as long as it liked, which was sometimes very tiresome when any one was waiting outside upon a cold cutting day.

“Well, I wouldn’t touch it for sixpence,” said Fred; “but I ain’t afraid, only I don’t want to be bitten again by any of your nasty country bumpkin things, else I’d touch it fast enough.”

“I never do,” said Philip; “I hate it, it twines about so. It’s worse than an eel ever so much.”

“Hark at Mrs Phil,” said Harry, grinning. “I say, Fred, he is such a coward; worse than you are a great deal.”

“I’m not a coward,” said Fred, colouring up, and setting his teeth.

“Oh yes, you are!” said Harry, teasing him; “why, all you London boys are cowards. I wouldn’t be a Londoner for ever so much.”

And then, as if prompted by a mischievous inclination, he pulled out the ferret, and pitched it right upon Fred’s shoulders as he stood with his back half turned. Fred gave a cry of fear and anger, and darting at Harry, struck him full in the face a blow that made him stagger backwards.

In a moment Harry recovered himself, and rushed at his assailant; and while Philip, pale and breathless, looked on, the two boys pummelled away at each other like the bitterest enemies.

From the very offset the struggle was all in favour of Harry, for he was of a stronger and sturdier build than his cousin; but it was not until Harry’s nose was bleeding, and Fred’s lug cut, and they had been up and down half-a-dozen times, that Fred gave in, evidently bitterly humbled and mortified at his conquest, and suffering more from his defeat than from the pain of the blows he had received.

“Come here inside the stable, Fred,” said Philip, half in a whisper, and with the tears brimming in his eyes. “Come in here and wash your face and hands; I’ll pump some water.” Saying which the boy fetched some water in the stable pail, and, giving a reproachful look at his brother, took it into the stable where Fred was sitting upon a truss of straw, trying manfully to choke down a sob which sadly wanted to gain a vent.

“I’m so sorry, Fred,” he said, dipping his handkerchief into the pail, and bathing his cousin’s blood-besmeared countenance. “I can’t think how Harry could do so. Oh! what would Papa say if he came? Pray don’t tell him.”

“No, I shan’t tell,” said Fred, stoutly, with his face half in the pail, and the words all the time half choked by that sob which would keep rising from his overburdened heart. “But I’m not a coward, though, am I? Is my face cut much?”

Upon inspection it proved that with the exception of the damaged lip, and an ugly cut on the back of his head where he had fallen upon the paving stones in the yard, Fred was not much hurt; and when Philip had well rubbed down his clothes, and polished him off with Sam’s spoke-brush, the marks of the conflict were hardly perceptible.

Just then Harry came sneaking into the stable, looking dreadfully ashamed of himself, with his face smeared all over with blood from his bleeding nose, and carrying in his hand the body of the poor ferret: for it would frighten no more poor rats or rabbits to death, having met with its own by being trampled upon during the fray.

“Will you shake hands?” said Harry, half sulkily, half sheepishly, to Fred.

Fred gave a sort of gulp, but he held out his hand, which was heartily shaken; and directly after Harry was sitting on the truss of straw, and being sponged and cleaned by his late adversary and his brother.

“I say, you know,” said Harry, “I am sorry, but you shouldn’t have hit me; no fellow could stand that. But then I was wrong first I say, though, don’t be hard on a fellow, for I do want to be jolly with you, and make you comfortable; but I’m such a vicious beast, and always getting into a row, ain’t I, Phil?”

Phil nodded assent, but added directly after, “He won’t let any one crow over me, though, at school, and he whacked Bill Sims, the biggest chap in the first class last half, for hitting a little un.”

“But I say, though,” said Harry, wiping his face with his pocket handkerchief, “it’s all right again, ain’t it? We’ve made it up again, haven’t we?”

“Yes, to be sure,” said Fred, smiling. “But who killed the poor ferret?”

“Why, you did,” said Harry; “you put your foot on his head; but it serves me right, it was all my fault.”

“Never mind, now,” said Philip; “let’s go down the garden again till tea-time; there’s a linnet’s nest in the hedge.”

“Ah! so there is,” said Harry; “come on.”

And away they went, for the storm had blown over, and to have looked at the lads no one could have imagined that the slightest disagreement had occurred to mar the harmony of their afternoon.

As they went down the garden Harry fetched a spade from the tool-shed; and when the little patch that he owned was reached, the boy, with something very like a tear in each eye, dug a hole, and laid his ferret in it, and had just filled it in when they were summoned to tea; but they did not go until the spade was put away, and they had shaken hands all round in the tool-house, and vowed friendship for evermore.