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diff --git a/old/12260.txt b/old/12260.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c0070cb --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12260.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4321 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Jonas on a Farm in Winter, by Jacob Abbott + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Jonas on a Farm in Winter + +Author: Jacob Abbott + +Release Date: May 4, 2004 [eBook #12260] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: US-ASCII + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JONAS ON A FARM IN WINTER*** + + +E-text prepared by Internet Archive Children's Library; University of +Florida; and Thaadd, Stan Goodman, and the Project Gutenberg Online +Distributed Proofreading Team + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 12260-h.htm or 12260-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/2/6/12260/12260-h/12260-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/2/6/12260/12260-h.zip) + + Images of the original pages are available through the Florida + Board of Education, Division of Colleges and Universities, + PALMM Project, 2001. (Preservation and Access for American and + British Children's Literature, 1850-1869.) See + http://fulltext10.fcla.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c= + juv&idno=UF00001875&format=jpg + or + http://fulltext10.fcla.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c= + juv&idno=UF00001875&format=pdf + + + + + +JONAS ON A FARM IN WINTER. + +BY JACOB ABBOTT + +Author of the Rollo Books + +MDCCCLI. + + + + + + + +[Illustration: Jonas stopping at the house of Mr. Edwards.] + + + + + +PREFACE. + + +This little work, with its companion, _Jonas On A Farm In Summer_, +is intended as the continuation of a series, the first two volumes +of which, _Jonas's Stories_ and _Jonas A Judge_, have already been +published. They are all designed, not merely to interest and amuse +the juvenile reader, but to give him instruction, by exemplifying +the principles of honest integrity, and plain practical good sense, +in their application to the ordinary circumstances of childhood. + + + +CONTENTS. + + +CHAPTER I. +Morning + +CHAPTER II. +Commanding And Obeying + +CHAPTER III. +Franco + +CHAPTER IV. +Dog Lost + +CHAPTER V. +Signs Of A Storm + +CHAPTER VI. +The Rescue + +CHAPTER VII. +A Fire + +CHAPTER VIII. +The Carding-Mill + +CHAPTER IX. +Difficulty + +CHAPTER X. +A Surprise + +CHAPTER XI. +The Snow Fort, Or Good For Evil + + + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +MORNING + +Early one winter morning, while Jonas was living upon the farm, in the +employment of Oliver's father, he came groping down, just before +daylight, into the great room. + +The great room was, as its name indicated, quite large, occupying a +considerable portion of the lower floor of the farmer's house. There was +a very spacious fireplace in one side, with a settle, which was a long +seat, with a very high back, near it. The room was used both for kitchen +and parlor, and there was a great variety of furniture in different +parts of it. There were chairs and tables, a bookcase with a desk below, +a loom in one corner by a window, and a spinning-wheel near it. Then, +there were a great many doors. One led out into the back yard, one up +stairs, one into a back room,--which was used for coarse work, and which +was generally called the kitchen,--and one into a large store closet +adjoining the great room. + +Jonas groped his way down stairs; but as soon as he opened the great +room door, he found the room filled with a flickering light, which came +from the fireplace. There was a log there, which had been buried in the +ashes the night before. It had burned slowly, through the night, and the +fire had broken out at one end, which now glowed like a furnace, and +illuminated the whole room with a faint red light. + +Jonas went up towards the fire. The hearth was very large, and formed of +great, flat stones. On one side of it was a large heap of wood, which +Jonas had prepared the night before, to be ready for his fire. On the +other side was a black cat asleep, with her chin upon her paws. When the +cat heard Jonas coming, she rose up, stretched out her fore paws, and +then began to purr, rubbing her cheeks against the bottom of the settle. + +"Good morning, Darco," said Jonas. "It is time to get up." + +The cat's name was Darco. + +Jonas took a pair of heavy iron tongs, which stood by the side of the +fire, and pulled forward the log. He found that it had burned through, +and by three or four strokes with the tongs, he broke it up into large +fragments of coal, of a dark-reddish color. The air being thus admitted, +they soon began to brighten and crackle, until, in a few minutes, there +was before him a large heap of glowing and burning coals. He put a log +on behind, then placed the andirons up to the log, and a great forestick +upon the andirons. He placed the forestick so far out as to leave a +considerable space between it and the backlog, and then he put the coals +up into this space,--having first put in a slender stick, resting upon +the andirons, to keep the coals from falling through. He then placed on +a great deal more wood, and he soon had a roaring fire, which crackled +loud, and blazed up into the chimney. + +"Now for my lantern," said Jonas. + +So saying, he took down a lantern, which hung by the side of the fire. +The lantern was made of tin, with holes punched through it on all sides, +so as to allow the light to shine through; and yet the holes were not +large enough to admit the wind, to blow out the light. + +Jonas opened the lantern, and took out a short candle from the socket +within. Just as he was lighting it, the door opened, and Amos came in. + +"Ah, Jonas," said he, "you are before me, as usual." + +"Why, the youngest hand makes the fire, of course," said Jonas. + +"Then it ought to be Oliver," said Amos,--"or else Josey." + +"There! I promised to wake Oliver up," said Jonas. + +"O, he's awake; and he and Josey are coming down. They have found out +that there is snow on the ground." + +"Is there much snow?" asked Jonas. + +"I don't know," said Amos; "the ground seems pretty well covered. If +there is enough to make sledding, you are going after wood to-day." + +"And what are you going to do?" said Jonas. + +"I am going up among the pines to get out the barn frame, I believe." + +Here a door opened, and Oliver came in, followed by Josey shivering +with the cold, and in great haste to get to the fire. + +"Didn't your father say," said Amos to Oliver, "that he was going with +me to-day, to get out the timber for the barn frame?" + +"Yes," said Oliver, "he is going to build a great barn next summer. But +I'm going up into the woods with Jonas, to haul wood. There's plenty of +snow." + +"I'd go too," said Josey, "if it wasn't so cold." + +"It won't be cold in the woods," said Jonas. "There's no wind in the +woods." + +While they had been talking thus, Jonas had got his lantern ready, and +had gone to the door, and stood there a minute, ready to go out. + +"Jonas," said Josey, "are you going out into the barn?" + +"Yes," said Jonas. + +"Wait a minute, then, for me, just till I put on my other boot." + +Jonas waited a minute, according to Josey's request, and then they all +went out together. + +They found the snow pretty deep, all over the yard, but they waded +through it to the barn. They had to go through a gate, which led them +into the barn-yard. From the barn-yard they entered the barn itself, by +a small door near one corner. + +There were two great doors in the middle of the barn, made so large +that, when they were opened, there was space enough for a large load of +hay to go in. Opposite these doors there was a space floored over with +plank, pretty wide, and extending through the barn to the back side. +This was called the barn floor. On one side was a place divided off for +stables for the horses, and on the other side was the _tie-up_, a place +for the oxen and cows. There was also the bay, and the lofts for hay and +grain; and at the end of the tie-up there was a door leading into a +calf-pen, and thence, by a passage behind the calf-pen, to a work-shop +and shed. The small door where the boys came in, led to a long and +narrow passage, between the tie-up and the bay. + +They walked along, Jonas going before with his lantern in his hand. The +cattle which had lain down, began to get up, and the horses neighed in +their stalls; for the shining of the lantern in the barn was the +well-known signal which called them to breakfast. + +Jonas clambered up by a long ladder to the hay-loft, to pitch down some +hay, and Josey and Oliver followed him; while Amos remained below to +"feed out" the hay, as he called it, as fast as they pitched it down. It +was pretty dark upon the loft, although the lantern shed a feeble light +upon the rafters above. + +"Boys," said Jonas, "it is dangerous for you to be up here; I'd rather +you'd go down." + +"Well," said Oliver, and he began to descend. + +"Why?" said Josey; "I don't think there's any danger." + +"Yes," said Jonas, "a pitchfork wound is worse than almost any other. It +is what they call a _punctured_ wound." + +"What kind of a wound is that?" said Josey. + +"I'll tell you some other time," said Jonas. "But don't stay up here. You +don't obey so well as Oliver. Go down and give the old General some +hay." + +The old General was the name of a large white horse, quite old and +steady, but of great strength. When he was younger, he belonged to a +general, who used to ride him upon the parade, and this was the origin +of his name. + +Josey, at this proposal, made haste down the ladder, and began to put +some hay over into the old General's crib. He then went round into the +General's stall, and, patting him upon the neck, he asked him if his +breakfast was good. + +In the mean time, Oliver opened the great barn doors, and, taking a +shovel, he began to clear away the snow from before them. The sky in the +east was by this time beginning to be quite bright; and a considerable +degree of light from the sky, and from the new-fallen snow, came into +the barn. Josey got a shovel, and went out to help Oliver. After they +had shoveled away the snow from the great barn doors, they went to the +house, and began to clear the steps before the doors, and to make paths +in the yards. They worked in this way for half an hour, and then, just +as the sun began first to show its bright, glittering rays above the +horizon, they went into the house. They found that the great fire which +Jonas had built, was burnt half down; the breakfast-table was set, and +the breakfast itself was nearly ready. + +The boys came to the fireplace, to see what they were going to have for +breakfast. + +"Boys," said the farmer's wife, while she was turning her cakes, "go and +call Amos in to family prayers,--and Jonas." + +"You go, Oliver," said Josey. + +Oliver said nothing, but obeyed his mother's direction. He went into the +barn-yard, and he found Amos and Jonas at work in a shed beyond, getting +down a sled which had been stowed away there during the summer. It was a +large and heavy sled, and had a tongue extending forward to draw it by. + +"What are you getting out that sled for?" said Oliver. + +"To haul wood on," said Jonas. "We're going to haul wood after +breakfast, and I want to get all ready." + +There was another smaller and lighter sled, which had been upon the top +of the heavy one, before Amos and Jonas had taken it off. This smaller +sled had two shafts to draw it by, instead of a tongue. Jonas knew by +this, that it was intended to be drawn by a horse, while the one with a +tongue was meant for oxen. + +"Oliver," said Jonas, "I think it would be a good plan for you and Josey +to take this sled and the old General, and go with me to haul wood." + +"Well," said Oliver, "I should like it very much." + +"We can all go up together. You and Josey can be loading the horse-sled, +while I load the ox-sled, and then we can drive them down, and so get +two loads down, instead of one." + +"Well," said Oliver, "I mean to ask my father." + +"Or perhaps," continued Jonas, "you can be teamster for the oxen, and +Josey can drive the horse, and so I remain up in the woods, cutting and +splitting." + +"No," said Oliver, "because we can't unload alone." + +"No," said Jonas; "I had forgotten that." + +"But I mean to ask my father," said Oliver, "to let me have the old +General, and haul a load down when you come." + +So saying, the boys walked along towards the house. The sun was now +shining beautifully upon the fresh snow, making it sparkle in every +direction, all around. They walked in by the path which Oliver and Josey +had shoveled. + +"Why didn't you make your path wider?" said Amos. "This isn't wide +enough for a cow-path." + +"O, yes, Amos," said Jonas, "it will do very well. I can widen it a +little when I come out after breakfast." + +When they got to the door, Jonas stopped a moment to look around. The +fields were white in every direction, and the branches of the trees near +the house were loaded with the snow. The air was keen and frosty, and +the breaths of the boys were visible by the vapor which was condensed by +the cold. The pond was one great level field of dazzling white. All was +silent--nothing was seen of life or motion, except that Darco, who came +out when the door was opened, looked around astonished, took a few +cautious steps along the path, and then, finding the snow too deep and +cold, went back again to take her place once more by the fire. + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +COMMANDING AND OBEYING + +About an hour after breakfast, Jonas with the oxen, and Oliver and Josey +with the horse, were slowly moving along up the road which led back from +the pond towards the wood lot. The wood lot was a portion of the forest, +which had been reserved, to furnish a supply of wood for the winter +fires. The road followed for some distance the bank of the brook, which +emptied into the pond at the place where Jonas and Oliver had cleared +land, when Jonas first came to live on this farm. + +It was a very pleasant road. The brook was visible here and there +through the bushes and trees on one side of it. These bushes and trees +were of course bare of leaves, excepting the evergreens, and they were +loaded down with the snow. Some were bent over so that the tops nearly +touched the ground. + +The brook itself, too, was almost buried and concealed in the snow. In +the still places, it had frozen over; and so the snow had been supported +by the ice, and thus it concealed both ice and water. At the little +cascades and waterfalls, however, which occurred here and there, the +water had not frozen. Water does not freeze easily where it runs with +great velocity. At these places, therefore, the boys could see the +water, and hear it bubbling and gurgling as it fell, and disappeared +under the ice which had formed below. + +At last, they came to the wood lot. The wood which they were going to +haul had been cut before, and it had been piled up in long piles, +extending here and there under the trees which had been left. These +piles were now, however, partly covered with the snow, which lay light +and unsullied all over the surface of the ground. + +The sticks of wood in these piles were of different sizes, though they +were all of the same length. Some had been cut from the tops of the +trees, or from the branches, and were, consequently, small in diameter; +others were from the trunks, which would, of course, make large logs. +These logs had, however, been split into quarters by a beetle and +wedges, when the wood had been prepared, so that there were very few +sticks or logs so large, but that Jonas could pretty easily get them on +to the sled. + +Jonas drove his team up near to one end of the pile, while Josey and +Oliver went to the other, where the wood was generally small. While +Jonas was loading, he heard a conversation something like this between +the other boys:-- + +"Let's put some good large logs on our sled," said Josey. + +"Well," said Oliver, "as large as we can; only we'd better put this +small wood on first." + +"I wish you'd go around to the other side, Oliver," said Josey again; +"you're in my way." + +"No," said Oliver, "I can't work on that side very well." + +"Then I mean to move the old General round a little." + +"No," said Oliver, "the sled stands just right now; only you get up on +the top of the pile, and I'll stay here." "No," said Josey, "I'd rather +stand here myself." + +So the boys continued at work a few minutes longer, each being in the +other's way. + +At length, Josey said again,-- + +"O, here is a large log, and I mean to get it out, and put it upon our +sled." + +The log was covered with smaller wood, so that Josey could only get hold +of the end of it. He clasped his hands together under this end, and +began to lift it up, endeavoring to get it free from the other wood. He +succeeded in raising it a little, but it soon got wedged in again, worse +than before. + +"Come, Oliver," said Josey, "help me get out this log. It is rock +maple." + +"No," said Oliver, "I'm busy." + +"Jonas," said Josey, calling out aloud, "Jonas, here's a stick of wood, +which I can't get out. I wish you'd come and help me." + +In answer to this request, Jonas only called both the boys to come to +him. + +They accordingly left the old General standing in the snow, with his +sled partly loaded, and came to the end of the pile, where Jonas was at +work. + +"I see you don't get along very well," said Jonas. + +"Why, you see," said Josey, "that Oliver wouldn't help me put on a great +log." + +"The difficulty is," said Jonas, "that you both want to be master. +Whereas, when two people are working together, one must be master, and +the other servant." + +"_I_ don't want to be servant," said Josey. + +"It's better to be servant on some accounts," said Jonas; "then you have +no responsibility." + +"Responsibility?" repeated Josey. + +"Yes," said Jonas. "Power and responsibility always go together;--or at +least they ought to. But come, boys, be helping me load, while we are +settling this difficulty, so as not to lose our time." + +So the boys began to put wood upon Jonas's sled, while the conversation +continued as follows:-- + +"Can't two persons work together, unless one is master, and the other +servant?" asked Josey. + +"At least," replied Jonas, "one must take the lead, and the other +follow, in order to work to advantage. There must be subordination. For +you see that, in all sorts of work, there are a great many little +questions coming up, which are of no great consequence, only they ought +to be decided, one way or the other, quick, or else the work won't go +on. You act, in your work, like Jack and Jerry, when they ran against +the horse-block." + +"Why, how was that?" said Josey. + +"They were drawing the wagon along to harness the horse in, and the +horse-block was in the way; so they both got hold of the shafts, and +Jack wanted to pull it around towards the right, while Jerry said it +would be better to have it go to the left. So they pulled, one one way, +and the other the other, and thus they got it up chock against the +horse-block, one shaft on each side. Here they stood pulling in +opposition for some time, and all the while their father was waiting for +them to turn the wagon, and harness the horse." + +"What did he say to them," said Oliver, "when he found it out?" + +"He made Jack bring it round Jerry's way, and then made Jerry draw it +back again, and bring it along Jack's way. + +"When men are at work," continued Jonas, "one acts as director, and the +rest follows on, as he guides. Then all the unimportant questions are +decided promptly." + +"Well," said Josey, "let us do so, Oliver. I'll be director." + +"How do they decide who shall be director?" said Oliver. + +"The oldest and most experienced directs, generally; or, if one is the +employer, and the others are employed by him, then the employer directs +the others. If a man wants a stone bridge built, and hires three men to +do it, there is always an understanding, at the beginning, who shall +have the direction of the work, and all the others obey. + +"So," continued Jonas, "if a carpenter were to send two of his men into +the woods to cut down a tree for timber, without saying which of them +should have the direction,--then the oldest or most experienced, or the +one who had been the longest in the carpenter's employ, would take the +direction. He would say, 'Let us go out this way,' and the other would +assent; or, 'I think we had better take this tree,' and the other would +say, perhaps, 'Here's one over here which looks rather straighter; won't +you come and look at this?' But they would not