The family prayers before breakfast every morning were serious matters to the boys from one point of view, and not as serious as they should have been from another.

Present, and kneeling at chairs about the room, they always were on these occasions, for the order was imperative, and the father's arm was strong, and above the door hung a strap of no light weight, constituting as it had once done that portion of a horse's harness known technically as the bellyband.
So the boys were always there, each at his particular chair, and Grant Harlson, who had been present at these orisons many a time, knew exactly where Alf's chair was, and the attitude he must occupy.

It was close beside an open window, and his back was always toward the opening, this particular attitude having been dictated by the father in the vain hope of making his buoyant offspring more attentive if their gaze were diverted from things outside.

And all these circumstances the dreadful savage from the South Sea islands was considering with care.

They are very regular in their habits in the country, and he knew just the moment when the morning devotions would begin--some fifteen minutes before the breakfast hour.