But Daniel pitied the little animal. “No, don’t hurt him,” he said. “Let us carry him over the hills, far into the woods, and let him go.”
Ezekiel，however,would not agree to this. His heart was not so tender as his little brother’s. He was bent on killing the woodchuck, and laughed at the thought of letting it go.
“Let us ask father about it,” said Daniel.
“All right,” said Ezekiel， “I know what the judge will decide.”
They carried the trap, with the woodchuck in it, to their father, and asked what they should do.
“Well, boys,” said Mr. Webster, “we will settle the question in this way. We will hold a court right here. I will be the judge, and you shall be the lawyers. You shall each plead your case, for or against the prisoner, and I will decide what his punishment shall be.”
Ezekiel, as the prosecutor, made the first speech. He told about the mischief that had been done. He showed that all woodchucks are bad and cannot be trusted. He spoke of the time and labor that had been spent in trying to catch the thief, and declared that if they should now set him free he would be a worse thief than before.
“A woodchuck’s skin,” he said, “may perhaps be sold for ten cents. Small as that sum is, it will go a little way toward paying for the cabbage he has eaten. But, if we set him free, how shall we ever recover even a penny of what we have lost? Clearly, he is of more value dead than alive, and therefore he ought to be put out of the way at once.”
Ezekiel’s speech was a good one, and it pleased the judg