CHAPTER X.
THE VISIT TO MARY ERSKINE'S.
Malleville and Phonny arrived at Mary Erskine's about an hour after Beechnut left them.

They met with no special adventures by the way, except that when they reached the great pine-tree, Phonny proposed to climb up, for the purpose of examining a small bunch which he saw upon one of the branches, which he thought was a bird's nest.

It was the same pine-tree that marked the place at which a road branched off into the woods, where Mary Bell had lost her way, several years before.
Malleville was very unwilling to have Phonny climb up upon such a high tree, but Phonny himself was very desirous to make the attempt.

There was a log fence at the foot of the tree, and the distance was not very great from the uppermost log of the fence, to the lowermost branch of the tree.

So Phonny thought that he could get up without any difficulty.
Malleville was afraid to have him try, and she said that if he did, he would be acting just as foolish as the boy that Beechnut had told them about, who nipped his own nose; and that she should not stop to see him do any such foolishness.