dispute about it. One +would leave it to the other to decide." + +"Suppose," said Josey, "one was just as old and experienced as the +other." + +"Why, if there was no reason, whatever, why one should take the lead, +rather than the other, then they would not either of them be tenacious +of their opinion. If one proposed to do a thing, the other would comply +without making any objection, unless he had a very decided objection +indeed. So they would get along peaceably. + +"Now," continued Jonas, "boys are very apt to have different opinions, +and to be very tenacious of them, and so get into disputes and +difficulties when they are working together. Therefore, when boys are +set to work, it is generally best to appoint one to take charge; for +they haven't, generally, good sense enough to find out, themselves, +which it is most proper should be in charge. + +"For instance, now," continued Jonas, "which of you, do you think, on +the whole, is the proper one to take the direction of the work, when you +are set to work together?" + +"I," said Josey, with great promptness. + +Oliver did not answer at all. + +"There's one reason why you ought _not_ to be the one," said Jonas. + +"What is it?" said Josey. + +"Why, you don't obey very well. No person is well qualified to command, +until he has learned to obey." + +"I obey," said Josey, "I'm sure." + +"Not always," said Jonas. "This morning, when you were upon the haymow, +and I told you both to go down, Oliver went down immediately; but you +remained up, and made excuses instead of obeying." + +Josey was silent. He perceived that Jonas's charge against him was just. + +"Besides," continued Jonas, "there are some other reasons why Oliver +should command, rather than you. First he understands more of farmer's +work, being more accustomed to it; secondly, he is older." + +"No," interrupted Josey, "he isn't older. I'm the oldest." + +"Are you?" said Jonas. + +"Yes," replied Josey. "I'm two months older than he is." + +Oliver had so much more prudence and discretion, and being, besides, a +little larger than Josey, made Jonas think that he was older. + +"Well," said Jonas, "at any rate, he has more judgement and experience, +and he certainly obeys better. So you may go back to your work, and let +Oliver take the command, and then, after a little while, if Oliver says +that you have obeyed him well, I'll try the experiment of letting you, +Josey, command." + +The boys accordingly went back, and finished loading up the old General. +Oliver took the direction, and Josey obeyed very well. Now and then he +would forget for a moment, and begin to argue; but Josey would submit +pretty readily, for he was very desirous that Jonas would let him +command next time; and he thought that he would not allow him to command +until he had learned to obey. + +They had the two sleds loaded nearly at the same time, and then went +down. When they were going back after the second load, they all got on +to Jonas's sled, which was forward, to ride, leaving the old General to +follow with his sled. He was so well trained that he walked along very +steadily. Oliver fastened the reins to one of the stakes, so that they +should not get down under the horse's feet. The boys all got together +upon the forward sled, in order that they might talk with one another as +they were going back to the woods. + +"Now, Josey," said Jonas, "we will let you have the command for the next +trip, and, while we are going back, I will give you both some +instructions." + +"About obeying?" said Josey. + +"Yes, and about commanding too," said Jonas. "It requires rather more +skill to know how to command, than how to obey; to know how to direct +work, than to know how to execute it. A good director, in the first +place, takes care to plan wisely, and he feels a responsibility about +the work, and a desire to have it go on to good advantage. If some men +build a way, and, after it is finished, it tumbles down, the man who had +charge of the work would feel more concerned about it than any of the +others, because the chief responsibility comes upon him. So with your +work,--if you have the command, and you and Oliver idle away the time, +and when my sled is loaded, yours has but little wood in it, you would +be more to blame than Oliver." + +"What, if I didn't play any more than Oliver?" + +"Yes," said Jonas, "because you are responsible. It is your duty to be +industrious, and it is also your duty to see that Oliver is industrious, +if you are the director,--so that you neglect two duties. + +"It is a good plan, too," said Jonas, "for a director to give his +directions in a mild and gentle tone. Some boys are very domineering and +authoritative in their manner." + +"How do you mean?" said Josey. + +"Why, they would say, for example, 'Get out of the way, John, quick.' +Whereas, it would be better to say, 'John, you are in the way, where we +want to come along.' Some men give their directions with great noise and +vociferation, and others give them quietly and gently." + +"I shouldn't think they'd mind 'em," said Josey. + +"Yes," said Jonas. "Directions ought to be given very distinctly, so +as to be plainly understood; but they are not obeyed any better for +violence and noise in giving them. + +"A commander ought to have a regard for those under him," continued +Jonas, "and deal justly by them. If a number of boys were going to ride +a wagon, and their father put one of them in charge, he ought not to +keep the best seat in the wagon for himself." + +While talking thus, the oxen continued slowly advancing along the road. +Their previous trip had broken out the road, but the pathway was filled +with loose snow of a pure and spotless white, through which the great +sled runners, following the oxen, ploughed their way. On each side of +the track which they had made, the surface was smooth and unbroken, +excepting under some of the trees, where masses of snow had fallen down +from above. They saw, at length, as they were passing along by the +brook, a little track, like a double dotting, running along, in a +winding way, under the trees,--then crossing the road, and disappearing +under the trees upon the other side. + +"What's that?" asked Josey. + +"That's a rabbit track," replied Oliver. + +"Let's go and catch him," said Josey. + +"No," said Jonas, "we must go on with our work." + +At a little distance farther on, they saw another track. It was larger +than the first, and not so regular. + +"What sort of a track is that?" said Josey. + +"I don't know," said Oliver; "it looks like a dog's track; but I +shouldn't think there would be a dog out here in the woods." + +They found that this track followed the road along for some distance. +The animal which made it, seemed sometimes to have gone in the middle +of the road, and sometimes out at the side; and Jonas said that he had +passed there since they went down with the first load of wood. + +"How do you know?" said Oliver. + +"Because," said Jonas, "his track is made upon the broken snow, in the +middle of the road." + +They watched the track for some time, and then they lost sight of it. +Presently, however, they saw it again. + +"I wonder which way he went," said Oliver. + +"I'll jump off, and look at the track," said Jonas. + +So saying, he jumped off the sled, and examined the track. + +"He went up," said Jonas, "the same way that we are going. It may be a +dog which has lost his master. Perhaps we shall find him up by our wood +piles." + +Jonas was right, for, when the boys arrived at the wood piles, they +found there, waiting for them, a large black dog. He stood near one end +of a wood pile, with his fore feet upon a log, by which his head and +shoulders were raised, so that he could see better who was coming. He +was of handsome form, and he had an intelligent and good-natured +expression of countenance. He was looking very intently at the party +coming up, to see whether his master was among them. + +"Whose dog is that?" said Josey. + +"I don't know," said Oliver; "I never saw him before." + +"I wonder what his name is," said Josey. "Here! Towzer, Towzer, Towzer," +said he. + +"Here! Caesar, Caesar, Caesar," said Oliver. + +"Pompey, Pompey, Pompey," said Jonas. + +[Illustration: "He was looking very intently at the party coming up, to +see whether his master was among them."] + +The dog remained motionless in his position, until, just as the boys had +finished their calls, and as the foremost sled was drawn pretty near +him, he suddenly wheeled around with a leap, and bounded away through +the snow, for half the length of the first wood pile, and then stopped, +and again looked round. + +"I wish we had something for him to eat," said Jonas. + +"I've got a piece of bread and butter," said Josey. "I went in and got +it when you and Oliver were unloading." + +So Josey took his bread and butter out of his pocket. There were two +small slices put together, and folded up in a piece of paper. Jonas took +a piece, and walked slowly towards the dog. + +"Here! Franco, Franco," said Jonas. + +"He's coming," said Josey, who remained with Oliver at the sled. + +The dog was slowly and timidly approaching the bread which Jonas held +out towards him. + +"He's coming," said Josey. "His name is Franco. I wonder how Jonas +knew." + +"Franco, Franco," said Jonas again. "Come here, Franco. Good Franco!" + +The dog came timidly up to Jonas, and took the bread and butter from +Josey's hand, and devoured it eagerly. While he was doing it, Jonas +patted him on the head. + +"He's very hungry," said Jonas; "bring the rest of your bread and +butter, Josey." + +So Josey brought the rest of his luncheon, and the dog ate it all. + +After this, he seemed to be quite at ease with his new friends. He staid +about there with the boys until the sleds were loaded, and then he went +down home with them. There they fed him again with a large bone. Jonas +said that he was undoubtedly a dog that had lost his master, and had +been wandering about to find him, until he became very hungry. So he +said they would leave him in the yard to gnaw his bone, and that then +he would probably go away. Josey wanted to shut him up and keep him, but +Jonas said it would be wrong. + +So the boys left the dog gnawing his bone, and went up after another +load; but before they had half loaded their sleds, Oliver saw Franco +coming, bounding up the road, towards them. He came up to Jonas, and +stood before him, looking up into his face and wagging his tail. + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +FRANCO + +Franco followed the boys all that forenoon, as they went back and forth +for their wood. At dinner, they did not say any thing about him to the +farmer, because they supposed that he would go away, when they came in +and left him, and that they should see no more of him in the afternoon. +But when Jonas went out, after dinner, to get the old General, to +harness him for work again, he found Franco lying snugly in the +General's stall, under the crib. + +At night, therefore, he told the farmer about him. The farmer said that +he was some dog that had strayed away from his master; and he told Jonas +to go out after supper and drive him away. Josey begged his uncle to +keep him, but his aunt said she would not have a dog about the house. +She said it would cost as much to keep him as to keep a sheep, and that, +instead of bringing them a good fleece, a dog was good for nothing, but +to track your floors in wet weather, and keep you awake all night with +his howling. + +So the farmer told Jonas to go out after supper, and drive the dog away. + +"Let us give him some supper first, father," said Oliver. + +"No," said his father; "the more you give him, the more he won't go +away. I expect now, you've fooled with him so much, that it will be hard +to get him off, at any rate." + +"_Jonas_ has not fooled with him any," said Oliver. + +"Nor I," said Josey. + +After supper, Jonas went out, according to orders, to drive Franco away. +It was a raw, windy night, but not very cold. Franco was in a little +shed where there was a well, near the back door. He was lying down, but +he got up and came to Jonas when he saw him appear at the door. + +"Come, Franco," said Jonas, "come with me." + +Franco wagged his tail, and followed Jonas. + +Jonas walked out into the road, Franco after him. He walked along until +he had got to some distance from the house, Franco keeping up with him +all the way, sometimes on one side of the road, and sometimes on the +other. At length, when Jonas thought that he had gone far enough, he +stopped. Franco stopped too, and looked up at Jonas. + +"Now, Franco, I've got to send you away. It's a hard case, Franco, but +you and I must both submit to orders. So go off, Franco, as fast as you +can." + +So saying, Jonas pointed along the road, in the direction away from the +house, and said, "St---- boy! St---- boy!" + +Franco darted along the road a few steps, barked once, and then turned +round, and looked eagerly at Jonas, as if he did not know what he wanted +him to do. + +"_Get home_!" said Jonas, in a stern and severe tone; "_get home_!" and +he stamped with his foot upon the ground, and looked at Franco with a +countenance of displeasure. + +Franco bounded forward a few steps over the smooth and icy road, and +then he turned round, and stood in the middle of the road, facing Jonas, +and looking very much astonished. + +"Get home, Franco!" said Jonas again; and, stooping down, he took a +piece of hardened snow or ice from the road, and threw it towards him. +The ice fell, before it reached Franco, and rolled along towards his +feet, which made him scamper along a little farther; and then he +stopped, and turned around, and looked at Jonas, as before. + +Jonas began slowly to turn backwards, keeping his eye on Franco. + +"It's a hard case, Franco, I acknowledge. If I had a barn of my own, I'd +let you sleep in a corner of it; but I must obey orders. You must go and +find your master." + +So saying, Jonas turned round and walked slowly home. Just before he +turned to go into the house, he looked back, to see what had become of +the dog. He was standing motionless in the place where Jonas had left +him. + +"I wish the farmer would let me give him a bone," said he to himself; +and then he turned away, and walked slowly around to the barn, to fodder +the cattle. + +That night, just before bed-time, he went to the front door, and looked +out into the road, and all around, to see if he could see any thing of +Franco. It was rather dark and windy,--though he could see the moon +shining dimly through the broken clouds, which were driving across the +sky. The roads looked black, as they do about the commencement of a +thaw. Presently the moon shone out full through the interstices of the +clouds. Jonas took advantage of the opportunity to look all up and down +the road; but Franco was nowhere to be seen. + +The next morning, however, when he went out into the stable to give the +cattle some hay, he found Franco in his old place, under the General's +crib. + +"Why, Franco," said Jonas, "how came you here?" + +Franco said nothing, but stood looking up into Jonas's face, and wagging +his tail. + +"Franco," said Jonas, "how could you get in here?" + +Franco remained in the same position; the light of the lantern shining +in his face, and his tail wagging a very little. He could not tell +certainly whether Jonas was scolding him or not. + +Franco remained about the barn until breakfast-time, and then Jonas, at +the table, told the farmer that he tried to drive the dog away the +night before, but that in the morning he found him in the barn. + +"I don't believe you really tried," said the farmer's wife. "_I_ can +drive him away, I know,--as I'll show you after breakfast." + +Accordingly, after breakfast, putting on hastily an old straw bonnet, +she went out into the yard and took a small stick from the wood pile, to +use for a club, and then called to Franco. + +"Franco," said she, "come here." + +Franco looked first at her, and then at Jonas, who was standing in the +door-way, as if at a loss to know what to do. + +"Go, Franco," said Jonas. + +The farmer's wife walked out in front of the house into the wind, +calling Franco to follow. She then attempted to drive him along the +road, much as Jonas had done. She brandished her stick at him, and, when +she had succeeded in getting him as far from her as she could, by stern +and threatening language, in order to drive him farther, she threw the +stick at him with all her force. + +Franco jumped out of its way. The stick rolled along the road before +him. He sprang forward to it, seized it in his mouth, and came trotting +back to the farmer's wife, and laid it down at her feet; and then, +standing back a few steps, he looked up into her face, with a very +earnest expression of countenance, which seemed to say,-- + +"What do you want me to do next?" + +This very act of Franco's embarrassed the woman considerably. She could +not bear to take up the very stick, which Franco had himself brought to +her, and throw it at him again; and, on the other hand, she could not +bear to give up, and let Franco remain. She, however, picked up the +stick, and brandished it again towards Franco, and, stamping with her +foot at him, she said,-- + +"Away with you, dog; get home!" + +What the result of this contest would have been, it is very difficult to +say, had it not been that it was soon decided by the occurrence of a +singular incident; for, as the farmer's wife nodded her head, and +stamped at the dog, the jar or the motion seemed to give the wind a +momentary advantage over her bonnet, which, in her haste, she had not +tied on very securely. A strong gust carried it clear from her head, and +blew it away over Franco, upon the snow by the side of the road beyond. +Franco, who was all ready for a spring, bounded after it, and pursued it +at full speed. The snow was nearly level with the top of the stone +walls, and the wind carrying it diagonally from the road, it rolled over +the little ridge of stones which remained above the drifts, and then +swept across the field, down a long descent, like a feather before the +gale. + +Franco pursued it with flying leaps over the snow, which had become +sufficiently consolidated to support his steps. He gained upon it +rapidly, and at length overtook and seized it; and then, turning round, +he trotted swiftly back, leaped over the top of the wall, and brought +the bonnet, and laid it down at its owner's feet, with an air of great +satisfaction. + +The good woman took up her bonnet, and threw her stick away, and, +turning around, walked back to the house. The farmer, who had been +looking out at the window, was laughing heartily. She herself smiled as +she returned to her work, saying,-- + +"The dog has something in him, I acknowledge; go and see if you can't +find him a bone, Jonas." "Yes, Jonas," said the farmer, "you may have +him for your dog till the owner comes and claims him." + +And this is the way that Jonas first got his dog Franco. He told Oliver +that morning, as he was patting his head under the old General's crib, +that the dog had taught them one good lesson. + +"What is it?" asked Oliver. + +"Why, that the Christian duty of returning good for evil, is good policy +as well as good morals." + +[Illustration] + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +DOG LOST + +About the middle of the winter, the farmer went to market with his +produce. The vehicle on which he carried it was a kind of box upon +runners, with a pole in front, to which two horses were fastened. He was +gone three days. + +When he came back, he said that he had bargained for another load of his +produce, at the market town, and that he was going to send Jonas with +it. Jonas was very glad when he heard this. He liked to take journeys. + +"What day shall I go, sir?" said Jonas. + +"Day after to-morrow," said the farmer, "as early as possible. We'll let +the horses rest one day." + +About the middle of the afternoon, on the day following the one on which +this conversation had taken place, Jonas and the farmer began to load +up the box sleigh, in order to have it ready for the morning. He had +about forty miles to go, and he wanted to get to market, deliver his +load, and return five or ten miles that same evening. + +It was quite cold that afternoon, and it seemed to be growing colder and +colder. Jonas got the box sleigh ready under a shed, first shoveling in +some snow under the runners, in order that the horses might draw the +sled out easily, when it was loaded. He put in the various articles of +produce, which were contained in bags, and firkins, and boxes. Over +these he spread blankets and buffalo-skins, and put in a bag of oats for +his horses, and a box of bread and cheese for himself. He did not know +whether Franco was to go with him, or not; but he arranged