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An hour’s diligent search ended in the discovery of a nest, in which were two young ones, with the mother bird feeding them. This sight softened Dick’s heart for a moment, but the strong desire, instantly awakened, to possess the prize for which he had been seeking, caused him to drive off the old bird, who commenced fluttering about the spot, uttering cries and showing signs of deep distress. These, although he could not help feeling them, did not cause him to desist. In a few moments he had one of the birds safely in his possession, with which he bounded off in great delight.

“Well, Dick, have you got my bird?” said Mr. Acres, as Dick came puffing and blowing into his presence.

“Yes, indeed!” returned Dick with a broad smile of pleasure, presenting the bird he had abstracted from its warm, soft nest.

“You are a fine smart boy, Dick, and will make a man one of these days!” said Mr. Acres, patting Dick on the head encouragingly. Then, taking the bird, he toyed with it for a while fondly–fed it, and finally placed it in a cage. The promised half-dollar, which was promptly paid to the lad, made him feel rich. As he was about leaving the house of Mr. Acres, the latter called to him:

“Look here, Dick, my fine fellow, don’t you want a dog? Here’s Rover, the very chap for you.”

“May I have Rover?” eagerly asked Dick, his eyes glistening with delight.

“Yes. I’ve more dogs now than I want.”

“He fights well!” ejaculated Dick, surveying the dog proudly. As he did so, the animal, seeing himself noticed, walked up to Dick, and rubbed himself against the lad familiarly.

“He’ll whip any dog in the neighbourhood,” said Mr. Acres.

“And you’ll give him to me?”

“Oh, yes. I’ve got too many dogs now.”

“Here, Rover! Here, Rover! Here! Here! Here!” cried Dick in an animated tone, starting off. The dog followed quickly, and in a few moments both were out of sight.

“A smart chap that,” remarked Mr. Acres to himself, as Dick bounded away. “He’ll make something before he dies, I’ll warrant.”

The possession of the dog and half-dollar, especially the latter, were strongly objected to by Dick’s mother.

“How could you, my son, think of robbing a poor bird of her little young ones?” said she seriously and reprovingly.

“But, mother, Mr. Acres wanted me to get him a bird, and of course I could not say ‘no.’ What would he have thought of me?”

“You never should do wrong for any one.”

“But if it had been so very wrong, Mr. Acres never would have asked me to do it, I know,” urged Dick.

Mrs. Lawson would have compelled her son to take back the money he had received, if almost any other person in the village but Mr. Acres had been concerned. But he was well off, and influential; and, moreover, was her landlord; and, though she was behindhand with her rent, he never took the trouble to ask for it. The dog, too, would have been sent back if any one but Mr. Acres had given it to her son. As it was, she contented herself with merely reprimanding Dick for robbing the bird’s nest, and enjoining on him not to be guilty of so cruel an act again.

About three days after this event, Dick, accompanied by Rover–now his inseparable companion–met his young friend, Henry Jones, who had with him his father’s large house-dog, Bose.

“Whose dog is that?” asked Henry.

“He’s mine,” replied Dick.

“Yours!”

“Be sure he is.”

“Why that is Mr. Acres’s Rover.”

“Not now he isn’t. Mr. Acres gave him to me.”

“What did he give him to you for?”

“For getting him a young mocking-bird.”

“I thought he promised you half-a-dollar?”

“So he did; and what is more, gave it to me, and Rover into the bargain.”

“Well, I wouldn’t have robbed a bird’s nest for a dozen Rovers,” said Henry Jones, warmly.

“Wouldn’t you, indeed?” returned Dick, with a sneer.

“No, I would not. It’s wicked.”