“Well, I do,” said Harry, who, as we have said, was an impetuous, fiery fellow, “and I believe I will join the Regulators, and help whip the rascals out of the country.  They ought, every one of them, to be thrashed for stealing and—­”

“Now, see here, Harry,” interrupted George.  “You know very well that such a plan will never succeed, and it ought not to.  You have been taught that it is wrong to take things that do not belong to you, but with the Hillers the case is different; their parents teach them to steal, and they are obliged to do it.”

“Besides,” said Frank, “this summary method of correcting them will not break up their bad habits; kindness will accomplish much more than force.”

“Kindness!” repeated Harry, sneeringly; “as if kindness could have any effect on a Hiller!”

“They can tell when they are kindly treated as well as any one else,” said George.

“And another thing,” said Ben.  Lake; “these Regulators must be a foolish set of fellows to suppose that the Hillers are going to stand still and be whipped.  I say, as an old sea-captain once said, when it was proposed to take a man-o’-war with a whale-boat, ’I guess it will be a puttering job.’”

“Well,” said James, “I shall do all I can to prevent a fight.”

“So will I,” said Frank.

“I won’t,” said Harry, who, with his arms buried almost to the elbows in his pockets, was striding backward and forward across the steps.  “I say the Hillers ought to be thrashed.”

“I’m afraid,” said William, without noticing what Harry had remarked, “that our interference will be the surest way to bring on a fight; because, after I refused to join the company, they told me that if any of us attempted to defend the Hillers, or break up the company, they would thrash us, too.”

“We don’t want to break up their company,” said Frank, with a laugh.  “We must have a talk with them, and try to show them how unreasonable they are.”

“Here they come, now,” said George, pointing up the road.

The boys looked in the direction indicated, and saw the Regulators just turning the corner of the street that led to Mr. Morgan’s house.  They came around in fine order, marching four abreast, and turned up the street that led to the post-office.  They had evidently been well drilled, for they kept step admirably.

“They look nice, don’t they?” said Ben.

“Yes,” answered George; “and if they were enlisted in a good cause, I would off with my hat and give them three cheers.”

The Regulators had almost reached the post-office, when they suddenly set up a loud shout, and, breaking ranks, started on a full run down the street.  The boys saw the reason for this, when they discovered Lee Powell coming up the road that led from the river, with a large string of fish in his hand.  He always had good luck, but he seemed to have been more fortunate than usual, for his load was about as heavy as he could conveniently carry.  He walked rapidly along, evidently very much occupied with his own thoughts, when, suddenly, two or three stones came skipping over the ground, and aroused him from his reverie.  He looked up in surprise, and discovered that his enemies were so close to him that flight was useless.