the bags in +such a way, that he could easily make a warm nest for him in one corner, +if the farmer should allow him to go. + +The farmer helped him about all the arrangements, and, when they were +completed, he told Jonas to go in and get his supper, and go to bed, so +as to get up and set off early in the morning. + +"It will be a fine starlight night," said he, "and you'd better be ten +miles on your way by sunrise." + +When Amos got up the next morning, and went out with his lantern, to go +to the barn, as he passed by the shed on his way, he saw that the sleigh +was gone. He proceeded to the barn, and, as he opened the door, he was +startled at something which suddenly darted past him and rushed out. + +"What's that?" said Oliver, who was behind him. "It is Franco," said he. +"Where is he going?" + +Franco ran off to the shed where Jonas had harnesses his horses, and +began smelling around upon the ground. He followed the scent along the +yard, up to a post by the side of the house, where Jonas had stopped a +moment ago to go in and get his great-coat, when all was ready; and +then, after pausing here a moment, he darted off towards the road. + +"Here! Franco, Franco," said Amos, "come back here." + +"Franco, Franco," repeated Oliver, "here--here--here--here." + +Franco paid no attention to these calls, but ran off along the road at +full speed. + +In the mean time, Jonas had traveled rapidly onward, by the light of the +stars, over the glittering and frosty road. + +The keen air made his ears tingle a little, but he rubbed them, and they +soon became warm. His feet were comfortably stowed away down in his box, +among the bags and buffalo-skins, so that they were warm and +comfortable. + +The horses trotted along at good speed, and soon brought Jonas and his +load to the village at the mill. The street was vacant, and the houses +dark, excepting that a faint light shone behind a curtain in one chamber +window. Jonas supposed that somebody was sick there. Even the mill +was silent, and the gate shut down; and, instead of the ordinary roar +of the water under the wheel, only a hissing sound was heard, where +the imprisoned water spouted through the crevices of the flume. Vast +stalactites of ice extended continuously along the whole face of +the dam, like a frozen waterfall, behind which the water percolated +curiously down into the foaming abyss, at the bottom of the fall. Jonas +thought that all this, seen by starlight, looked very cold. + +The horses trotted across the bridge with a loud sound, which +reverberated far and wide in the still night. He ascended the hill +beyond, and drove on. His woollen comforter, tied about his neck, +became frosted over from his breath; and the breasts, and mane, and +sides, of the horses were gradually sprinkled with white, in the same +way. They were both black horses,--the General having been left at home. +They trotted down the hills and along the level portions of the road, +and wheeled around the curves, with great speed. Jonas found that he +had no occasion for his whip, and so he put it away behind him, under +the buffaloes. + +He went on in this way, without any special adventure, for a couple of +hours, and then began to see a gray light appearing in the eastern sky. +About the same time, the windows of the farm-houses, which he passed on +the road, began to be illuminated by the fires, which they were kindling +within. Now and then, he could see a man hurrying out to a barn, to feed +the cattle. Jonas thought that they ought to be up earlier. The sun rose +soon after, and the fields on every side sparkled by the reflection of +his rays, from the crystalline surface of the snow. Tall columns of +dense white smoke ascended from the chimneys, some erect, others leaning +a little, some one way, some another. In a word, it was a cold, still, +winter morning. + +At length, as Jonas was walking his horses up a long hill, he heard +light footsteps behind him. He turned round to see what was coming, and, +to his utter astonishment, he saw Franco, coming up, upon the full run, +and close behind the sleigh. He came to the side of it, and looked up, +with every appearance of exultation and joy. + +"Why, Franco," said Jonas, "how came you here?" + +He stopped his horses, and Franco leaped up before him. His ears, and +the glossy black hair which curled under his neck and upon his sides, +were tipped with frost. Jonas patted him upon his head, saying,-- + +"Why, Franco, how did you get out of the barn? and how did you find out +which way I came?" + +Franco wagged his tail, and curled down around Jonas's feet, but he made +no reply. + +Jonas was very much surprised, for, as he had no permission to take +Franco, he had concluded that it was his duty not to take him; and when +he found that he was inclined to come with him, at the time that he was +harnessing the horses, he conducted him back into the barn, and, to make +it secure, he fastened up the place where he had got in, the first night +that he lodged there. He knew that the barn would be opened when Amos +came out in the morning, to take care of the old General and the oxen, +but said he to himself, "I shall by that time be ten miles off, and it +will be too late for him to follow or find me." Jonas was therefore very +much surprised, when he found that Franco had contrived to make his +escape, and to track his master so many miles. + +Jonas drove on very prosperously, until it was about time for him to +stop and give his horses some breakfast. As for himself, he ate his +breakfast from his box, when they were coming up a long hill. He +accordingly stopped at a tavern, and took his horses out of their +harness, and rubbed them down well, and gave them a good drink of water, +and plenty of oats, which he bought of the tavern-keeper. He kept the +oats in his bag to use in the town. By the time that he stopped, he was +comfortably warm, for he had taken some exercise walking up the hills. +Franco always got out when Jonas did, at the bottom of the hills, and +then got in again at the top. He remained in the sleigh, however, at the +tavern, keeping guard, while Jonas went into the house; and he would +growl a little if any body came near the sleigh, and thus warn them not +to touch any thing that was in it. + +While the horses were eating, Jonas went into the tavern, and sat down +by the kitchen fire. The fire was very large, and many persons were busy +getting breakfast. Jonas wished that he was going to have a cup of the +coffee that they were making; but he thought it better that he should +content himself with what the farmer had provided for him. There was a +young woman in the back part of the room, at a window, sewing. She asked +Jonas how far he had come that morning, and he told her. Then she said +that he must have set out very early; and she said that he had a pair of +very handsome black horses. She had seen them as Jonas passed the +window. + +There was a small girl sitting near her, with a slate, ciphering. She +seemed very busy for a few minutes, and then she looked up to the young +woman, and said,-- + +"My sum does not come right, aunt Lucia." + +"Doesn't it? I'm sorry, but I can't help you now, very well," replied +aunt Lucia. "I am very busy with my sewing." + +The little girl then got up, and came towards the fire, with her slate +hanging by a string from her finger, and her Arithmetic under her arm. + +"Where are you ciphering?" asked Jonas. + +"In fractions," said the girl. + +"If you will let me look at your sum, perhaps I can tell you how to do +it," replied Jonas. + +The girl handed her book to him, and showed him the sum in it. She +also let him see the work upon her slate. Jonas looked it over very +carefully, and then said,-- + +"You have done very well indeed, with such a hard sum. There is only one +mistake." + +And Jonas pointed out the mistake to her, and she corrected it, and then +the answer was right. She then went and put away her slate and book, +with an appearance of great satisfaction. As she passed by the window, +aunt Lucia whispered to her, to say,-- + +"I think you had better thank that young man, and give him a mug of +coffee." + +"Well," said the little girl, "I will." So she went to a cupboard at the +side of the room, and took down a tin mug. She poured out some coffee +from a coffee-pot, and put in some milk and sugar, and then brought it +to Jonas, and asked him if he wouldn't like a little coffee. Jonas +thanked her, and took the coffee; and he liked it very much. + +After this, Jonas harnessed his horses again, and went on. He traveled +until nearly noon, and then he arrived at the town where he was to leave +his load. He had a letter to a merchant, who had bought the produce of +the farmer, and, in a very short time, his load was taken out, and the +other articles put in, which he was to carry back in exchange. He had +some money given him by the merchant, in part payment for his load of +produce. It was in bank-notes, and he put it into his waistcoat pocket, +and pinned it in. + +Then he set out on his return. His load was light, the road was smooth, +and his horses, though they had traveled fast, had been driven +carefully, and they carried him rapidly over the ground. It was the +middle of the afternoon, however, before he set out, and the days were +then so short, that the sun soon began to go down. He had to ride quite +into the evening, before he reached the place where he was to stop for +the night. + +He put up his horses, and then went into the house. He called for some +supper, for his own provisions had long since been exhausted. After +supper, he carried out something for Franco, whom he had left in the +sleigh in the barn, lying upon a good warm buffalo, to watch the +property. + +"Franco," said he, "here is your supper." + +Franco jumped up when he heard Jonas's voice, and leaped out of the +sleigh. He took his supper, and Jonas, after once more feeding his +horses, went out, and shut the door, leaving Franco to finish his bone +by himself. + +Jonas went back into the tavern, and took his seat by the fire. There +was a table before the fire, with a lamp upon it; and there were one +or two books and an old newspaper lying upon another table, in the +back part of the room. Jonas looked at the books, but they were not +interesting to read. One was a dictionary. He read the newspaper for +some time, and then he took the lamp up, and began to look at some +pictures of the prodigal son, which were hung up upon the wall over the +mantel-piece. + +Beyond the pictures were some advertisements. One was for a farm for +sale. Jonas read the description, and he wished that he was old enough +to buy a farm, and then he would go and look at that. + +The next advertisement was about some machinery, which a man had +invented; and the next was headed, in large letters, _Dog Lost._ This +caught Jonas's attention immediately. It was in writing, and he could +not read it very easily, it was so high. So he got a chair, and stood up +in it, and read as follows:-- + +"'DOG LOST. + +"'_Strayed or stolen from the subscriber, a valuable dog, of large size +and black color_.' + +"I wonder if it isn't Franco," said Jonas, interrupting himself in his +reading. + +"'_He had on a brass collar marked with the owner's name_.' + +"No," said Jonas, "there was no collar. But then the man that stole him +might have taken it off. + +"'_Answers to the name of Ney_.' + +"Ney, Ney," said Jonas,--"I never called him Ney. I wonder if he would +answer, if I should call him Ney. + +"'_Is kind and docile, and quite intelligent_.' + +"Yes," said Jonas, "I verily believe it is Franco. + +"'_Any person who will return said dog to the subscriber, at his +residence at Walton Plain, shall be suitably rewarded_. + +"'JAMES EDWARDS.' + +"I verily believe it is Franco," said Jonas, as he slowly got down from +the chair,--"Walton Plain." + +He stood a moment, looking thoughtfully into the fire. + +"Yes," he repeated, "I verily believe it is Franco. I wonder where +Walton Plain is." + +Jonas had learned from Mr. Holiday, that it was never wise to +communicate important information relating to private business, unless +necessary. So he said nothing about Franco to any of the people at the +tavern, but quietly went to bed; and, after thinking some time what to +do, he went to sleep, and slept finely until morning. + +About daylight, he arose, and, as he had paid his bill the night before, +he went to the barn, harnessed his horses, and set off. At the first +village that he came to after sunrise, he stopped at a store, and +inquired whether there was any such town as Walton Plain, in that +neighborhood. + +"Yes," said the boy, who stood with a broom in his hand, with which he +was sweeping out the store,--"yes, it is about five miles from here, +right on the way you are going." + +Jonas thanked the boy, got into his sleigh, and rode on. + +"Poor Franco," said he, "I am afraid I must lose you." + +He had hoped that Walton Plain would have proved to be off of his road, +so that he could have had a good reason for not doing any thing about +restoring the dog, until after he had gone home, and reported the facts +to the farmer. But now, as he found that it was on his way, and as he +would very probably go directly by Mr. Edwards's door, he concluded +that he ought, at any rate, to call and let him look at Franco, and see +whether it was his dog or not. + +When he reached Walton Plain, he inquired whether Mr. James Edwards +lived in the village. They told him that he lived about half a mile out +of the village. They said it was a handsome white house, under the +trees, back from the road, with a portico over the door. + +Jonas rode on, observing all the houses as he passed; and he at once +recognized the one which had been described to him. He stopped before +the great gate, and fastened his horses to a post. He then walked along +a road-way, which led in by the end of the house, and presently came to +a door, where he stopped and knocked. A girl came and opened the door. + +"Is Mr. Edwards at home?" + +"Yes," said the girl. + +"Will you ask him to come to the door a minute?" + +"You'd better walk in, and I'll speak to him." + +[Illustration: Jonas stopping at the house of Mr. Edwards.] + +Jonas stepped into an entry, which was carpeted, and which had a large +map, hanging against the wall. The girl opened a door into a little +room, which looked somewhat like Mr. Holiday's study. There was a great +deal of handsome furniture in it, and book-shelves around the walls. A +large table was in the middle of the room, covered with books and +papers. + +The girl handed Jonas a seat. + +"Who shall I say has called?" said she to Jonas, as she was about to go +out of the room. + +"Why--I--my name is Jonas," he replied; "but I don't suppose Mr. Edwards +knows me. I came to see him about his dog." + +At this remark, the girl looked around towards the fire, and Jonas +involuntarily turned his eyes in the same direction. He saw there a +large dog, very much like Franco in form and size, lying upon the +carpet. He was as handsome as Franco. Jonas was surprised to see him. +The girl, too, looked surprised. She, however, said nothing, but went +out, and shut the door. + +In a few minutes, the door opened, and an elderly gentleman, with +grayish hair, and a mild and pleasant expression of countenance, came +in. He nodded to Jonas as he entered, and Jonas rose to receive him. +The gentleman then took a seat by the fire, and asked Jonas to sit down +again. + +"I came to see you, sir, about your dog," said Jonas. + +"Well, my boy," replied the man, "and what about my dog?" and, as he +said this, he looked down at the dog, which was lying upon the floor. + +"I don't know but that I have got him." + +"You have got him?" repeated Mr. Edwards. + +"Yes, sir; a dog like that one came to me in the woods one day this +winter." + +"O," said Mr. Edwards, "you mean the dog that I lost.--Yes,--I had +forgotten that, it is so long ago. When did you find him?" + +Jonas then told the whole story of the dog's coming to them, and +of their attempt to drive him away; and also of his seeing the +advertisement in the tavern. Mr. Edwards asked him a great many +questions, such as what his name was, where he lived, and how long he +had lived there, and how he happened to be journeying now. At last he +said,-- + +"I think it very probable that it is my dog. I lost one of that +description six or eight months ago, and advertised him; but I couldn't +hear any thing of him, and so I got another as much like him as I could. +It is probable yours is the same dog; but I don't know that there is any +particular proof of it. You haven't called him Ney, have you?" + +"No, sir," said Jonas; "we call him Franco." + +"If he should come at the call of Ney, that would be proof. Where is he +now?" + +"He is with me, sir; he is out in my sleigh." + +"O, well, then," said the man, "we can tell in a moment. I'll step to +the door and call him." + +So Mr. Edwards put on his hat, and stepped to the door. The dog was +standing up in the sleigh, and looking wildly around. When he saw Mr. +Edwards, he seemed more excited still. + +"Here, Ney," said Mr. Edwards. + +The dog leaped down from the sled, and came bounding up the road. He +leaped first about Mr. Edwards, and then about Jonas, as if at a loss +which was his master. + +"Why, Ney," said Mr. Edwards,--"poor Ney,--have you got back at last? +Come, walk in, Ney." + +Ney slipped in through the door, and turned immediately into the little +room, as if he was perfectly familiar with the localities. Jonas and Mr. +Edwards followed. They shut the door, and took their seats again. Ney +ran around the room, and examined every thing. He looked at the strange +dog lying so comfortably in his old place upon the warm carpet, and then +came and gazed up eagerly into his old master's face a moment. He came +to Jonas, and wagged his tail, and then he went to the door and whined, +as if he wanted to go out. + +"Won't you let him out?" said Mr. Edwards. "We will see what he will +do." + +Jonas opened the door, and the dog ran out into the entry, and then made +the same signs to have the outer door opened. Jonas opened it, and let +him out. Jonas stepped out himself a moment, to see what he would do, +and presently returned again to the room where he had left Mr. Edwards. + +"Where did he go?" said Mr. Edwards. + +"He has run to the sleigh," said Jonas, "and jumped up into it, and is +lying down on the buffalo." + +"The dog seems to have become attached to you, Jonas," said Mr. Edwards, +"and I presume that you have become somewhat attached to him." + +"Yes, sir, very much indeed," replied Jonas. + +Mr. Edwards was silent a few minutes, appearing lost in thought. + +"I hardly know what to say about this dog," he continued, at length. +"You did very right to come and let me know about him. I am afraid that +some boys would have kept him, without saying any thing about it. I am +glad that you were honest. I valued the dog very much, and would have +given a large sum to have recovered him, when he was first lost. But I +have got another now, and don't really need two. Should you be disposed +to buy him?" + +"Yes, sir," said Jonas, "if I could. But I haven't got but a dollar at +my command, and I suppose he is worth more than that." + +Jonas had a dollar of his own. Mr. Holiday had given it to him when he +left his house, thinking it probable that he would want to buy something +for himself. Jonas had taken this money with him when he left the +farmer's, intending to expend a part of it in the market town; but he +did not see any thing that he really wanted, and so the money was in his +pocket now. + +"Why, yes," said Mr. Edwards, "I gave a great deal more for him than +that. Haven't you any more money with you?" + +"Not of my own," said Jonas. + +"I suppose you got some for your produce." + +"Yes, sir," said Jonas; "but it belongs to the farmer that I work with." + +"And don't you think that he would be willing to have you pay a part of +it for the dog?" + +"I don't know, sir," said Jonas. "I know he likes the dog very much, but +I have no authority to buy him with his money." + +If Jonas had been willing to have used his employer's money without +authority, Mr. Edwards would not have taken it. He made the inquiry to +see whether Jonas was trustworthy. + +After a few minutes' pause, Mr. Edwards resumed the conversation, as +follows:-- + +"Well, Jonas," said he, "I have been thinking of this a little, and have +concluded to let you keep the dog for me a little while,--that is, if he +is willing to go with you. But remember he is my property still, and I +shall have a right to call for him, whenever I choose, and you must give +him up to me." + +"Yes, sir," said Jonas, "I will. And I wish that you would not agree to +sell him to any body else, without letting me