Oliver Optic

Outward Bound Oliver Optic

Publisher Marketing: "There are no such peaches this side of New Jersey; and you can't get them, for love or money, at the stores. All we have to do is, to fill our pockets, and keep our mouths closed-till the peaches are ripe enough to eat," said Robert Shuffles, the older and the larger of two boys, who had just climbed over the high fence that surrounded the fine garden of Mr. Lowington. "What will Baird say if he finds it out?" replied Isaac Monroe, his companion. "Baird," the gentleman thus irreverently alluded to, was the principal of the Brockway Academy, of which Shuffles and Monroe were pupils in the boarding department. "What will he say when he finds out that the King of the Tonga Islands picks his teeth with a pitch fork?" added Shuffles, contemptuously. "I don't intend that he shall find it out? and he won't, unless you tell him." "Of course, I shall not tell him." "Come along, then? it is nearly dark, and no one will see us." Shuffles led the way down the gravelled walk, till he came to a brook, on the bank of which stood the peach tree whose rich fruit had tempted the young gentlemen to invade the territory of Mr. Lowington with intent to plunder. "There they are," said the chief of the young marauders, as he paused behind a clump of quince bushes, and pointed at the coveted fruit. "There's no discount on them, and they are worth coming after."