Frank Blair set his wits about inventing some plan by which he and his comrades could possess themselves of this fruit without detection. He formed and dismissed many schemes, at length devising one that he thought could be safely carried out. Accordingly, on a certain cloudy evening an assemblage of the boys—among whom I am sorry to say were Mike Hennessy and Johnny Hart—met by appointment in a grove near the farm, and from which to the orchard a strip of woodland extended, furnishing a convenient hiding-place, to accomplish the project.
It never entered their heads that stealing this fruit was just as much a theft as to steal one of the farmer's horses. Nothing could have tempted one of their number to steal, and any confectioner in the village might have spread his most tempting stores unguarded before them without losing so much as a comfit; so sacredly would they have held his right to his own. But boys have a most perverse and wicked mode of reasoning about fruit. They cannot be made to regard it as the property of the person who has expended much money and many years of patient labor to produce it; and while these boys would have shuddered at the thought of purloining the farmer's gold watch or his silver spoons, which, perhaps, he would sooner have parted with, they did not scruple to rob him of what he had taken infinite pains to cultivate for his own benefit.
On this occasion our young marauders had furnished themselves with bags and baskets, in which to deposit their plunder; and as the night advanced, they proceeded through the woods to the orchard very cautiously, pausing every few steps to listen if any movement was to be heard. As all was quiet, they hoped the family in the farm-house were asleep. After they had gathered most of the pears and a large portion of the apples, they were startled by the low growl of a dog at some distance.
"I wonder if the old chap keeps a watch-dog?" said Frank. They listened in perfect silence for some time, hardly daring to breathe; but hearing nothing further, set about their task with renewed energy, and were all engaged in stowing away the apples, when suddenly a glare of light from a large dark-lantern was thrown full upon the faces of the whole party, at the same moment revealing the burly form of farmer Brown, and his Frenchman, leading a powerful watch-dog by a chain. At the instant the farmer turned the light upon them, he said sternly, "Any boy that attempts to stir from the spot, I will let the dog loose after him, and I warrant he'll be glad to come back in a hurry!"
The boys needed no such warning. They were taken so entirely by surprise that they could not move. The farmer made a low bow, and said with mock courtesy,
"I am very much obliged to you, young gentlemen, for your kind assistance in gathering my fruit, though you selected rather an unseasonable hour for performing the service. Your bags and baskets will repay me, however, for my broken rest. It is a pity such friendly labors should go unrewarded, and I shall take pains to inform your fathers of them to-morrow morning, that they may bestow the recompense you have so well earned."
With that he gathered together the bags and baskets of fruit, saying, "Good-night, you young dogs! The next time you undertake to steal fruit, I advise you to find out first how the orchard is guarded, and whether there's a dog on the premises stronger and swifter of foot than yourselves!" and departed.
A more chap-fallen crew than he left behind him cannot well be imagined! They started for the village by the most direct route, as there was no further need of concealment, and for a long time the silence of their rapid homeward march was unbroken. At length the wrath of Frank Blair found utterance.
"The mean old hunks! who would have thought of his keeping that sneaking Frenchman on guard that way? If it hadn't been for the dog, I would have shown fight, and they shouldn't have carried off the prize without some broken noses; but I knew it was no use to pitch into a fight with that fierce dog against us! He's an old milksop to depend on a dog for help."
The boys made no reply, and Frank saw he had gained no renown by this adventure. He felt heartily ashamed of the whole affair, while an innate sense of justice assured him and his companions that the farmer had a right to defend his own property by any means within his reach.