know." + +"Well," replied Mr. Edwards, "I will not. So you may take him, and keep +him till I send for him,--that is, provided he will go with you of his +own accord. I can't drive him away from his old home." + +Jonas thanked Mr. Edwards, and rose to go. Mr. Edwards took his hat, and +followed him to the door, to see whether the dog would go willingly. +When he was upon the step, he called him. + +"Ney," said he, "Ney." + +Ney looked up, and, in a moment afterwards, jumped out of the sleigh, +and came running up to the door. + +"Now," continued Mr. Edwards, "if you can call him back, while I am +standing here, it is pretty good proof that you have been kind to him, +and that he would like to go with you." + +So Jonas walked down towards the gate, looking back, and calling,-- + +"Franco, Franco, Franco!" + +The dog ran down towards him a little way, and then stopped, looked +back, and, after a moment's pause, he returned a few steps towards his +former master. He seemed a little at a loss to know which to choose. + +Jonas got into his sleigh. + +"Franco!" said he. + +Franco looked at him, then at Mr. Edwards, then at Jonas; and finally he +went back to the door, and began to lick his old master's hand. + +Jonas turned his horses' heads a little towards the road, and moved them +on a step. + +"Come, Franco," said he; "Franco, come." + +Franco, hearing these words, and seeing that Jonas was actually going, +seemed to come to a final decision. He leaped off the steps, and bounded +down the road, through the gate, and jumped up into Jonas's sleigh. Mr. +Edwards continued to call him, but he paid no attention to it. He +curled down before Jonas a moment, then he raised himself up a little, +so as to look back towards the house; but he showed no disposition to +get out again. Jonas put his hand upon his head, and patted it gently as +he drove away; and, when he found that Franco was really going with him, +he turned his head back, and said, with a look of great satisfaction,-- + +"Good-by, sir. I'm very much obliged to you." + +"Good-by, Jonas. Take good care of Ney." + +"Yes, sir," said he, "I certainly will." + +"You're a good dog, Franco," he continued, patting his head, "to come +with me,--very good dog, Franco, to choose the coarse hay for a bed +under the old General's crib, rather than that good warm carpet, for the +sake of coming with me. I'll make you a little house, Franco,--I +certainly will, and I'll put a carpet on the floor. I'll make it as soon +as I get home." + +And Jonas did, the next evening after he got home, make Franco a house, +just big enough for him; and he found an old piece of carpet to put +upon the floor. He put Franco in; but the next morning he found him in +his old place under the General's crib. Franco liked that place better. +The truth was, it was rather warmer; and then, besides, he liked the old +General's company. + +[Illustration] + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +SIGNS OF A STORM + +One evening early in February, the farmer told Jonas that his work, the +next day, would be to get out four or five bushels of corn and grain, +and go to mill. Accordingly, after he had got through with his morning's +work of taking care of the stock, he took a half-bushel measure, and +several bags, and went into the granary. The granary was a small, square +building, with narrow boards and wide cracks between them on the south +side. The building itself was mounted on posts at the four corners, with +flat stones upon the top of the posts, for the corners to rest upon. + +The open work upon the side was to let the air in, to dry the corn; and +the high posts and the flat stones were to keep the mice from getting in +and eating it up. + +Jonas put a short board across the top of the half-bushel, and sat upon +it. Then he began taking the corn and shelling it off from the cob, by +rubbing it against the edge of the board. As he sat thus at work, he +occasionally looked up, and he could see out of the open door of the +granary, into the farm-yards. + +It was a very pleasant morning. The sun shone beautifully; and now and +then a drop fell from the roof on the south side of the barn. The cattle +were standing, basking in the sun, in the barn-yard, and in the sheds, +where the sun could shine in upon them. The whole area of the barn-yard +was trodden smooth and hard by the footsteps of the cattle; and broad +and smooth paths had been worn in every direction, about the house. +Behind the barn was a large sheep-yard, also well worn with the +footsteps of the sheep. A great many sheep were there,--now and then +eating hay from a long rack, which extended across the yard. + +When Jonas had shelled out the corn, he carried the bags, and put them +into the sleigh, which was generally used in going to mill. Then he +locked the granary, and put the key away, and afterwards went to the +barn, and opened the great doors, which led in to the barn floor. He +climbed up a tall ladder to a loft under the roof of the barn, and threw +down some sheaves of wheat,--as many as he thought would be necessary +to produce the quantity of grain which the farmer had ordered. He then +descended the ladder, and got a flail, and began to thresh them out. + +Standing, now, in a new position, he had a different prospect before +him. Beyond the barn-yard he could see another larger yard nearer the +house, in which the snow had also been beaten down by the going and +coming of teams, sleds, and all sorts of travel, for two or three weeks, +during which there had been no new falls of snow. Upon one side of this +yard was an enormous heap of wood, which Jonas and Oliver had been +hauling nearly all the winter. On the other side was a quantity of +timber, of all sizes and lengths, which the farmer and Amos had been +getting out for the new barn. Some of it was hewed, and some not; and +several large pieces were laid out upon the level surface of the yard, +and the farmer and Amos were sitting upon them, working upon the frame. +Amos was boring holes with an auger, and the farmer was cutting the +holes thus made into a square form with a chisel. Josey was there, too, +and Amelia. They were building a house of the blocks which had been +sawed off from the ends of the timbers. + +When, however, they heard the sound of Jonas's flail, they left their +play, and came along to the barn to see him. Josey came into the barn; +Amelia remained at the door. + +"What are you doing, Jonas?" said Josey. + +"Threshing some wheat," replied Jonas; "but stand back, or I shall hit +you with the flail." + +"Are you going to mill?" said Josey. + +"Yes, I or somebody else. I am getting a grist ready." + +"Here comes uncle," said Josey; "I mean to ask him to let me go." + +The farmer came in, and told Jonas that he expected that they were going +to have a snow-storm, and, therefore, as soon as his grist was ready, he +might harness a horse into the sleigh, and drive directly to mill. + +"Then," said he, "you may come directly back, and not wait to have it +ground; for I want you to go up to the woods this afternoon, and bring +down a load of small spruces, which I cut for rafters. I want them down +before the road gets blocked up with snow." + +The farmer had reflected that, about this time in the winter, they were +generally exposed to long and driving snow-storms, by which the roads +were often blocked up. He usually endeavored to get all out of the woods +which he had to get, early in the season, while the snow was not deep. +He had now got down all his wood, and all his timber, except one or two +loads of rafters; and he wished, therefore, to get those down, so that, +in case of a severe storm, he would not have to break out the road +again. + +Jonas accordingly despatched his preparations for going to mill, as +rapidly as possible, and soon was ready. In driving out, he stopped +opposite the place where the farmer was at work upon his frame. + +"All ready, I believe, sir," said Jonas. + +"Very well," said the farmer. "The pond road is a little the nearest, +isn't it?" + +"Yes, sir," said Jonas. + +"And Josey wants to go with you; have you any objection to take him?" + +"No, sir," said Jonas; "I should like very much to have him go." + +"Well, Josey, get your great-coat, and come." + +"O, no, sir," said Josey; "I don't need any great-coat; it isn't cold." + +"Very well, then; jump in." + +Josey got in upon the top of the bags, and Jonas drove on. After riding +a short distance, they turned down by a road which led to the pond, +which was now covered with so thick and solid a sheet of ice, that it +was safe travelling upon it, and it was accordingly intersected with +roads in every direction. They rode down at a rapid trot to the ice, +followed by Franco, who was always glad to go upon an expedition. + +The road led them over, very nearly, the same part of the pond that +Jonas had navigated in his boat, when he fitted a sail to it,--though +now the appearances were so different all around, that one would hardly +have supposed the scene to have been the same. There was the same level +surface, but it was now a solid field, white with snow, instead of the +undulating expanse of water, of the deep-blue color reflected from the +sky. There were the same islands, and promontories, and beaches; but the +verdure was gone, and the naked whiteness of the beach seemed to have +spread over the whole landscape. It was a very pleasant ride, however. +The road was level, though very winding, as it passed around capes and +headlands, and now and then took a wide circuit to avoid a +breathing-hole. The sun shone pleasantly, too. + +"I don't see what signs there are of a snow-storm," said Josey. + +"Such a calm and pleasant day in February portends a storm," said Jonas. +"Besides, the wind, what there is, is north-east; and don't you see that +snow-bank off south?" + +Josey looked in the direction in which they were going, which was +towards the south-west, and he saw a long, white bank of cloud, +extending over that quarter of the heavens. + +"Is that a snow-bank?" asked Josey. + +"It is a bank of snow-clouds, I suppose," said Jonas. "They call it a +snow-bank." + +By the time that the boys reached the mill, a hazy appearance had +overspread the whole sky. They took out the grist, and left it to be +ground, and then immediately got into the sleigh again, and commenced +their return. Before they had gone far, the sky became entirely +overcast, and the distant hills to the south-east were enveloped in +what appeared to be a kind of mist, but which was really falling snow. + +"How windy it is!" said Josey. + +"No," said Jonas, "it is not much more windy than it was when we came; +but then we were riding with it, and now we are going against it. You +feel cold, don't you?" + +"Why, yes, a little," said Josey, "now the sun has gone, and the wind +has come." + +"Well, then," said Jonas, "get down in the bottom of the sleigh, and +I'll cover you up with buffaloes." + +So Josey crept down into the bottom of the sleigh, and Jonas covered him +up; and he found his place very warm and comfortable. + +"How do you like your place?" said Jonas. + +"Very well," said Josey, "only I can't see where we are going." + +"Trust yourself to me," said Jonas. "I'll drive you safely." + +"I know it," said Josey, "and I wish you'd tell me, now and then, what +you see." + +"Well," replied Jonas, "I see a load of hay coming along on the pond +before us." + +"A large load?" said Josey. + +"Yes," replied Jonas; "and now we're going pretty near the round island. +There, the load of hay is turning off by another road. O, there is a +sleigh behind it; it was hid before. The sleigh is coming this way." + +"I don't hear any bells," said Josey. + +"We are too far off yet; you'll hear them presently." + +Very soon Josey did hear the bells. They came nearer and nearer, and at +last jingled by close to his ears. As soon as the sound had gone by, he +threw up the buffalo with his arms, and looked out, saying to Jonas,-- + +"I guess they wondered what you had got here, covered up with the +buffalo, Jonas." + +Jonas smiled, and Josey covered himself up again. Not long after this, +it began to snow, and Jonas said that he could hardly see the shore in +some places. + +"Suppose it should snow so fast," said Josey, "that you could not see +the land at all; then, if you should come to two roads, how could you +tell which one to take?" + +"Why, one way," replied Jonas, "would be to let Franco trot on before us; +and he'd know the way." + +"Is Franco coming along with us?" said Josey. + +"Yes," said Jonas, "he is close behind." + +"Why don't you call him Ney?" asked Josey; "that is his real name." + +"I was uncertain which to call him for some time," said Jonas; "but +finally I concluded to let him keep both names, and so now he is Franco +Ney." + +"Well," said Josey, "I think that is a good plan." + +A short time after this, Jonas turned up off from the pond, and soon +reached home. + +[Illustration] + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +THE RESCUE + +Jonas found, when he reached home, that it was about dinner-time. The +farmer said that the storm was coming on sooner than he had expected, +and he believed that they should have to leave the rafters where they +were. But Jonas said that he thought he could get them without any +difficulty, if the farmer would let him take the oxen and sled. + +The farmer, finding that Jonas was very willing to go, notwithstanding +the storm, said that he should be very glad to have him try. And Josey, +he said, might accompany him or not, just as he pleased. + +"I wouldn't go, Jonas," said Josey, "if I were you. It is going to be a +great storm." + +He, however, walked along with Jonas to the barn, to see him yoke the +oxen. The yard was covered with a thin coating of light snow, which made +the appearance of it very different from what it had been when they had +left it. The cows and oxen stood out still exposed, their backs whitened +a little with the fine flakes which had fallen upon them. Jonas went to +the shed, and brought out the yoke. + +"Jonas," said Josey, "I wouldn't go." + +"No, I think it very likely that you wouldn't. You are not a very +efficient boy." + +"What is an _efficient_ boy?" asked Josey. + +"One that has energy and resolution enough to go on and accomplish his +object, even if there are difficulties in the way." + +"Is that what you mean by being efficient?" said Josey. + +"Yes;--a boy that hasn't some efficiency, isn't good for much." + +As he said this, Jonas had got one of the oxen yoked. He then went to +bring up the other. + +When the other ox was up in his place, Jonas raised the end of the yoke, +and put it over his neck. + +"You see," continued he, "your uncle wants all those rafters got down. +It will be a little harder getting them, in the storm; but I care +nothing for that. It will be a great satisfaction to him to have them +all safe down here before it drifts. He doesn't _require_ me to go; but +if I go voluntarily and bring them down, don't you think that, to-morrow +morning, when he finds two feet of snow on the ground, he'll be glad to +think that all his rafters are safe in the yard?" + +"Why, yes," said Josey. "I've a great mind to go with you." + +"Do just as you please," said Jonas. + +"Well, do you want me to go?" + +"Yes, I should like your company very well; and, besides, perhaps you +can help me." + +"Well," said Josey, "I'll go." + +He accordingly followed Jonas as he drove the oxen along to the sled. +Jonas held up the tongue, while Josey backed the oxen, so that he could +enter the end of the tongue into the ring attached to the lower side of +the yoke. He then put the iron pin in, and all was ready. + +Jonas drove the oxen along, till he came to the great gate in the back +yard, and then he stopped to go and get some chains. The chains he +fastened to the stakes, which were in the sides of the sled. Then he +opened the great gate, and the oxen went through; after which he seated +himself upon the sled by the side of Josey, and so they rode along up +into the woods. + +The storm increased, though very slowly. The road into the woods, which +had become well worn, was now beginning to be covered, here and there, +with little white patches, wherever new snow, driven along by the wind, +found places where it could lodge. At length, however, they came to the +woods; and there they were sheltered from the wind, and the snow fell +more equally. Josey had found it quite cold riding in the open ground, +for the wind was against them; but under the shelter of the trees he +found it quite warm and comfortable. + +The forest appeared very silent and solitary. It is true they could hear +the moaning of the wind upon the tops of the trees, but there was no +sound of life, and no motion but that of the fine flakes descending +through the air in a gentle shower. The whole surface of the ground, and +every thing lying upon it, was covered with the snow; for the branches, +and the stumps, and the stems trimmed up for timber, and the places +where the old snow had been trampled down by the oxen and by the +woodcutters, were now all whitened over again and concealed. + +"Who would think," said Jonas, "that there could be any thing alive +here?" + +"Is there any thing?" said Josey. + +"Yes, thousands of animals, all covered up in the snow,--mice in the +ground, and squirrels in the hollow logs, and millions of insects, +frozen up in the bark of the dead trees." + +"And they'll be covered up deeper before morning," said Josey. + +"Yes," said Jonas, "and so would our rafters, if we didn't get them out. +We could not have found half of them, if we had left them till after +this storm." + +The rafters were lying around upon the old snow, wherever small trees, +from which they had been formed, had fallen. They could be distinguished +very plainly now, although covered with an inch of snow. + +Jonas and Josey immediately went to work, getting them together, and +placing them upon the sled. When they had been at work in this way for +some time, Jonas said,-- + +"We shall not get half of them, at this load." + +"Then what shall you do?" said Josey. + +"O, come up again, and get the rest." + +"But then it will be dark before you get home." + +"That will be no matter," said Jonas. + +"Only you'll get lost, and buried up in the snow." + +"No," said Jonas; "there might be some danger to-morrow evening, after +it shall have been snowing four and twenty hours; but not to-night. The +snow will not be more than a foot deep at midnight." + +When they had got as many of the rafters upon the sled as Jonas thought +the oxen could conveniently draw, he secured the load by the chains, and +collected the rest of the sticks together a little, on the ground. Then +he told Josey to climb up to the top of the load and ride. He said that +he would walk along by the side of the oxen. Josey found it more +comfortable going back, than it was coming up, for the wind was now +behind him, and the snow did not drive into his face. Jonas walked along +in the snow, which was now nearly ankle deep, and after they had got +out of the woods, there were some places where it had drifted much +deeper. + +"Do you suppose that uncle has got his frame done?" said Josey. + +"I presume he has left it, if he hasn't finished it," said Jonas. + +"Why? Why couldn't he stay out in the storm to work, as well as we?" + +"Because," said Jonas, "the snow would wet his tools, and fill up his +mortises, and so trouble him a great deal more than it does us. You +can't do carpenter's work out of doors in a snow-storm." + +"Do you mean to go after the other load?" asked Josey. + +"Yes," replied Jonas. + +The boys found, when they reached the yard, that it was as Jonas had +predicted. The farmer and Amos had left their work and gone in. They +were in the shop grinding their tools. The farmer asked Jonas if he had +got all the rafters. + +"No, sir," said Jonas; "there is another load." + +"Well, we'll let them go," said the farmer. "I'm very glad you've got +one load down." + +"I think, sir," said Jonas, "if you have no objection, I'd better go +and get the rest. I know just where they are, and I can get them all +down here before night." + +"You won't have time to get down before it will be dark," said the +farmer. + +"Just as you think best, sir," said Jonas, "but I think I can get out of +the woods before dark; and it is of no consequence about the rest of the +way." + +"Very well," said the farmer, "you may go. Don't you want Amos to go +with you?" + +"No, sir, it isn't necessary." + +"No, sir," said Josey, "I can go with him." + +So Jonas threw off his load, and then turned his team about, and once +more set out for the woods. He and Josey sat upon the sled, talking by +the way,--the storm continuing without much change. The snow gradually +increased in depth, but the oxen walked along