“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 over, they stopped a few minutes to gaze at the scene spread out around them.  Oscar and Alfred pointed out to the strangers the various objects of interest, and they then continued their walk without interruption until they reached the Monument grounds, on Bunker Hill.  After examining the noble granite shaft which commemorates the first great battle of the American Revolution, they threw themselves down upon the grass, to contemplate at their leisure the fine panorama which this hill affords on a clear day.

After lingering half an hour around the Monument, they turned their steps towards the Navy-Yard.  On reaching it, they found a soldier slowly pacing back and forth, in front of the gate-way; but he made no objection to their entering.  Joseph and Stephen, who had never before visited an establishment of this kind, were first struck by the extent of the yard, and the air of order and neatness which seemed everywhere to prevail.  They gazed with curiosity upon the long rows of iron cannons interspersed with pyramids of cannon-balls, piled up in exact order, which were spread out upon the parks.  Then their wonder was excited by the dry-dock, with its smooth granite walls, its massive gates, and its capacious area, sufficient to float the largest frigate.  The lofty ship-houses in which vessels are constructed, and the long stone rope-walk, with its curious machinery, also attracted their attention.  So interested were they in these things, that nearly two hours elapsed before they started for home.

On their way back to the hotel, Joseph entertained Alfred and Oscar with some incidents of his life.  His mother, he said, died when he was quite young.  His father went to sea as the captain of a ship, two years before, and had never been heard from.  He had rich relatives, who wanted him to go to West Point and be a cadet, but he did not like to study, and had persuaded them to let him and Stephen go and live with their uncle at the west, who had no boys of his own, and wanted somebody to help him to manage his immense farm.  Such, in brief, was Joseph’s story.

On their return route, the boys were careful to avoid passing by the cellar from which Joseph had stolen the nuts.  With all his pluck and bravery, he did not care about meeting the man whose displeasure he had excited a few hours before.