Keeping off Poncho and Turco with his whip, the Captain finished up the enemy with the noose, and saved what was uninjured of his fine coat. Its late owner measured some four feet as he lay stiff and still upon the earth, so that the Captain as he rode back up the hill-side did not feel that his time and the chase had been lost. Poncho, Turco, and Red Jacket probably had their own private doubts about the matter, for one had lost an ear, another had suffered a cruel gash in his shoulder, and all of the trio were badly disfigured by scratches, bruises, and bites, and limped along rather dolefully.
The lynx's skin adorned Captain Banner's wall for weeks after, until it went with him up to San Pedro, and was converted into a goodly number of hard dollars.
[THE JUNE ROSES.]
BY MARY D. BRINE.
Oh, the red roses, the pretty red roses,
That come with the June-time so fragrant and fair—
The sweet crimson roses that bud and that blossom
So joyously out in the soft summer air!
Under the hedges and over the hedges,
Out in the meadows, and down in the lane,
Blushing and blooming and clinging and nestling,
Grow the sweet roses again and again.
Beautiful, are they? But I have some fairer,
And, oh, so much sweeter! Look yonder, and see
The cluster of rose-buds, than none e'er grew rosier—
The freshest and daintiest of rose-buds for me.
The little white sun-bonnets—go, peep beneath them;
Mark the bright faces, where through the glad day
The breezes and sunbeams lay kisses in plenty,
And dimples and smiles chase each other in play.
Three little maidens so dainty and rosy,
Three little sun-bonnets all in a row,
Six little hands that are merrily twining
Crimson-red wreaths where the June roses grow.
Oh, how they welcome the bright smiling weather,
My little rose-buds that blossom for me!
And I tumble them out in the sunshine together,
And help them grow sweet as June roses should be.
[THAT HORNETS' NEST.]
BY CHARLEY GRAYSON.
Boys never have such splendid times anywhere as they do at their grandfathers'. How some fellows get along the way they have to without any grandfathers or grandmothers I never could make out. Just fancy having no grandfather to go and see Christmas and Thanksgiving and summer vacations! The fact is, a boy without any grandfather can't begin to have half a good time.