without difficulty through +it. Sometimes they came to a drift where the snow was so deep as to come +in a little upon the bars, where the boys were sitting; but in general +the sled runners glided along through it very smoothly. + +The woods appeared still more somber and solitary than they had done +before. The new snow was deeper, and it was falling faster; and, +besides, as it was now nearly sundown, there was only a gloomy sort of +twilight, under the trees. Jonas and Josey loaded the sled as fast as +they could. They put on the last of the rafters, which Jonas had +collected, with great satisfaction. Josey, especially, began to be in +haste to set out on his return. + +"Now," said Jonas, "I'll look around a little, just to see that there +are none left behind." + +"O, no, I wouldn't," said Josey; "let us go. We've got them all, I +know." + +"I want to be sure," said Jonas, "and make thorough work of it." + +So saying, he began wading about in the snow, to see if he could find +any more rafters. He, however, soon satisfied himself that they were all +upon the sled. He then secured his load carefully, with the chains, and +they set out upon their return, as before. + +It grew dark rapidly, and the wind and storm increased. When they came +out of the woods, they found that the air was very thick with the +falling flakes, and the drifts had begun to be quite large, so that +sometimes, in plunging through them, the snow would bank up quite high, +before the sled, against the ends of the rafters. Jonas said that, if +they had been two hours later, they could not have got along. + +"You said that the snow wouldn't be a foot deep by midnight," said +Josey. + +"It is coming faster than I thought it would," said Jonas. "It is almost +a foot deep now." + +The road by which the boys were advancing, led along the bank of the +brook, until it reached nearly to the shore of the pond, and then it +turned off, and went towards the house, at a little distance from the +shore. When they reached this part of the road, the storm, which here +swept down across the pond, beat upon them with unusual fury. The wind +howled; the snow was driven through the air, and seemed to scud along +the ground with great violence; and the drifts, running diagonally +across the road, were once or twice so deep, that the oxen could hardly +get the load through. It was now almost dark, too, and all the traces of +the road were obliterated,--though Jonas knew, by the land and fences, +how to go. + +Just at this time, when the wind seemed to lull for an instant, Jonas +thought he heard a cry. He stopped his oxen to listen. + +"No," said Josey, "I don't believe it is any thing; let us go on." + +In fact, Josey was afraid, and wanted to get home as soon as he could. + +"Wait a minute," said Jonas. He listened again, and in a moment he heard +the cry again. It seemed to be a cry of distress, but he could not +distinguish any words. + +"It is somebody off upon the pond," said Jonas. + +"Is the pond out that way?" asked Josey. + +"Yes," said Jonas, "and I verily believe somebody is out on it, and has +lost his way." + +"Well," said Josey, "let us go home as fast as we can, and tell uncle." + +"No," said Jonas, "that won't do." + +Jonas turned in the direction from which the sound appeared to come, and, +putting his hands up to his mouth in the shape of a speaking-trumpet, +he called out, as loud as he could call,-- + +"Hal--loo!" + +He listened after he had thus called, but there was no answer. In a few +minutes, the cry which he had heard first was repeated, in the same tone +as before. + +"They don't hear me," said Jonas. + +"Hal--loo!" cried out Josey, as loud as he could call. + +There was no answer; but, in a few seconds afterwards, the cry was +repeated, as at first. + +"You see," said Jonas, "that the wind blows this way, and they can't +hear us. We must go out after them." + +Josey tried to dissuade Jonas from this plan; but Jonas said he must go, +and that, as they had oxen with them, there would be no danger. "First," +said he, "we must throw off our load." + +So he and Josey went to work, and threw off the rafters, as fast as they +could. Jonas reserved four or five rafters, which he left upon the sled. +Then he turned the oxen in the direction from which the cry had come. +They continued to hear it at moderate intervals. + +They descended gradually a short distance across the field, and then +they came to the shore of the pond. Here Jonas took off one of his +rafters, and laid it upon the shore, with one end raised up out of the +snow. + +"What is that for?" said Josey. + +"To show us the way back to our road," said Jonas. "I place it so that +it points right back,--the way we came." + +"We can tell by our tracks," said Josey. + +"No," said Jonas; "our tracks will all be covered up before we come +back." + +Jonas then drove down upon the pond, guiding his oxen in the direction +of the cry. He kept Josey upon the sled, so as not to exhaust his +strength. He rode himself, too, as much as he could; but he was obliged +to jump off very frequently, to keep the oxen in a right direction. He +stopped occasionally to put down a rafter, placing it so that its length +should be in the line of his road, and taking care to sink one end into +the snow, so as to leave the other out as far as possible, to prevent +its being all buried up before they should return. Every now and then, +too, he would answer the cry, as loud as he could call. + +At last, after they had toiled along in this way for some time, Jonas +thought that he succeeded in making the travellers hear; for, +immediately after his call, he would hear a calling from them, following +it, and speaking in a different way, though Jonas could not understand +what was said. He kept pressing forward steadily, and, before long, he +found that the travellers were silent, excepting immediately after he +called to them,--when there was a sound as if intended for a response, +though Jonas could not tell what was said. + +"We shall get to them, Josey," said he. + +"Who do you suppose it is?" said Josey. + +"I don't know; very probably some travellers lost upon the pond." + +Jonas was right in his conjecture: as they came nearer and nearer, the +sounds became more distinct. + +"Hal--loo!" vociferated Jonas. + +"Hal--loo!" was the answer. "Can--you--come--and--help--us?" + +"Ay, ay," said Jonas; "we're coming." + +"Ay, ay," shouted Josey, in his loudest voice, which, being more shrill +than that of Jonas, was perhaps heard farther. + +Still nothing was to be seen. Besides being dark, the atmosphere was +thick with snow. So it was not until they got very near to the +travellers, that they could see them at all. They saw at last, however, +some dark-looking object before them. On coming up to it, they found +that it was a horse and sleigh. The horse was in a very deep snow-drift, +and was half lying down. There was a woman in the sleigh, with a small +child in her arms, and a boy, about as large as Josey, standing at the +horse's head. + +"O, I am so glad you have got some oxen, sir!" said the woman. "We +couldn't have got out without oxen." + +"I don't see how the snow happens to be so deep just here." + +"Why, it's that island," said the woman; "I suppose there is an island +off there. I told Isaiah it would be drifted under this island; and now +the horse is all beat out; and, besides, we don't know the way." + +"Well," said Jonas, "I'll hook the oxen on, and we'll soon get you to +the land. Isaiah, you take your horse out of the sleigh." + +So Isaiah went to work to unhook the traces and the hold-backs, in order +to get the horse free from the sleigh. + +"I'll get out," said the woman. + +"No," said Jonas; "you sit still, and keep your child warm." + +As soon as Isaiah had taken the horse out, Jonas told him to lead him +around behind the sleigh, while he turned the shafts over back against +the dasher, and then he brought the oxen up in front of the sleigh. He +first, however, drove the oxen out of the road with the sled, so as to +leave that where it would not be in the way. Then he took two chains +from the sled, and attached the oxen, by means of them, to the forward +part of the sleigh. When all was ready, he put Josey in with the woman, +and let Isaiah lead his horse behind. He then started the oxen. + +"Are you going to leave the sled here?" said Josey. + +"Yes," said Jonas, "we can come and get it after the storm is over." + +The oxen drew the sleigh along very easily. The snow was quite deep for +a little distance, and then it became less so; but it was very dark, and +it was difficult for Jonas to follow his track. The snow blew across it +with great violence, and was fast filling it up. + +However, Jonas soon came to his first rafter, and this encouraged him. +It was a good deal covered with snow, but the end was out, and the +direction of it showed him which way to go, in order to find the next +one. After he had passed this guide, the path was no more to be +distinguished. He went on, however, as nearly as he could in the +direction indicated by the rafter; and, after going the proper distance, +he began to look out before him for the second. He began to be a little +anxious lest he had missed it, when he observed something dark in the +snow, at a little distance on the right. He went to it, and found that +it was the rafter. + +Thus he was upon his track again; but his having so narrowly escaped +missing it, made him afraid that he should not be able to follow the +train very far. His fears proved well grounded. All his efforts to +discover the third rafter were entirely unavailing. + +"'Tis of no consequence," said Jonas; "we can't be far from the shore. +I'll keep straight on, and we shall strike the land somewhere, not far +from the house." + +But it is much easier to get bewildered in a storm than Jonas had +supposed. The darkness, the obscurity produced by the falling snow, the +perfect and unvarying level of the surface, in every direction the same, +and the agitation of mind which even the most resolute must experience +in such a situation, all conspired to make it difficult, in a case like +this, to find the way. Jonas drove on in the direction which he thought +would have led to the shore; but, after going amply far enough to reach +it, no shore was to be seen. The fact was, that he had insensibly +deviated just so far from his course, as to be going along parallel with +the shore, instead of in the direction towards it. Jonas began to be +somewhat concerned, and Josey was in a state of great anxiety and fear. + +He rose up in the sleigh, and attempted to look around; and his fear was +suddenly changed into terror, at seeing a large black animal, like a +bear, coming furiously up behind them, bounding over the snow. Josey +screamed aloud. + +"What is the matter?" said the woman. + +"Why, Franco! Franco!" said Jonas, "how could you get here?" + +It was Franco, true enough. He came swiftly along, +leaping and staggering through the deep snow; and he seemed delighted to +have found Jonas and his party at last. Jonas patted his head. Both +Jonas and Franco were overjoyed to see each other. + +[Illustration: "'That can't be the way, Franco,' said Jonas."] + +Jonas patted Franco's head and praised him, while the dog wagged his +tail, whisked about, and shook the snow off from his back and sides. + +"What dog is that?" said the woman. + +"This is Franco," said Jonas. "Franco Ney is his name. Now we shall have +no trouble in getting out." + +Franco turned off, short, from the road in which Jonas was going. He +knew by instinct which way the shore lay from them. Jonas at first +hesitated about following him. + +"That can't be the way, Franco," said he. + +But Franco, after plunging on a few steps, looked round and whined. +Then he came back towards Jonas again a few steps, looking him full in +the face, and then whisked about again, and went on farther than +before,--and then stopped and looked back, as if to see whether Jonas +was going to follow him. Jonas stood just in advance of the oxen, +hesitating. + +"That must be the way," said Jonas. "Franco knows." + +"No, that isn't the way," said the woman; "the dog don't know any thing +about it. We must go straight forward." + +"No," said Jonas, "it will be safest to follow Franco." And so saying, +he began to turn his oxen in the direction indicated by Franco. + +The woman remonstrated against this with great earnestness. She said +that they should only get entirely lost, for he was leading them +altogether out of their way. But Jonas considered that the +responsibility properly belonged to him, and that he must act according +to his own discretion. So he pushed forward steadily after Franco. + +But his progress was now interrupted by hearing another loud call behind +him, back upon the pond. + +"What's that?" said Josey. + +"Somebody calling," said Jonas. + +"More travellers lost," said the woman.--"O dear me!" + +He listened again, and heard the calls more distinctly. He thought he +could distinguish his own name. He answered the call, and was himself +answered in return by men's voices, which now seemed more distinct and +nearer. + +"I know now who it is," said Jonas. "It is your uncle and Amos, coming +out after us. Franco was with them." + +Jonas was right. In a few minutes, the farmer and Amos came up, and they +were exceedingly surprised when they saw Jonas with his oxen, drawing a +sleigh, with a woman in it, off the pond, instead of a sled load of +rafters from the woods. + +"Jonas," said he with astonishment, "how came you here?" + +"I came to help Isaiah get off the pond," said Jonas. "But how did you +find out where we were?" + +"Franco guided us," said the farmer. "He followed the road along some +time, and then he wanted to turn off suddenly towards the pond. We +wouldn't follow him for some time; but he _would_ go that way, and no +other. When he came to the shore of the pond, we found your rafter laid +there, and that made us think you must have gone upon the ice, but we +couldn't imagine what for. At last, we found where you had left the +sled, and then we began to halloo to you." + +"But, uncle," said Josey, "didn't you see our heap of rafters, by the +road where we turned off?" + +"No," said his uncle. + +"We put a load there." + +"Then they must have got pretty well covered up," said he, "for we +didn't observe them." + +The whole party followed Franco, who led them out to the shore the +shortest way. They took Isaiah and his mother to the house, and gave +them some supper, and let them stay there that night. The next morning, +when Jonas got up, he found that it was clearing away; and when, after +breakfast, he looked out upon the pond, to see if he could see any thing +of his sled, he observed, away out half a mile from shore, two short +rows of stakes, sticking up in the snow, not far from on island. The +body of the sled was wholly buried up and concealed from view. + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +A FIRE + +The last of February drew nigh, which was the time fixed upon for Josey +to go home. He had remained with his uncle much longer than his father +had at first intended; but now they wanted him to return, before the +roads broke up in the spring. + +The evening before Josey was to go, the farmer was sitting by the fire, +when Jonas came in from the barn. + +"Jonas," said the farmer, "I have got to write a letter to my brother, +to send by Josey to-morrow; why won't you take a sheet of paper and +write for me, and I'll tell you what to say. You are rather handier with +the pen than I am." + +Jonas accordingly brought a sheet of paper and a pen and ink, and took +his place at a table at the back side of the room, and the farmer +dictated to him as follows: + + + "Dear Brother, + + "I take this opportunity to inform you that we are all alive + and well, and I hope that you may be the same. This will be + handed to you by Josey, who leaves us to-morrow, according + to your orders. We have been very glad to have him with us, + though he hasn't had opportunity to learn much. However, I + suppose he'll fetch up again in his learning, when he gets + home. He has behaved pretty fair on the whole, as boys go. + He will make a smart man, I've no doubt, though he don't + seem to take much to farming. + + "We hope to have you, and your wife and children, come and + pay us a visit this coming summer,--say in raspberry time, + which will be just after haying." + +"There," said the farmer, "now fold it up, and write my brother's name +on the back, and to-morrow morning I'll look it over, and sign my name +to it." + +Jonas accordingly folded the letter up, and wrote upon the back, _Joseph +Jones, Esq., Bristol._ When it was done, he laid it on the table. + +Amos came and took it up. "Jonas," said he, "I wish I could write as +well as that." + +The farmer had a daughter whose name was Isabella. She was about +eighteen years old. She was at this time spinning in a corner of the +room, near a window. She came forward to look at the letter. + +"Yes, Jonas," said she, "you write beautifully. I wish you'd teach me to +write like that." + +"Very well," said Jonas, "that I can do." + +"How can you do it?" said Isabella. + +"Why, we can have an evening school, these long evenings," replied +Jonas. "You get through your spinning in time to have half an hour for +school before bed-time." + +"Half an hour wouldn't be enough," said Amos. + +"O, yes," replied Jonas; "half an hour every day will amount to a great +deal in three months." + +"Yes," said the farmer, "that's a very good plan; you shall have an +evening school, and Jonas shall teach you;--an excellent plan." + +"What shall we study?" said Isabella. + +"Whatever you want to learn," replied Jonas. "You say you want to learn +to write; that will do for one thing." + +"And I want to learn more arithmetic," said Amos. + +"Very well," said Jonas. "We'll have an evening school, half an hour +every evening, beginning at eight o'clock. Have you got any school-books +in the house, Isabella?" + +Isabella said there were some on a shelf up stairs. + +"Well," said Jonas, "bring them to me, and I'll look over them, and form +a plan." + +Isabella brought Jonas the school-books, and he looked them over, but +said nothing then about his plan. He reflected upon the subject until +the next day, because he did not wish to propose any thing to them, +until it was well matured. + +The next evening, at eight o'clock, Isabella put up her spinning, and +took a seat by the fire, to hear Jonas's plan. Amos sat by a table at +the back side of the room. The farmer's wife was sitting upon the +settle, knitting; and the farmer himself was asleep in his arm-chair, at +the opposite corner. + +"Now," said Jonas, "I like the plan of having an evening school, and I +am willing to be either teacher or pupil; only, if I am teacher, I must +_direct_, and you must both do as I say." + +"No," said Isabella, "you mustn't direct entirely; we'll talk over the +plans, all together, and then do as we all agree." + +"No," said Jonas, "I have no idea of having all school-time spent in +talking. I'm perfectly willing that either of you should be teacher, and +I'll obey. I'll set copies, or do any thing else you please, only I +won't have any responsibility about the arrangements. Or, if you wish, +I'm willing to be teacher; but then, in that case, I must direct every +thing, just as I think is best,--and you must do just as I say." + +"Well," said Isabella, "what are your orders? We'll obey." + +Amos and Oliver also agreed that they would obey his directions. Jonas +then consented to take the station of teacher, and he proceeded to give +his directions. + +"I have been looking at the books," said he, "and I find we haven't got +but one of each kind." + +"Then we can't have any classes in our school," said Oliver. + +"Yes we can," said Jonas. "The first evening, Amos may take the +arithmetic and the slate, and cipher, while Isabella writes, and Oliver +studies a good long spelling lesson. Then, the second evening, Amos +shall study the spelling lesson, and Isabella cipher, and Oliver write." + +"But I don't want to cipher," said Isabella. "I don't like arithmetic; I +never could understand it." + +"You promised to obey my orders," said Jonas. + +"Well," said Isabella, "I'll try; but I know I can't do the sums." + +"Then, the third evening," said Jonas, "Isabella shall study the +spelling lesson, Oliver the arithmetic, and Amos take the writing-book." + +"What, ain't you going to have but one writing-book?" + +"No," said Jonas; "one is enough; because you won't all write the same +evening. So you can write one page, Oliver another, and Amos the third." + +"No," said Isabella; "I don't like that. I want every scholar to have +his own book." + +"If you'll be the teacher," said Jonas, "you can have it so." + +"But I want to