"That is coming to the point exactly," said his father. "It all depends upon that,-whether Henry had a right to reclaim his dipper at that time, after only lending it to Rollo. And that, you see, is another bailment case. Henry bailed Rollo the dipper. This shows the truth of what I said before, that a great many of the disputes among boys arise from cases of bailment. This seems to be a sort of doubled and twisted case. And it all hinges on the question whether Henry or Rollo had the right to the dipper at the time when Henry took it. For, as I have already explained, if Henry had a right to it, then his keeping Rollo's fish in it was for Rollo's advantage, and Rollo ought to bear the loss. But if Rollo had a right to keep the dipper longer, then he bailed the fish to him, in order to be able to let him have the dipper, for he could not let him have the one without the other; and so it was for Henry's benefit; and, as the loss was not from inevitable accident, Henry ought to bear it."
"Well, sir, and now please to tell us," said Mary, "who had the right to the dipper."
"Rollo," said her father.
"Rollo!" exclaimed several voices.
"Yes," replied Rollo's father. "There is a principle in the law of bailment which I did not explain to you the other day. It is this: Whenever a person bails a thing to another person, for a particular purpose, and receives a compensation for it, the bailor has no right to take it back again from the bailee, until a fair opportunity has been allowed to accomplish that purpose. For instance, if I go and hire a horse of a man to make a journey, I have a right to keep the horse until the journey is ended. If the owner of the horse meets me on the road, fifty miles from home, it is not reasonable, you see, that he should have the right to take the horse away from me there, on the ground that it is his horse, and that he has a right to him wherever he finds him. So, if one boy lends another his knife to make a whistle with, he ought not to take it away again, when the boy has got his whistle half done, and so make him lose all his labor."
"Why, it seems to me he ought to give it back to him," said Rollo, "if it is his knife, whenever he wants it."
"Yes," replied his father, "he ought to give it up, no doubt, if the owner claims it; and yet perhaps the owner might do wrong in claiming it. Though I am not certain, after all, how it is in case a thing is lent gratuitously."
"What is gratuitously?" said Rollo.
"Why, for nothing; without any pay. Perhaps the bailor has a right to claim his property again, at any time, if it is bailed gratuitously, though I am not certain. I will ask some lawyer when I have an opportunity. But when a thing is let for pay, or bailed on contract in any way, I am sure the bailor ought to leave it in the hands of the bailee, until the purpose is accomplished; or, at least, until there has been a fair opportunity to accomplish it.
"Wherefore I decide that, as Henry intended to let Rollo have the dipper for the whole expedition, and as he took Rollo's basket, and Rollo agreed to let him have some drink, as conditions, therefore, he ought not to have reclaimed the dipper. Since he did reclaim it, Rollo did perfectly right to give it up, fish and all; and as he did so, it was a bailment for the benefit of the bailee, that is, Henry. And of course it was at his risk, and, in strict justice, Rollo has a right to claim compensation for the loss of his fish. But then I should hope he won't insist upon it."
"Well, sir," said Rollo, "I don't care much about it now."
"You see, Henry," continued Rollo's father, "I haven't been talking about this all this time on account of the value of the fish, but to have you understand some of the principles you ought to regard, when any other's property is in your possession. So, now, you may all go."
"Well, uncle," said James, as the children rose from their seats, "haven't you got some great box that we can have for our cabinet?"
"Your cabinet?" asked his uncle.
"Yes, sir, we want to make a museum."
"Why, Rollo has got a cabinet. Jonas made him one."
"Yes, sir; but he wants his for himself, and we want one for our society."
"You may have mine, now," said Rollo; "I am not going to have one alone. I have concluded to let you have mine. Come."
So Rollo moved on, as if he wished to go. In fact, he had an instinctive feeling that his conduct in respect to the cabinet and the society would not bear examination, and he wanted to go.
But his father, afraid that Rollo had been doing some injustice to his playmates, stopped the children and inquired into the case. The children told him that they had formed a society, and had elected Jonas cabinet keeper; and that Rollo had afterwards said he meant to be cabinet keeper himself, and so would not let the society have his cabinet to keep their curiosities in.
"And did he first agree that the society might have it?"
"No, sir," said Rollo, decidedly; "I did not agree to any thing about it." He thought that this would exonerate him from all blame.
"Was not there a tacit agreement?" asked his father.
"A tacit agreement!" repeated Rollo. He did not know what a tacit agreement was.
"Yes," said his father, "tacit means silent; a tacit or implied agreement is one which is made without being formally expressed in words. If it is only understood by both parties, it is just as binding as if it were fully expressed. For instance, if I go into a bookstore, and ask the bookseller to put me up certain books, and take them and carry them home, and then he charges them to me in his books, I must pay for them: for, though I did not say any thing about paying for them, yet my actions constituted an implied agreement to pay. By going in and getting them, under those circumstances, I, in fact, tacitly promise that I will pay for them when the bookseller sends in his bill. A very large portion of the agreements made among men are tacit agreements."
The children all listened very attentively, and they understood very well what Rollo's father was saying. Rollo was considering whether there had been a tacit agreement that the society should have the cabinet; but he did not speak.
"Now, Rollo, did you consent to the formation of the society?"
"Yes, sir," said Henry, eagerly; "he asked us all to form the society."
"And was it the understanding that the museum was to be kept in the cabinet that Jonas made?"
"Yes, sir," said Rollo, rather faintly.
"Then, it seems to me that there was a tacit agreement on your part, that if the children would form the society and help you make the collection, you would submit to whatever arrangements they might make about the officers and the charge of the cabinet. You, in fact, bailed the cabinet to the society."
"Yes, sir," said the children.
"And as the bailment was for your advantage, as well as theirs, you ought not to have taken possession of the property again, until a fair opportunity had been afforded to accomplish the purpose of the bailment, that is, the collection of a cabinet by the society. So, you see, you fell into the same fault in respect to the society, that Henry did in regard to you in the case of the dipper."
The children were silent; but they all perceived the justice of what Rollo's father had said.
"And the society have a claim upon you, Rollo, for compensation for the disappointment and trouble you have caused them by taking away the cabinet."
Rollo looked rather serious.
"O, we don't care about it," said Lucy.
"Well," said his father, "if the society release their claim upon you, as you did yours upon Henry, very well. I hope, at all events, you will all go on pleasantly after this."
The children then went out, and Rollo, followed by the other boys, went to find Jonas, to tell him he might be cabinet keeper. They tried to tell Jonas the whole story, and about Rollo's giving the fish to Henry, and its being a bailment. But they could not make Jonas understand it very well. He said he did not know any thing about bailment, except bailing out boats-he had never heard of bailing fishes.