"But what's the funnel for?" asked the schoolmaster as he drew the ladder from the cistern and leaned it against the eaves.
"To pour the water into the pipe," answered Johnny, in a tone that showed that he thought he had, for once, caught the school-master napping.
"Ah, indeed! so you always put the funnel in when it rains?"
Johnny blushed, and did not attempt any answer.
"Now mount the ladder, and I'll hand you the water," said the school-master.
Johnny ran up the ladder, and, when the school-master handed him the pails, he said nothing about the funnel, but boldly dashed the water upon the roof. When the flood began pouring into the cave-trough and gurgling down the pipe, Johnny fixed his eyes upon the hole through which his ball had taken its unlucky leap, and stared with anxious expectation. The gurgle in the pipe crept steadily upward, the tone all the while growing higher and clearer, till whish! came a dash of water over the trough, nearly drenching the schoolmaster while the ball bounded airily upon the eaves for an instant, before Johnny caught it and cried out:
"Here she is!"
"Put things in shape, Johnny; I must hurry to the school-house," said the school-master, going.
