shining through the thicket. He leaped forward with outstretched coat, and what do you think?— he clasped in his arms a calf that had strayed from the barnyard!

It was a rude disappointment for the boy. He returned to his mother, who was already alarmed at his absence, and confessed that he had tried to kill the wolf, but had found only a calf.

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Ah, you were brave, my son," she cried; "I am quite sure that you would have ended the days of that terrible wolf had he but given you the chance."

II. LAFAYETTE AND AMERICA

The young Marquis de Lafayette was a born soldier. He loved to hear the boom of cannon and the rattle of muskets on the drill ground. When he was just nineteen years old he became a captain of an artillery company.

But he said to himself, "Kings make war for conquest. I wish that I might enlist and serve for a more worthy object."

That same year an English nobleman, the royal Duke of Gloucester, chanced to visit France. He had displeased his brother, King George III, and for that' reason had been banished from England.

Lafayette attended a dinner party given in honor of the royal guest. While they sat about the table,

eating and drinking, a guard announced that a messenger was at the door with dispatches for his royal Highness.

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Ah, news from England!" exclaimed the duke. "Show the man in," ordered the officer in command.

A courier, with dust on his garments, entered the room, and, bowing low, delivered a bundle of letters. "I beg your Highness to read without ceremony, said the commander.

The duke glanced over the papers for some time in silence. He looked grave. At last he said, "My courier has brought dispatches about our colonies in America."

"Ah," said one," are the colonies acting badly?"

Yes, they demand to vote their own taxes."

"How absurd! Why, the people in France do not vote their own taxes."

"You must know," said the duke, "that many years ago one of the kings of England gave a charter to our people which granted them the right to impose their own taxes. They now elect representatives to a parliament, where they decide how much money should be used by the government."

"What do these Americans complain of, then?" asked Lafayette.

"Taxation without representation," answered the

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duke. "They insist that, as loyal subjects, they should be allowed either to send representatives to our parliament, or have a parliament of their own. Neither privilege has been granted. Our parliament imposes taxes on them, and when they refuse to pay the taxes the king sends soldiers to force them to do So. These dispatches inforın me that the rebels have driven our troops out of a town called Boston, and that delegates from the thirteen colonies have met at another town called Philadelphia and adopted a declaration of independence." After a pause, the duke added, "I am not so sure, gentlemen, but the Americans are in the right. They are fighting as freeborn Englishmen."

"The Americans are in the right," said Lafayette to himself; and, while the other officers were making merry, he was silent. As soon as he could do so, he excused himself from the table. He hastened to his room and locked the door.

"This is, indeed, the hour I have sought," he murmured.

He sat down to think. Presently he arose and paced the floor until it was almost morning. When, at last, he threw himself on the bed to sleep, he had resolved to leave the pleasures of rank and fortune, that he might use his sword in the defense of liberty.

About this time the American Congress sent Silas

Deane to France to seek aid; and Lafayette asked Baron de Kalb to go with him to visit the envoy.

De Kalb, who could speak both English and French, told Silas Deane that the Marquis de Lafayette wished to join the American army.

"We have no money to pay our officers," said Deane.

"I will serve without money," repeated De Kalb after Lafayette.

"We have no ship to carry you or your men," said Deane.

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"I will buy a ship," was the answer.

Still the American hesitated to accept the services of such a boyish-looking officer.

But in the end Silas Deane gave Lafayette a contract to sign, in which Lafayette promised to serve in the army of the United States whenever he was wanted.

When the venerable Benjamin Franklin came to Paris, Lafayette was the first to greet him. He was enchanted with the famous philosopher, whose simple manners and plain dress befitted well the herald of a republic.

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Now, indeed, is our time of need," said Franklin. Lafayette waited to hear no more. He bought a

ship and ordered it to be equipped.

The voyage across the ocean was stormy and long.