have it so, and you be the teacher," said Isabella. + +"No," said Jonas; "if I have the responsibility of teacher, I must have +the power too." + +"Well," said Isabella, "I suppose we had better submit." + +"But what's the reason, Jonas," said Oliver, "that you ain't willing +that we should all have writing-books of our own?" + +"There are two or three reasons," said Jonas. "But it is very poor +policy for a schoolmaster to spend his time in convincing his scholars +that his regulations are good. He must make them obey, and let them see +that the regulations turn out to be good in the end." + +"But it seems to me, you've grown arbitrary all at once," said Amos, +with a smile. + +"Yes," said Jonas, "I'm always arbitrary when I'm in command; if you +mean, by arbitrary, determined to have my own way. I won't _usurp_ any +power; but, if you put it upon me, I shall use it, you may depend upon +it." + +Jonas had two good reasons why he wanted to have only one writing-book +for all his scholars. One was, that he thought it uncertain how long +their school plan would last, and he did not want to trouble the farmer +to look up some paper, and then make a parade of preparing so many +writing-books; and then, perhaps, the whole plan might be abandoned, +when they had written four or five pages in each. And, therefore, as he +found one old writing-book of Oliver's, half full, he determined to make +the blank leaves of that answer for all. + +But he had another reason still. He thought that, if all his scholars +should write, in succession, in the same book, their writing would come +into such close juxtaposition and comparison, that each one would be +stimulated to write with greater attention and care; as each one would +wish his or her own page to look as neatly written as the rest. He knew +that Isabella, when it came to her turn to write, would naturally, +without any thing being said, look at Amos's work on the page before, +and that she would observe its excellences and its faults, and that her +page would probably be written better, in consequence of her criticism +upon his. + +Thus, though Jonas had good reasons, he chose not to give them. He +preferred, if he was going to be teacher, that they should not be in the +habit of expecting him to give reasons for all his directions. So he +simply expressed his decision upon the subject, by saying,-- + +"You may do just as you please about making me teacher; but, if you put +me into the office, you must expect to have to obey." + +"That's right, Jonas," said the farmer's wife: "I am glad to see you +make 'em mind." + +It was settled, without any further discussion, that Jonas's plan in +regard to the writing should be adopted, and that his scholars would +obey his directions in other things, whatever they might be. Jonas then +proceeded as follows:-- + +"Now, you see that, if we go on so three evenings, you will all have got +three lessons, and the fourth evening we will have for recitation. I +will hear you spell, and examine your writing, and see if your sums are +done right." + +Jonas's exposition of the plan of his school was here interrupted by the +farmer's wife, who, as she sat at the end of the settle towards the +fire, had her face somewhat turned towards the window, and she saw a +light at a distance near the horizon. + +"What light is that?" said she. + +Jonas and all his school rose, and went to the window to see. + +The window looked towards the pond. They looked off across a sort of +bay, beyond which there was a long point of land,--the one which the +boys had had to sail around when they went to mill. Just over this land, +and near the extremity of it, a light was to be seen, as if from a fire, +beyond and behind the land. + +"That's exactly in the direction of the village," said Amos. + +"It is a house on fire, I know," said Oliver,--"or a store." + +"It looks like a fire, certainly," said Jonas. + +"Yes," said the farmer's wife; "and you must go, boys, and help put it +out." + +"It is several miles off," said Amos. + +"Yes, but put Kate into the light sleigh, and she'll carry you there +over the pond in twenty minutes.--Here, husband, husband," she +continued, calling to the farmer, who was still asleep in his chair, +"here's a fire." + +The farmer opened his eyes, and sat upright in his chair, and asked what +was the matter. + +"Here's a fire," she repeated, "over in the village; hadn't the boys +better go and put it out?" + +The farmer rose, walked very deliberately to the window, looked a minute +at the light, and then said,-- + +"It's nothing but the moon." + +"The moon?--no, it can't be the moon, husband," said she. "The moon +don't rise there." + +"Yes," said the farmer, "that's just about the place." + +"Besides," said she, "it isn't time for the moon to rise. It don't rise +now till midnight." + +He turned away, and walked slowly across the room, to where the almanac +was hanging. He seemed very sleepy. He turned over the leaves, and then +said, "Moon rises--eight hours and fifty minutes; that is,--let's +see,--ten minutes before nine." + +"Well," said his wife, "and 'tisn't much past eight now." + +"It's the moon, you may depend," said the farmer; "perhaps our time is a +little out." So he returned to the chair, sat down in it, and put his +feet out towards the fire. + +"Well," said his wife, "we shall know pretty soon; for, if it is the +moon, it will soon rise higher." + +So they all stood a few minutes, and watched the light. It seemed to +enlarge a little, and to grow somewhat brighter; but it did not move +from its place. + +"It certainly must be a fire," said the farmer's wife again; "and I +wish, husband, that you'd let the boys take Kate in the sleigh, and go +along the pond and see." + +"I've no objection," said the farmer, "if they've a mind to take that +trouble; but they'll find nothing but the moon, they may depend." + +"Let's go," said Amos. + +"Very well," said Jonas; "I'm ready." + +"We'll go too, boys," said the farmer's wife, "Isabella and I. You can +put in two seats. There are no hills, and Kate will take us all along +like a bird. I never saw a fire in my life." + +The boys hastened to the barn, and got Kate out of the stall. Franco, +who knew that something extraordinary must have taken place, though he +could not tell what, came out from his place, leaped about, and +indicated, by his actions, that, wherever they were going, he meant to +go too. + +The sleigh was soon harnessed. They drove up to the door, and found +Isabella and her mother all ready. They took their places upon the back +seat, while Amos and Jonas sat upon another seat, which they had placed +in, before. Oliver came running with a bucket, which he put in under the +forward seat, and then he jumped on behind, standing upon the end of the +runner, and clinging to the corner of the sleigh, close to Isabella's +shoulder. + +Kate set off at a rapid trot down the road, which led to the pond. The +sleigh went very easily, for the road was smooth. There had been rain +and thaws lately, and cold weather after them, so that the surface of +the road had melted, and then become frozen again; and this made it +icy. They found the ice of the pond in the same state. The rain and the +thaws had melted the snow, upon the top of the ice, and made it a sheet +of water. Then this had frozen again, so that now the surface of the +pond was almost every where hard and smooth; and when they came down +upon it, and turned to go across the bay, the horse being at his full +speed, the sleigh swept round sideways over the ice, in a great circle, +and made the farmer's wife very much afraid that she should be upset. It +seemed as if the sleigh was trying to get before the horse. + +However, Amos, who was driving, contrived to get the horse ahead again, +and then they went on with great speed. It was a mile across to the end +of the point of land; but Kate carried them over this space in a very +few minutes. As they drew near to the point, they watched the light. It +did not rise at all. + +"It cannot be the moon," said Jonas, "for it is now full a quarter of an +hour since we first saw it." + +"Yes," said the farmer's wife, "I knew it couldn't be the moon." + +Just at this moment, the sleigh came around the point with great speed, +and brought into view a very bright but distant fire, far before them. + +"It is a fire!" they all exclaimed. + +"But it isn't in the direction of the village," said Jonas. + +"It must be some farm-house," said the farmer's wife, "on the shore." + +"No," said Jonas, "I think it is on the ice." + +It very soon became evident that the fire was upon the ice. It was +plainly a large fire, though the distance made it look rather small. It +was very bright, and it flashed up high; and a cloud of illuminated +smoke arose from it, and floated off to the northward. The party in the +sleigh could soon perceive, also, a number of small, bright spots near +it, which seemed to be in motion about the fire. They looked like the +moons about the planet Jupiter, seen through a telescope. + +"I wonder what it is," said Isabella. + +"I presume," said Jonas, "that the boys are out skating, and this is a +fire on the ice, which they have built." + +"And are those the boys moving about?" asked Oliver. + +"Yes," said Jonas. "When they are near the fire, the light shines upon +their faces." + +As they rode on, it became gradually more and more evident that Jonas +was right. The forms of the skaters, as they stood before the fire, or +came wheeling up to it, became more and more distinct, and, in fact, the +ringing sound of the skates soon became audible. The horse, in the mean +time, went on, with great speed, directly towards the fire. When they +arrived near the fire, the skaters came around them in great numbers, +wondering who could have come. Jonas asked them where they got the wood +to build their fire. + +"All along the shore," said a large boy, with a long stick in his hand. +"Let's go and get some more, boys," he added, "and brighten up our +fire." + +So saying, he wheeled round and skated away, the whole crowd of skaters, +small and great, following him at full speed. As they swept round by the +fire, the light glared brightly upon their faces and forms, but they +soon disappeared from view in the darkness beyond; only Jonas could +hear the sound of their skates, ringing over the ice, as they receded. + +"What a great, hot fire!" said Oliver. + +"Yes," said Isabella, "I never saw such a large fire on the ice. I don't +see how they got all the wood." + +"I suppose," said Jonas, "that they got out the wood from the forest, +along the shore, and threw it out upon the ice, before they put on their +skates, and then they could easily bring it to the fire. But hark! they +are coming back again." + +The fire was so bright where they were, and it flashed so strongly upon +the ice around, that they could not see the skaters until they came +pretty near. The dark figures, however, soon began to appear. The +foremost was a tall young man, who came forward with great speed, +pushing before him a long and slender log, half decayed and dry. One end +he held before him in his hands, and the other glided along upon the +smooth ice towards the fire. + +There followed close behind him another skater, with the fragment of an +old stump upon his shoulder; then several others, with branches, +sticks, dry bushes, and fragments of every shape and size. These they +piled upon the fire as they swept up alongside of it, and then wheeled +away back from the heat which radiated from it. Two large boys came on, +bringing a long log between them, one at each end. It looked large, but +it was really not very heavy, as it was hollow and decayed. They hove it +up, with great effort, upon the fire, and its fall upon the heap threw +up a large, bright column of sparks and flame. Another boy had the top +of a young spruce, which he had cut off with his knife, by dint of great +labor; it made a great roaring and crackling when it was put upon the +fire. And, finally, behind all the rest, there came a little boy not so +big as Oliver, tugging away at a long branch, which he dragged behind +him, and put it upon the fire too. + +"Well," said the farmer's wife, after a little time, "we mustn't stay +here much longer." + +"We'll drive around the fire, in one great sweep," said Jonas. + +So he started the horse on, and took a great circuit about the fire. The +skaters went with him on each side of the sleigh. Then they turned +their course towards home again. The light of the fire shone upon the +distant point of land, and illuminated it faintly, but in a very +beautiful manner, and showed Jonas which way to drive. + +Isabella turned back her head repeatedly, to look at the fire, as they +rode on and left it far behind them. It seemed to grow smaller and +smaller, as they receded; and at length, when Jonas turned around the +point of land, it disappeared entirely. In a few minutes afterward, the +moon arose, and lighted them the rest of the way home. + +[Illustration] + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +THE CARDING-MILL + +Jonas was often sent away to transact business for the farmer. He was a +very excellent hand to do business. It requires several qualities to +make a boy good at business. He must be gentlemanly in his manners, so +as to speak to the persons that he is sent to, in a respectful and +proper manner; he must be faithful, so as not to neglect what is +intrusted to him; and he must be patient and persevering. Then he must +also have considerable judgment and discretion; for when he is sent away +from home on business, he must often be placed in circumstances that are +unforeseen, and where he must act without instructions. In such cases, +he will have to exercise his own judgment and discretion. Jonas was +placed in such circumstances at one time, when he was sent to the +carding-mill to get some rolls for Isabella. + +The rolls which Isabella wanted were rolls of wool, as they are prepared +at the mill ready for spinning. The wool is carded very fine, and then, +by curious machinery, it is rolled out into rolls about three feet long, +and as large round as a whip-handle at the middle. These rolls Isabella +used to spin into yarn, at her spinning-wheel. + +Isabella had spun nearly all her rolls, and she wanted Jonas to carry +some wool to the carding-mill, and get some more. The carding-mill was +not in the village upon the outlet stream; but it was upon another +stream, which emptied into the pond, instead of flowing from it. It was +the same stream that flowed by the land which Jonas and Oliver had +cleared when he first came to live with the farmer; only the mill was at +some distance from the mouth of the stream, back towards the high land. +It was more than two miles, by the road, from the farmer's house. + +The farmer told Jonas where to get the wool, and then gave him some more +business, at a place in the woods, about two miles beyond the mill. +Oliver wanted to go too, and his father gave him leave. Oliver always +liked to go to the mill, as the machine for carding the wool was a great +curiosity. + +Jonas put up the wool in a very large bundle, which almost filled up the +bottom of the sleigh. Jonas himself sat upon the seat, with his feet +under the bundle; but Oliver sat upon the bundle. He said it made a very +soft seat. + +They rode along pleasantly towards the mill. The snow-drifts were very +high in some places on each side of the road; and the fences and walls +were almost buried up. + +"I wish that Josey was here," said Oliver. "I think that he would like +to see the carding-mill very much indeed." + +"Yes," said Jonas. + +"Only," replied Oliver, "perhaps it would be dangerous to take him." + +"Why?" said Jonas. + +"Why, because," said Oliver, "I suppose he would touch the machinery, +and perhaps get his hands torn off." + +"Yes," said Jonas, "boys sometimes do get very badly hurt in +mills,--careless and disobedient boys especially." + +"I think that he is a careless and disobedient boy," said Oliver. + +[Illustration: "He said it made a very soft seat."] + +"Yes, but it is his misfortune, rather than his fault," replied Jonas. + +"His misfortune?" repeated Oliver. + +"Yes," said Jonas; "his father's situation is such, that it is very +unfortunate for him. I expect he is very unhappily situated at home, in +many respects." + +"How?" said Oliver. + +"Why, in the first place," said Jonas, "he lives, I'm told, in a large +and handsome house." + +"Yes," said Oliver. + +"And then," continued Jonas, "your aunt, I have heard, is a very fine +woman, and has a great deal of company." + +"Well," said Oliver. + +"And then," continued Jonas, "they can buy Josey any thing he wants, for +playthings." + +"Yes," said Oliver; "he told me he had got a rocking-horse. But I don't +call that being unfortunate." + +"It is very fortunate for the father and mother, but such a kind of life +is generally unfortunate for the child. You see, if a man has been +industrious himself, when he was a boy, and has grown up to be a good +business man, and to acquire a great deal of property, and builds a +good house, and has plenty of books, and journeys, it is all very well +for him. He can bear it, but it very often spoils his children." + +"Why does it spoil his children?" asked Oliver. + +"In the first place, it makes them conceited and vain,--not always, but +often. The children of wealthy men are very often conceited. They wear +better clothes than some other boys, and have more books and prettier +playthings; and so they become vain, and think that they are very +important, when, in fact, they owe every thing to their fathers. + +"Then, besides," continued Jonas, "they don't form good habits of +industry. Their fathers don't make them work, and so they don't acquire +any habits of industry, and patience, and perseverance." + +"If I was a man, and had ever so much money," said Oliver, "I would make +my boys work." + +"That is very doubtful," said Jonas. + +"Why is it doubtful?" asked Oliver. + +"Because," said Jonas, "you would be very busy, and couldn't attend to +it. It would be a great deal more trouble to make your boys do any +thing, than it would be to hire another man to do it; and so you would +hire a man, to save your trouble." + +"Yes; but then, Jonas, farmers are very busy, and yet they make their +boys work." + +"True," replied Jonas; "but farmers are busy about such kind of work as +that their boys can help them do it,--so they can keep them at work +without any special trouble. But men of property are employed in such +kind of business as boys cannot do; and so they must work, if they work +at all, at something else; and that makes a good deal of trouble." + +"Then I'd send my boys to some farmer, and let him make them work," said +Oliver. + +"Yes," said Jonas, "that would do pretty well." + +So saying, Jonas stopped the horse a moment, and stepped out of the +sleigh. He was at the foot of a long, steep hill in the woods. He was +going to walk up. Oliver remained in the sleigh, and rode. When they +reached the top, Jonas got in again, and they rode on. + +"But then, Jonas," said Oliver, "there is one thing to be thought of, +and that is, that rich men's sons will not have to work when they grow +up; and so they don't need so much to grow industrious." + +"O, yes, they will," said Jonas. + +"Why, Josey told me that he didn't expect to work when he should be a +man." + +"No, he doesn't _expect_ to work, but he'll find that it is different +from what he had expected, when he grows up." + +"How?" said Oliver. + +"Why, a great many rich men's boys find, when they get to be twenty-one, +that they have to go out into the world, and earn their own living, +without any money." + +"Why?" said Oliver; "won't their fathers give them any money?" + +"Their fathers cannot generally give them enough to support them," said +Jonas, "even if they are disposed to do it; because, you see, they have +their own families still to support. Besides, if they were to divide +their property at once among all their children, it would only be a +small portion for each one. It wouldn't be enough for the boys to live +as expensively as they have been living while at home. Therefore, as +fast as they grow up young men, they have to go away into the world, +and earn their own money by some kind of work, head work or hand work." + +Jonas would probably have given Oliver some further explanations on this +subject, were it not that about this time they arrived at the mill. +Oliver tied the horse at a post, while Jonas took out the great bundle +of wool, and went in. Oliver followed immediately after him. + +The machinery made a heavy, rumbling sound, which grew louder and louder +as the boys went up stairs. Jonas opened a door into a large room, and +at this the noise increased very loudly, so that Oliver and Jonas could +hardly hear each other talk. Jonas put down the bundle of wool by the +door, and then he and Oliver went in among the wheels and machinery. +There were a great many separate machines at different parts of the +room, with girls tending them. There was a large, round beam of wood, +overhead, slowly revolving. There were wheels upon it in different +parts, with straps passing around these wheels, and also around other +wheels connected with the machines below. + +Oliver saw Jonas walk to a man who was writing at a desk in the corner +of a room, and say something to him. Oliver could not hear what it was. +Jonas pointed, while he was talking to the man, to the great bundle of +wool. Presently the man came and took the bundle of wool, and dragged it +off to one of the machines, which was not in motion. He called a girl to +come and tend it. + +At one end of the machine was a broad band of cloth, passing around two +rollers. One roller was close to the wheels and other large rollers of +the machine itself. The other was back from it a little; and the cloth, +being extended from one of these to the other, formed a sort of flat +table just before the machine. + +The girl who came to tend the machine immediately opened the great +bundle of wool, and then she took up a handful of it, and began to +spread it evenly over the cloth. When she had got the cloth pretty +nearly covered she pulled a handle pretty near her, and that, in some +mysterious way or other, set the machinery a-going. The cloth, with all +the wool upon it, began to move towards the great rollers of the +machine. These rollers were covered with card teeth, and the wool, as it +was drawn in between them, was carded fine, and spread evenly over all +the surface; and in a few minutes Jonas and Oliver found that it began +to come out at the other end, in the shape of rolls. One roll after +another dropped out, in a very singular manner. Oliver thought that it +was a very curious machine indeed, to take in wool in that way at one +end, and drop it out in beautiful long rolls at the other. + +"Now," said Jonas, after a few minutes, to Oliver, "I am going away +farther, and shall come back here in about an hour. You may go with me, +or you may stay here,--just which you prefer." + +"Well," said Oliver, "I'll stay here." + +"Good-by, then," said Jonas; "I shall be back again in about an hour." + +So Jonas went down stairs, and Oliver began to walk about the room a +little. There was a window in the back side of the room, which he +happened to pass pretty near to, and he stopped to look out at it. He +saw the dam and the waterfall below. There was a large pond above the +fall, which was made by the dam. The pond was frozen over, and the ice +was covered with snow. The water was open for a short distance above the +edge of the fall, and it was also open below the fall, where there was a +great foaming, and tumbling, and whirling of currents. + +Oliver looked at it a moment, and then he concluded that it would be +better for him to go with Jonas. + +"I have seen," said he to himself, "pretty much all of the machinery, +and I shall be very tired of waiting here an hour." + +So he concluded that he would run down, quick, and see if Jonas had +gone. + +When he got down stairs, and out at the door, he found that the sleigh +was not at the post. He ran around the corner, and saw Jonas at some +distance, just at the foot of a hill. He ran after him, calling, +"Jo-nas! Jo-nas!" + +Just at this time, Jonas stopped to let his horse walk up the hill, and +so he heard Oliver calling; for the bells did not make so much noise +when the horse was walking, as they did before. + +So Jonas stopped until Oliver overtook him; and they went on the rest of +the way together. + +[Illustration] + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +DIFFICULTY + +Although it was winter when the boys were taking this ride, yet the sun +was shining in a very warm and pleasant manner, and the snow was every +where softening in the fields and melting in the roads, indicating that +the spring was coming on. + +There was a little stream of water, coming down the hill in the middle +of the road, and forming a long pool at the bottom. Jonas turned his +horse to one side, to avoid this pool of water, and waited until Oliver +came up. + +"Well, Oliver," said he,--"tired of the mill already?" + +"Why, no," said Oliver, "only I thought that, on the whole, I'd rather +go with you. I didn't think that you were going to be gone so long." + +"It is about two miles," said Jonas. + +"Where are you going?" said Oliver. + +"O, to see about some logs. I thought you heard your father tell me to +go and see about some logs." + +"What about the logs?" said Oliver. + +"Why, to make the boards of, for the barn." + +"O," replied Oliver, "I didn't know that." + +"Yes," continued Jonas, "when we want boards, we have to go to somebody +who owns some pine timber in the woods, and get him to cut down some of +them, and haul them to the mill. Then they saw them up, and make +boards." + +"What mill?" said Oliver. + +"At that saw-mill near the carding-mill. The mill down in the village, +you know, is a grist-mill." + +By this time, the boys had got to the top of the hill, and they got into +the sleigh, and rode along. Presently, they came to a place where Jonas +was going to turn off, into a sort of by-road which led away into the +woods, where the pine-trees grew. The man that owned the trees lived +pretty near, in a farm-house. + +"Is that the road that we are going in?" asked Oliver. + +"Yes," said Jonas, "but it does not look very promising." + +The road was filled up nearly full of snow. It had been hard, so that +they could travel upon it pretty well; but the warm sun had softened the +snow so much, that the horses' feet sunk down into it, in some places, +very deep. However, Jonas went along as well as he could. + +"Let us get out and walk, Jonas," said Oliver. + +"No," said Jonas, "that will not do much good; for it is the weight of +the horse himself, that makes him sink into the snow, not the weight of +the sleigh." + +So the boys both continued to ride in the sleigh. They soon came into +the woods, where, the ground being sheltered by the trees above, the +snow lay more evenly upon it; and, though the horse slumped a little, +yet he got along very comfortably. + +At length, however, they came out of the woods into an opening. The road +went along under a high bank, with a deep brook on the other side. The +wind, during the storms in the winter, had blown in over this bank, and +filled up the road entirely. + +"Now," said Jonas, "I am afraid we're in difficulty." + +"Why?" said Oliver; "is that a very bad place?" + +"Yes," said Jonas, "it looks like a very bad place." + +Oliver saw that the snow was very deep on the upper side of the road, +and that it sloped away in such a manner that it would be very difficult +for them to get along, even if the road-way was hard. + +"Perhaps it is hard," said Oliver. + +"No," said Jonas, "I think it cannot be, for the bank slopes to the +south, and the sun has been shining upon it all day. However, we must +try it." + +The horse hesitated a moment when he came to this place, for he knew by +instinct that it would be very hard for him to get through it. + +"Come, General," said Jonas. "Though, stop a moment, Oliver; perhaps we +had better get out and walk, or the sleigh may upset." + +So they got out. Oliver walked by the horse, keeping on the upper side +of the road. Jonas went behind, taking hold of the back part of the +sleigh, so as to hold it in case it should tip down too far. They went +on thus for some distance tolerably well. The horse sometimes got in +pretty far, and for a moment would plunge and stagger, as if he could +hardly get along; but then he would work his way out, and go on a little +farther. + +At length, however, the old General came to a full stop. He sank down, +shoulders under, in the snow. The more he struggled to get free, the +deeper he got in. Jonas stepped on before him, and patted him on the +head, and tried to quiet him. + +"Jonas," said Oliver, "let us stop; I don't believe we can go any +farther." + +"Nor I," said Jonas. "At least I don't think we can get the old General +any farther." + +"Nor back again either," said Oliver, "as I see." + +The boys stood still, looking upon the horse a moment, utterly at a loss +what to do. + +"Oliver," said Jonas, "should you be willing to stay here and take care +of the horse, while I go on and see about the logs?" + +"Why--I--don't know," said Oliver. "I'm afraid he won't stand quiet." + +"O, I shall get him out of the snow, first," said Jonas, "and take him +to some level place, where he'll stand well." + +"How shall you get him out?" asked Oliver. + +"Why, we will unharness him first," said Jonas, "and then draw the +sleigh back out of the way." + +So Jonas began to unbuckle the straps of the harness, in order to +liberate the horse. Oliver tried to help him, but he could not do much, +the horse was so deep in the snow. And, besides, he was standing, or +rather lying, in such a position, that many parts of the harness were +drawn so tense, that Oliver had not strength enough to unbuckle them. + +However, Jonas at length got the sleigh separated from the horse, and +drew it back out of the way. He trampled the snow down around the horse, +as much as he could, and then the horse, with a leap and a plunge, +recovered his footing. He stood deep in the snow yet, however. + +"Now," said Jonas, "where shall we put him till I come back?" + +Oliver looked across the brook, and saw there, upon a bank, under some +trees, a spot which was bare. The reason why it was bare was, that the +snow had nearly all blown off during the storms; and then the sun, which +had been shining for some days so pleasantly, had melted away what there +had been left; and now the ground was bare, and almost dry. But the +difficulty was to get to it; for it was upon the other side of the +stream, and the bed of the stream was filled with water and ice. + +"I wouldn't lead him over there," said Oliver. "I think you had better +go home, and not do any thing about the timber." + +"No," said Jonas. + +"Why, father will not think you did wrong to give it up, when we got +into such trouble," said Oliver. + +"No, I don't suppose he would; but I'd rather carry him back an answer, +if I can." + +"Then let me go with you," said Oliver. + +"Why, it is a long and very hard walk," said Jonas. "There is no work so +hard as travelling in soft snow, without snow-shoes. If we had a pair of +snow-shoes, we could get along very well." + +"Did you ever see any snow-shoes?" said Oliver. + +"No," replied Jonas, "but I have read about them. They are very large +and flat, and your foot stands in the middle of them, and so presses +them upon the snow; and they are so large that they will not sink in +very far." + +While Jonas was saying this, he was climbing down to the bank of the +brook, with a pole in his hands, with which he was going to see if he +could find firm footing, for the horse to go across. + +"Yes," said he, punching his pole down to the bottom of the brook; "yes, +it isn't deep. The old General will get down here very well, I think." + +So he and Oliver trampled a sort of path down to the brook, and then +they led the old General down. He seemed a little reluctant, at first, +to step into the water. However, he soon went in, and walked over, and +Oliver fastened him to a tree, so that he could stand upon the bare +piece of ground. Jonas then pulled the sleigh out of the road, so that +it should not be in the way, if any body should come along with any +other team; then he bade Oliver good-by, and went on alone. + +Jonas traveled along, as well as he could, through the snow, though he +found it very laborious walking. In some places, he found hard footing +for some distance; but then he would sink down again for several +successive steps. After a short distance, he got out of the deep drift, +which had prevented the horse from going on, and then he could advance +faster. There was a singular-looking track in the road. It consisted of +a smooth groove in the snow, as if the end of a large log had been +dragged along. + +It was, in fact, made by a log which had been drawn along that road +towards the mill. One end of the log had been placed upon a sled, and +the other left to drag along in the snow; and this was what made the +smooth groove, which Jonas observed. He did not see it before, because +the man who drove the sled had turned out of the main road, into a +by-way across the fields, to avoid the deep drift where Jonas's horse +got into difficulty. + +Jonas found it pretty good walking after this. The snow was not so deep +as it had been; and the path which the log had made was hard and smooth. +He concluded that it must have been made by such a log, and, of course, +if he followed it, that it would take him directly to the house of the +man whom he wanted to see. + +After walking about a mile, he came to the house. It was a small +farm-house, in the woods. There were a great many large logs, lying each +side of the road near it, ready to be drawn to the mill. + +Jonas went up towards the door, which was in the end of the house. As he +drew near to it, he saw a boy's head behind an enormous pile of wood. He +went around it, and found that the boy was about as big as Jonas +himself. He was rolling down a large stick of wood, and had an axe in +his hand, as if he was going to chop it. + +"Does Mr. Woodman live here?" said Jonas. + +"Yes," said the boy; "but he isn't at home." + +"Where is he?" said Jonas. + +"He is out in the lot, falling trees," said the boy. + +"How far is it from here?" asked Jonas. + +"O, about a good half mile." + +"Which way?" said Jonas. + +"Out yonder," said the boy; and he pointed back of the house, where a +rough sled-road led into the woods. "You can hear his axe." + +Jonas listened, and he heard distinctly the sound of an axe in the woods +behind; presently it ceased. Immediately after, there was a prolonged +crash, which echoed back from the mountains. + +"There goes a tree," said the boy. + +Jonas was sorry to have to leave Oliver so long, but he wished to +persevere until he should find the man, as he knew that the farmer was +very desirous of having the business done that day. So he told the boy +that he believed he would go and see if he could find Mr. Woodman; and +then he set off in the direction which the boy had indicated. + +This road was so sheltered by the woods, that the snow was not much +drifted; and, besides, it had been kept open by the teams, which had +been employed in hauling out pine logs. When Jonas got in to the end of +the road, he heard the strokes of the axe, at a short distance on the +right. + +He looked that way, and found that the man was standing at the foot of a +tall tree, of very large size; and he was cutting through the trunk of +it, about two feet from the top of the snow. He saw that it was nearly +off, and so he thought he would wait a moment, where he was, and see it +fall. He observed that Mr. Woodman occasionally looked up the stem of +the tree, between the strokes of his axe, as if to see whether it was +beginning to fall. + +After a few strokes more, he stepped back from the foot of the tree to +one side. Jonas wondered why he left his work before the tree fell. He +looked up to the top of it, and he perceived that it was moving. It was +bending over very slowly indeed. It moved, however, faster and faster, +and presently began to come tearing down between the branches of the +other trees, and, at length, descended with a mighty crash to the +ground. Jonas thought that it was a very fine spectacle indeed. He +wished that Oliver had been there to see it. + +Jonas then went to Mr. Woodman, and transacted his business +successfully, according to the farmer's directions. Then he turned +around, and began to walk back, as fast as he could go. + +"I am afraid," said he to himself, "that Oliver is almost out of +patience waiting for me." + +[Illustration] + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +A SURPRISE + +Jonas walked on until he came out of the woods, at the house where he +had seen the boy cut wood. As he approached the place, he saw that the +boy was there still; but there was a man with him. The man had a +goad-stick in his hand. + +"He is driving a team somewhere," said Jonas to himself. "I wonder where +his oxen are." + +A moment afterwards, Jonas came in sight of the oxen, which were in the +road, having been hid from his view before, by the wood pile. + +The man and the boy looked at Jonas, as he walked towards them. The man +smiled a little, as if he knew Jonas; but Jonas thought that he had +never seen him before. + +"Well, Jonas," said the man, "did you find Mr. Woodman?" + +"Yes, sir," replied Jonas. He wondered how the man happened to know his +name. + +"I'm glad of it," said he; "and you'd better make haste back. Rollo is +almost tired of waiting for you." + +"Oliver, you mean," said Jonas. + +"No," said the man,--"Rollo; he said his name was Rollo." + +"Rollo?" said Jonas; "his name is Oliver. I don't see what made him tell +you that his name was Rollo." + +So saying, Jonas walked thoughtfully away, wondering what this could +mean. He had never known Oliver to do any such thing before. Oliver, he +thought, would not tell a falsehood on any account. He was not inclined +to say any thing of that kind by way of jest. He was a very sober and +sedate, as well as honest boy. Besides, he could not think what should +have put Rollo into Oliver's head. He did not recollect that he had said +any thing of Rollo for a long time. In fact, he had seldom told Oliver +any thing about him; and what could have induced him to call himself +Rollo, he could not conceive. + +However, he had nothing to do but to go on, for the more he attempted +to imagine some explanation of the mystery, the more he was puzzled. +So he walked on as diligently as he could. + +He came, at length, in sight of the spot where he had left the horse and +Oliver. The horse was there, but Oliver was not to be seen. + +"He has got tired of waiting, and has gone away," said Jonas; "or +perhaps he is playing about near." + +This last supposition was pretty soon, for a moment, confirmed; for +Jonas saw, very soon after, a boy's head on the bank of the brook, at a +little distance below. + +"There he is now," said Jonas to himself. "No, it isn't he. That boy +isn't dressed like Oliver. I wonder who it is." + +The boy had a long pole in his hand, and was pushing cakes of ice with +it. He was so intent upon this amusement, that at first he did not see +Jonas; but, presently, looking up, his eye suddenly caught a view of +Jonas, coming, and he instantly dropped his pole, and ran towards him, +shouting,-- + +"Jonas!" + +"Why, Rollo!" exclaimed Jonas, in his turn. "How came you to be here?" + +It was Rollo, indeed. Jonas was astonished. He could scarcely believe +his senses. "Is it possible that this is you?" said he. + +"Yes," said Rollo, laughing with great delight, "I believe it is." + +"And how came you here? I left Oliver here an hour ago, little thinking +that he would turn into Rollo while I was gone." + +"Oliver?" said Rollo, "who is Oliver?" + +"Why, don't you know Oliver?" said Jonas. "He is the farmer's son. He +came with me, and I left him here to the care of the sleigh. Haven't you +seen any thing of him?" + +"No," replied Rollo, "nothing; there was nobody here when I came." + +"What can have become of him, then?" said Jonas. "I hope he is not lost +in the woods." + +So saying, Jonas began to call aloud, "Oliver! Oliver!" But no Oliver +answered. + +"Let us see if we can find any tracks," said he; and he and Rollo began +to look about for tracks. + +"What's this?" said Rollo, looking down intently upon the snow, pretty +near where the horse had been tied. + +"Any tracks?" said Jonas. + +"No," said Rollo, "but some writing in the snow." + +So Rollo began to read the writing in a slow manner, as he walked along +from one word to another; for, the letters being large, the sentence +extended quite a distance from where it first attracted his attention. +He read as follows:-- + +"'Jonas,--I--am--tired of writing,'--no, 'waiting. I am +going--back--to--the--mill.'" + +"Let me see," said Jonas. + +So Jonas came to the place, and saw the writing. Rollo had read it +correctly. + +"Yes," said Jonas, "he has gone back to the mill, no doubt. We will go, +and we shall find him there;--but when did you come from home? and how +did you find where I was?" + +Rollo, in answer to Jonas's question, explained to him that his father +had given him permission to take the horse and sleigh and Nathan, and +come and pay Jonas a visit. He had arrived at the farmer's that day, +just after Jonas and Oliver had set out. The farmer told them where +Jonas had gone, and he was very desirous of going after him. He said +that he had no doubt that he could find him. + +The farmer had hesitated a little; but finally he gave his consent, and +Rollo set off, leaving Nathan at the farmer's, as he was rather tired. +He had followed Jonas to the mill, and then he inquired of the people +whether Jonas had been there. A man in the road told him that he had +seen Jonas ride away on a certain road; and so Rollo had followed on in +the road pointed out to him, as he knew that it was not far that he was +to go. + +When Rollo had got so far in his story, Jonas interrupted him to ask,-- + +"Were you on foot, Rollo?" + +"No," replied Rollo, "in my sleigh." + +"And where is your sleigh?" asked Jonas. + +"Why, I left it out here a little way. When I found that the snow was +deep, and my horse slumped in pretty bad, I left him by the side of the +road, and walked on to see if I could see any thing of you. I soon found +your sleigh, run out of the path, and the horse tied under a tree over +the brook. So I knew that you couldn't be far off." + +"And you did not go any farther." + +"No," said Rollo; "I thought it would be better for me to stay by the +sleigh, and wait for you." + +Jonas asked Rollo a great many questions about all the people at +home--his father and mother, and his cousin Lucy; and he said that he +was very glad indeed, that Rollo had come to see him. + +"Do you have a pretty good time upon the farm?" said Rollo. + +"Yes," said Jonas, "very good indeed. You would like to be here very +much." + +"Are there any boys for me to play with?" said Rollo. + +"Yes," said Jonas, "there is Oliver, though he don't play much. He works +nearly all the time. But then there is Josey, though he has gone home +now." + +"I saw a boy at the mill," said Rollo, "when I came along. I verily +believe it was Oliver." + +"How big was he?" asked Jonas. + +"O, about as big as I am," said Rollo. + +"And what was he doing?" said Jonas. + +"O, he was playing about on the rocks, under the falls. But he didn't +seem to have much to do. He stopped and looked at me when I was coming +by." + +"Very likely it was he," said Jonas. "If he had only known who you were, +he would have liked very much to have come along with you; and you would +have been good company for each other. + +"And O, Rollo," said Jonas again, very eagerly, "there's somebody you'll +like very much indeed." + +"Who is it?" said Rollo. + +"Franco Ney," said Jonas. + +"Franco Ney!" repeated Rollo; "I never heard a boy named Franco before. +How old is he?" + +"I don't know," said Jonas. + +"Don't know? Well, where does he live?