Give the possessives for he, she, me, you, I, we, our, it.

Possessive nouns always require an apostrophe to distinguish them from nouns which do not denote possession. Thus, boys, boy's, boys', all sound alike, and the only way to indicate the difference in use is to put the apostrophe in its correct place. Possessive pronouns are not used in any other way than to denote possession. You must never write a possessive pronoun with an apostrophe. The apostrophe is used with a pronoun in a contraction, and this is probably why people sometimes put it in the possessive pronoun. Thus, "It's time to give the bird its dinner." The contraction you're (you are) is spelled differently from the possessive pronoun your, yet pupils sometimes confuse them.

Write sentences containing it's, its, your, you're.

19

TWO FEARLESS LADS

[The novel, The Crossing, from which this incident is taken, deals with American history at about the time of the Revolution, when settlers from the east were beginning to cross the mountains and make themselves homes in what was then the wilderness of Kentucky. The incident here told, however, takes place on a plantation near Charleston, South Carolina, where David Ritchie, a Kentucky lad, is living with his cousin, Nick Temple. The Temples upheld the king of England and thus spoke of our own soldiers as "rebels."

How many slaves there were at Temple Bow I know not, but we used to see them coming home at night in droves, the overseers riding beside them with whips and guns. One day a huge Congo chief, not long from Africa, nearly killed an overseer, and escaped to the swamp.

As 5

the day fell, we heard the baying of the bloodhounds hot upon his trail. More ominous still, a sound like a rising wind came from the direction of the quarters. Into our little dining room burst Mrs. Temple herself, slamming 5 the door behind her. Mr. Mason, who was sitting with us, rose to calm her.

"The Rebels!" she cried, "the Rebels have taught them this, with their accursed notions of liberty and equality. We shall all be murdered by the blacks because 10 of the Rebels. Have the house barred, and a watch set to-night. What shall we do?"

15

"I pray you compose yourself, Madame," said the clergyman. "We can send for the militia."

"The militia!" she shrieked; "the Rebel militia!" "They are respectable men," answered Mr. Mason, "and were at Fanning Hall to-day."

“I would rather be killed by whites than blacks," said the lady. "But who is to go for the militia?"

"I will ride for them," said Mr. Mason. 20 dark, lowering night, and spitting rain. "And leave me defenseless!" she cried. stir, sir."

25

It was a

"You do not

"I will go," said Nick; "I can get through the woods to Fanning Hall —”

"And I will go with him," I said.

"Let them go," she said, and cut short Mr. Mason's objections. She drew Nick to her and kissed him. He

wriggled away, and without more ado we climbed out of the dining-room windows into the night. Running across the lawn, we left the lights of the great house twinkling behind us in the rain. We had to pass the long line of cabins at the quarters. Three overseers with lanterns 5

stood guard there; the cabins were dark, the wretches within silent and cowed. Then we felt with our feet for the path across the fields, stumbled over a stile, and took our way through the black woods. I was at home here, and Nick was not to be frightened. At intervals 10 the mournful bay of a bloodhound came to us from a distance.

"Suppose we should meet the Congo chief," said Nick, suddenly.

The idea had occurred to me.

"She needn't have been so frightened," said he, in scornful remembrance of his mother's actions.

15

We pressed on. Nick knew the path as only a boy can. Half an hour passed. It grew brighter. The rain ceased, and a new moon shot out between the leaves. I 20 seized his arm.

"What's that?" I whispered.

"A deer."

But I, cradled in woodcraft, had heard plainly a man creeping through the underbrush beside us. Fear of the 25 Congo chief and pity for the wretch tore at my heart. Suddenly there loomed in front of us, on the path, a

great, naked man. at him.

We stood with useless limbs, staring

Then from the trees over our heads came a chittering and a chattering such as I had never heard. The big man before us dropped to the earth, his head bowed, mut- 5 tering. As for me, my fright increased. The chattering stopped, and Nick stepped forward, and laid his hand on the negro's bare shoulder.

"We needn't be afraid of him now, Davy," he said. "I learned that trick from a Portuguese overseer we had 10 last year."

"You did it!" I exclaimed, my astonishment overcoming my fear.

"It's the way the monkeys chatter in the Canaries," he said. "Manuel had a tame one, and I heard it talk. 15 Once before I tried it on the chief, and he fell down. He thinks I'm a god."

It must have been a weird scene to see the great negro following two boys in the moonlight. Indeed, he came after us like a dog. At length we were in sight of 20 the lights of Fanning Hall. The militia was there. We were challenged by the guard, and caused sufficient amazement when we appeared in the hall before the master, who was a bachelor of fifty.

"Nick Temple!" he cried, "what are you doing here 25 with that big Congo for a dog? The sight of him. frightens me."