"What's wanted now?" asked the latter impatiently.

 

"I want you to give me a bill of sale of the boat," said Phil.

 

"What's the use of that?"

 

"I don't want Grit¹ to charge me with taking his boat without leave."

 

"Oh, bother! it's all right. I haven't got any paper," said Brandon, who was anxious to reach the tavern², and take his morning dram.

 

"I have," said Phil promptly³, as he drew out a small note-book and tore out a leaf, which he handed, with a pencil, to Brandon.

 

"What do you want me to write?" asked the latter.

 

Phil dictated⁴ a form, which Brandon wrote down and signed.

 

"Will that do?" he asked.

 

"Yes, that will do. Now I am all right, and the boat is mine in spite of all Grit may say."

 

[Pg 96]

 

"I have made a good bargain," said Phil, to himself, complacently⁵. "This boat is worth at least twice what I have paid for it. I will get it painted, and a new name for it, and it will pass for a new boat. Won't Grit be mad when he hears what his stepfather has done?"

 

This was, on the whole, the pleasantest reflection connected with the purchase. It was not creditable to Phil to cherish such malice⁶ against a boy, simply because he would not treat him with as much deference⁷ as he expected; but human nature is often betrayed into petty meannesses, and Phil was a very human boy, so far, at least, as such traits were concerned.

 

We now come back to Grit, who stood on the river's bank in perplexity, when he discovered that his boat had been abstracted.

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