--at your house?" + +"No," said Jonas. Jonas was correct in this answer, for Franco was +accustomed to live in the barn. + +After some other conversation, Rollo, suddenly looking up, said,-- + +"How far is it, Jonas, from your house to Mr. Ney's?" + +Jonas laughed very heartily at this question, but gave no answer. Rollo +could not imagine what he could he laughing at. Jonas, however, would +not tell him, but said that he would know all about it, when he should +come to see Franco Ney. + +"Well," said Rollo, "I'll ask him why you wouldn't tell me where his +father lives." + +Very soon Rollo and Jonas arrived at the mill. They found Oliver safe +there, waiting for them; and the rolls, too, were ready. As they did not +like to tumble the rolls, Oliver rode with Rollo in his sleigh, and +Jonas took care of the rolls. + +Rollo was greatly astonished, as well as very much pleased, when he came +to see Franco Ney. + +[Illustration] + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + +THE SNOW FORT, OR GOOD FOR EVIL + +The next morning, after breakfast, Oliver proposed to Rollo, that they +should go down to the pond, and build a snow fort. During the night, +there had been a slight thaw, accompanied with some rain. The body of +snow on the ground had become softened and adhesive by the moisture, and +was, as Jonas said, "in prime condition for all sorts of snow work." + +Oliver borrowed of Jonas the large wooden snow-shovel, with a blade +nearly two feet square, used in cutting out the paths around the house. +Rollo assisted him to strap it on the hand-sled, together with some +boards, two iron shovels, and a hoe. + +"The Conqueror"--for that was the name of his sled--"will have to be +captive to-day," said Oliver, as he bound the load upon the sled, which +he and Rollo were going to drag down to the pond. + +"You had better take the garden-reel and line," said Jonas to Oliver, +"if you intend to make a good fort. You will want to stretch your line +so as to make the sides square, and to guide you in cutting out your +blocks of snow." + +"O, we don't want to be so particular as that," said Oliver. + +"But I thought," said Jonas, "that your plan last evening was, to do +your work in a workmanlike manner. If you want a substantial fort to +last all winter, you must lay a good foundation, and cut your courses +true, so that they will rest firmly one upon the other,--and especially +if you are going to have a roof." + +"We mean to have a roof," said Rollo, "or we cannot illuminate it in the +evening." + +"Well, then," said Jonas, "I advise you to take the line, and build +according to rule." + +Oliver had not forgotten what Jonas had often told him about doing his +work like a workman. + +"_What is worth doing at all, is worth doing well_" Jonas used to say. + +So Oliver went to get the reel and line. + +While he was gone to the tool-house, Rollo thought of Franco Ney, and +began to call aloud, "Franco! Franco!" + +Franco did not come. + +"Franco! Franco--o! Franco--o! Where _is_ Franco?" said Rollo; "we can't +go without him." + +"He won't mind you," said Oliver, as he came running back. + +"You call him, then," said Rollo. + +Oliver whistled the dog call, and in a moment, Franco came running from +the poultry yard with a bone in his mouth, which he had been gnawing for +a breakfast. At that moment, Nathan came running out of the door, with a +luncheon in his hand for them all. The farmer's wife had put up in a +paper an apple turn-over and a nut-cake for each of the boys, as they +were going on so important an expedition. + +Very soon, every thing was ready, and they started for the scene of +operations, eager for their work, Oliver and Rollo drawing the sled, and +Nathan and Franco following on behind. + +When they arrived near the pond, Oliver pointed to a little mound, not +far from the edge of the water, which overlooked the principal +skating-ground of the village boys in winter. + +"There, Rollo," said Oliver, "there's the place for a fort. Many a +pleasant time we have had there, in a clear winter night, watching the +skaters all the way up to the head of the pond. The fires look +splendidly." + +"It is a good place for a lookout," said Rollo; "but then I wouldn't +build it here. Let us go down nearer the pond." + +"No," said Oliver; "if we go down near the pond, as likely as not, the +first skating night, some of the boys will tear our fort all to pieces." + +"What if they do?" said Rollo. + +"I want it to last all winter," said Oliver. + +Rollo yielded to Oliver's wishes, and they began together to unbind +their load of boards and tools. + +"Come, Nathan," said Oliver, "we want you to help us now." + +Rollo and Nathan measured with the reel and line, while Oliver planted a +stake firmly in the snow at the four corners of the square. + +According to Jonas's advice, the evening before, they had agreed to make +their fortification twelve feet square, and the walls about one foot +thick. + +Rollo and Nathan held the cord, stretched from corner to corner, just +along the surface of the snow, while Oliver, with the shovel, cut the +snow square down to the ground, more than a foot and a half deep. + +In this way they went round the whole enclosure, outside. They then went +inside, and, by a similar process, cut away the snow so as to leave an +unbroken line of snow wall about ten feet square and one foot wide. + +"There," said Oliver, "there are the sills, as Jonas called them. It is +what _I_ call a good foundation." + +After this, Oliver asked Rollo to bring in the measuring-board inside of +the fort. + +Oliver and Rollo remembered what Jonas had told them about "commanding +and obeying," and agreed to take turns in being "director." + +It was Oliver's turn for the first hour, and Rollo was to obey him. +Nathan was to assist them both, when he was wanted. + +Oliver, therefore, took the command, and directed where and how to cut +out the snow, in the manner which Jonas had described. + +They proceeded with the measuring-board, to mark off, and cut out by it, +solid blocks of snow about four feet long, one foot wide, and one thick. + +Rollo laid down the measuring-board on the snow, and then both of them, +with the shovels, cut down the snow perpendicularly along the edges, so +as to have all the snow-blocks of precisely the same length, breadth, +and thickness. These they laid in courses, on the top of the foundation. + +It took just three blocks to form a side, excepting the side where the +door was, which they left three feet wide. + +After working more than two hours, and laying two courses, they shoveled +out all the broken snow that remained inside, and then sat down on the +sled to eat their luncheon and rest. + +"How do you like the looks of it, Rollo?" said Oliver. + +"_Well_," said Rollo; "only I don't see how we can make a roof." + +"Jonas will help us do that," said Oliver, "if we do the rest of the +work well." + +The boys, however, were now pretty tired. They had worked very hard. +They pulled off their caps, and with their handkerchiefs wiped the +perspiration from their foreheads. + +"Don't let us work any longer now," said Nathan, rubbing his hands, and +knocking one foot against the other. "I think we have done enough for +one day; and my feet are _so_ cold!" + +"_We've_ done enough!" said Oliver. "I think Rollo and I have had the +principal _doing_ to do. You and Franco have been looking on." + + "'What you've to do + Get done to-day, + And do not for to-morrow stay; + There's always danger in delay'"-- + +said Rollo. "I think we had better finish it now. Come, Nathan, jump +about here on the sled, and you will soon be warm." + +So they went briskly at work again, Rollo taking the command. They found +it very hard, after the second course, to get the snow-blocks up on the +snowy wall. Often they would slip away out of their hands, just as they +were lodging them safely on the top, and fall over on one side of the +wall, and break to pieces. + +"Let us cut them in two," said Oliver; "we can handle them better so." + +Before they got through the fourth course, they were glad to cut all +their materials into pieces of one foot square. + +"How high are the walls now?" said Rollo, as they stopped to look at the +appearance of the last course. + +"Between five and six feet," said Oliver. "The foundation is at least a +foot and a half high, and we have laid four courses." + +Oliver, Rollo, and Nathan went to work together, then, stopping up all +the chinks in the wall, inside and out, with soft snow. + +When this was well done, Oliver took the hoe, and with the sharp edge +shaved down all around on both sides, making the walls look even and +true. + +"Well," said Rollo, "that is the best snow fort I ever saw. Jonas does +know how to do things, doesn't he, Oliver? But I don't see how we are to +get a roof on." + +"I don't care about a roof," said Oliver. "We don't want to play in it +only in pleasant weather." + +"I'll tell you what we might do," said Rollo. "We could make a partition +through the middle, and put a roof over half of it." + +"So we can," said Oliver. "We'll do that this afternoon. It's time to go +to dinner now." + +The boys then gathered all the tools, &c., and laid them together, as +Jonas had taught them to do, when they finished work, and then started +for home. + +"Halloo, Franco," said Rollo, "are you here still?" They had been so busy +at work, they had taken no notice of him. But Franco had watched their +operations, and now went running on in the path before the boys, wagging +his tail, as if he had as much pleasure as they, in contemplating the +result of their morning's labor. + +When Jonas came home to dinner, at noon, the boys were impatient to tell +him what they had done. + +But Jonas was too much engaged in some work about the new barn to listen +to their story then. He told them, however, that he would go down about +sunset, and look at their work, and hear the account, in the evening, of +the experiment in doing work like workmen. + +After dinner, Oliver was excused from many of his regular duties, on +account of the visit of Rollo and Nathan; and the three boys hastened +to return to their fort. They were so intent on finishing it, that they +lost all interest in playing with Franco, or each other. + +"What shall we call our fort?" said Oliver, as they walked along. + +"We don't want any name, do we?" said Rollo. + +"O, yes," said Oliver, "let us have a name. I always like to have a +name. There's the old 'General,'--we have had many a good time with him; +and my 'Conqueror,'--there isn't a boy in town that doesn't know my +sled." + +"We might call it 'Gibraltar,'" said Rollo. + +"Yes, that's a good name," said Oliver. "How do you like 'Iceberg +Castle'? Jonas was telling us all about the icebergs the other evening; +and I read a story, about a famous 'Ice Palace' in Russia; how do you +like that?" + +"I don't like that," said Rollo. "Ours is a _fort_; it isn't a palace." + +"If you are going to have it a palace," said Nathan, "whom will you +have for a _king_?" + +"You may be king, Nathan," said Rollo, "and we will soon demolish your +palace, and make a prisoner of you." + +"No, no," said Oliver, "the fort shall stand as long as ice will last. I +mean to pour water all over it, and freeze it into solid ice; and I +expect the last ice to be seen any where about next spring, will be the +ruins of the old fort." + +After some discussion, the boys agreed to call it "Iceberg Castle." + +They then took a survey, inside and out, of their morning's work, and +decided to proceed at once and build the partition which Rollo proposed +before dinner. At Oliver's suggestion, Rollo was director. + +For more than an hour they continued their toil, in constructing the +partition. Jonas had given them no instructions about this; and they +found it much more difficult than the walls, on account of the small, +low door, which they had to make, to lead from one apartment into the +other. + +At last, as Oliver and Nathan were drawing through the outer door a +small heap of loose snow, which they had gathered up from the floor of +the inner room, Rollo followed them, shouting, as they emerged from the +fort, "Done, boys, done!--Hurrah for Iceberg Castle!" + +"I wish Jonas was here now," said Oliver; "but I suppose it will be two +or three hours before he can come down." + +"Can't we do something more?" said Rollo. "I wish we could put on a +roof, before he comes." + +"I don't believe we can do that," said Oliver. + +The boys walked in and out, and all around the fort, again and again, +admiring its appearance, and thinking what else they could do. + +"It wouldn't be a bad plan to have a king, as Nathan said, in our +castle; would it, Oliver?" said Rollo. + +"Not at all," said Oliver. "Let us make a king, or a giant, to keep the +premises for us, when we are away." + +So saying, they all set to work rolling snow-balls to make him. + +Oliver rolled up a huge mass, for his body, larger than they could at +first get through the doors. + +Rollo rolled one for his head, and Nathan made several small ones. + +In one corner of the inner room, they laid a small platform, of several +square, flat blocks of snow, for a throne, as Rollo called it; and here +they placed his "Majesty." + +"It seems to me," said Oliver, "that the King of the Frozen Regions +ought to have a crown and a court." + +No sooner said than done. A little band of snow-balls, in double rows, +soon encircled his brow, surmounted, too, with icicles and stalactites, +which Nathan brought from the brook. + +The opposite corners of the room were soon decorated with corresponding +figures, whom Rollo introduced as Lord and Lady Frost. + +He had scarcely pronounced the names, when Jonas walked in, to the +surprise and great delight of the boys. + +"Well done, boys," said Jonas; "I think you have followed directions +this time. I give you credit for doing your work in a workmanlike +manner. But I can't stay to talk with you about it now. Your father, +Oliver, wishes me to go out on the pond, and bring home the sled we left +there, the other night, in the storm. The wind has come out in the +north-west, and there is every prospect of a bitter cold night. It has +begun to stiffen already, and, before morning, the sled may be locked up +in solid ice." + +Jonas hurried away, and the boys, not a little disappointed, gathered +all their implements together to return home. + +"It _will_ be a cold night; won't it?" said Oliver, as he looked off to +the north-west. How fast it grows cold! It freezes now. I was in hopes +we should have one more mild day. But we can't get a roof on after +this." + +"Won't it make good skating on the pond," asked Rollo, "if the water +freezes now?" + +"Yes, indeed," said Oliver. "I shouldn't be surprised if there was +skating there to-night. It's only a thin sheet of water over the ice and +snow. Three or four hours of real cold will make ice enough for that. + +"Come, Nathan, jump on the sled, and you shall have a ride. Rollo and I +will be your horses. Mother will have supper ready by the time we get +home." + +Nathan, glad of a ride, took his seat, and they were soon at the house. + +Oliver took the snow-shovels and the other tools, and returned them to +their proper places, and then drew up his sled into a corner of the +wagon-house. + +After tea, Oliver and Rollo went out into the yard to feel the air, and +judge of the impression the night would probably make upon "Iceberg +Castle" and its inhabitants. + +It was clear and cold. The stars twinkled brightly. The moon was not up. + +"See there!" said Oliver; "I do believe they are building a fire down on +the pond already. There'll be a skating party to-night, no doubt." + +The boys returned to a cheerful room with a good fire, and were seated +round the table, to amuse themselves for the evening. They passed the +time pleasantly until Jonas returned from the pond. + +"O Jonas, Jonas," they all said, as he came in, "what made you stay so +long?" + +Jonas gave them an account of his adventures, and of his meeting a party +of skaters, who were already on the pond, expecting to be joined, in +the course of the evening, by a much larger number from the village. + +After Jonas had taken his supper, the boys gathered around him to talk +about their fort, every now and then running to the door or window, to +see the fire on the pond. + +Long before it went out, Oliver, Rollo, and Nathan, were in a sound +sleep. + +The next morning, early, they appeared as impatient to run down to the +"Castle," as if they had dreamed of it all night long; and before the +fire was well burning in the great room, they all three came running +back to Jonas, out of breath, and with sad faces, exclaiming,-- + +"O Jonas! Jonas! our fort is all torn to pieces!" + +True enough, some of the boys of the skating party had completely +demolished the Castle. + +Oliver and Rollo were greatly excited; they were grieved, and they were +angry, and could scarcely refrain from expressing wishes of vengeance +which it was not in their power to execute. + +Jonas sympathized with them in their severe disappointment. + +"'Tis _too bad_," said Rollo. + +"'Tis _too bad_," repeated Oliver. "How shall we pay them for it? Jonas, +tell us how?" + +"Pay them for it?" said Jonas; "that isn't the way I should do." + +"Well, I think they deserve it," said Rollo. + +"So do I," said Oliver. + +"What do you mean by paying them for it?" said Jonas; "giving them as +much injury and pain as they have given you? Don't you remember the +lesson that Franco taught us, that to return good for evil was good +policy as well as good morals?" + +"Well, what would you do, Jonas?" they both asked together. + +"I don't know now," said Jonas, "what I would do. I will think of it. +But this I know,--that we ought _never to be overcome of evil, but to +overcome evil with good_." + +Oliver and Rollo wondered what Jonas would do. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JONAS ON A FARM IN WINTER*** + + +******* This file should be named 12260.txt or 12260.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/2/6/12260 + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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