"Why--I don't know," said Phonny. "But I certainly shall feed him, I know I shall." "Then there will be no harm in agreeing to forfeit him if you fail," rejoined Wallace; "for if you certainly do feed him, then your agreement to forfeit him will be a dead letter." "But I might accidentally omit to feed him some one day," said Phonny. "I might be sick, or I might be gone away, and I might ask Stuyvesant to feed him, and he forget it, and then I should lose my squirrel entirely." "No," said Wallace, "you are not to forfeit him except for _neglect_. It must be a real and inexcusable neglect on your part, Beechnut being judge." "Well," said Phonny, "I agree to it." "And I will give you three warnings," said Wallace, "both for making trouble and disturbance with your squirrel, and for neglecting to feed him. After the third warning, he is forfeited, and I am to do what I please with him." "Well," said Phonny, "I agree to it." A short time after this conversation, the road in which Wallace and Phonny were riding emerged from the wood, and there was opened before them the prospect of a wide and beautiful valley. A short distance before them down the valley, there was a stream with a mill. By the side of the mill, under some large spreading elms, was a red house, which Phonny said was the one where Espy lived. They rode on rapidly, intending to go to the house and inquire for Espy. Just before reaching the place, however, Phonny's attention was arrested by his seeing some boys fishing on the bank of the stream, just below the mill. It was at a place where the road lay along the bank of the stream, at a little distance from it. The stream was very broad at this place, and the water quite deep and clear. The ground was smooth and green between the road and the water, and there were large trees on the bank overshadowing the shore, so that it was a very pleasant place.[B] [Footnote B: See Frontispiece.] There were two boys standing upon the bank in one place fishing. Two other boys were near the water at a little distance, trying to make a dog jump in, by throwing in sticks and stones. Just as Wallace and Phonny came along, one of the boys who was fishing, called out in a loud and authoritative tone to one of those who were trying to make the dog jump in, saying, "Hey-e-e, there! Oliver, don't throw sticks into the water; you scare away all the fish." "Ned!" said Phonny, calling out to the boy who was fishing. The boy looked round, without, however, moving his fishing-pole. "Is Espy down there anywhere?" said Phonny. Here the boy turned his head again toward the water, without directly answering Phonny, though he called out at the same time in an audible voice, "Espy!" In answer apparently to his call, a boy came suddenly out of a little thicket which was near the water, just below where Ned was fishing, and asked Ned what he wanted. "There's a fellow out here in the road," said Ned, "calling for you."