Erema

that he should have staid out all the night, because he had failed of his errand. Jowler also was full of discontent and trouble of conscience. He knew, when he kicked

ousand better men have sunk through being so pig-headed. We shall find the rogue toward th

as no chance to better them. He would always do his best about the smallest trifle;

s and leagues of flowers, that burst into color and harmony-purple, yellow, and delicate lilac, woven with bright crimson threads, and fringed with emerald-green by the banks, and blue by the course of rivers, while deepened here and there by wooded shelter and cool places, with the silver-gray of th

yellow dust arrived, when a sudden melting of snow in some gully sent a strong flood down our Blue River. The saw-mill happened to be hard at work; and before the gear could be lifted, some damage was done to

ure and bright as ever, hastening down its gravel-path of fine granite just as usual, except that it had more volume and a stronger sense of freshnes

they were no constraint to it. And none but a practiced eye could see that the great wheel had been wounded, being undersho

the mischief, Martin, the foreman, came out and cr

ery young importance, "where and what the dam

ans a polished man, "where did you ever hear of ironwork? Needles

answered. "If you have been care

I might just as well do nort, every bit, and get more thanks and better wages. T

put this question to Martin with the earnest simplicity of the young, meaning no kind of sarcasm, but knowing that scarc

f, perhaps. "If half as I heard about you is true, you'll want all your s

I said, "if you saw any person injuring me.

en. It might lead to hard words; and hard words are not the style of thing I put up wit

k. Sawyer Gundry could have taken him with one

othing but 'needles and pins.' But, for fear of doing any harm, I will

don't your little great eyes see the job they are a-doin' of? The finest st

; but after that he was one of the best, in many ways that can not be described. Also there was a pair of negroes, simply and sweetly delightful. They worked all day and they sang all night, though I had not the pleasure of hearing them; and the more Suan Isco despised them-because they were black, and she was only brown-the more they made up to her, not at all becau

ws how much he is to blame, and I fear that he won't eat a bit for the day. Martin is a most

looked at me keenly. He knew that I had been do

man when he feels it. I shall not say a syllable to Martin; and, Ephraim, you will do the l

d not quite agree. In talking with his own age he might

if the fresh has hurt the hurdles. Missy, you may come with me, if you please, and sketch me at work in the mill-wheel

" I said. "I have never got

was incorrect. In spite of all Mr. Gundry's skill and labor and ingenuity, the wheel was no true circle. The error began in the h

midst of it. The air was particularly bright and clear, even for that pure climate, and I could even see the blue-winged flies darting in and out of the oozy floats. But half-way up the mountains a wh

and growling, according to his habit, and peering through the slot, or channel of stone, in which the axle worked, and the cheery voice of Mr. Gundry was putting down his objections. Being much too large to pass through the slot,

earer seventeen than seventy. And presently I could only see his legs and arms as he fell to work. Therefore I also fell to work, with my best attempts at penciling, having been carefully taught en

and upon my hat, and a rush of dark wind almost swept me from the log upon which I sat. Then again all was a perfect calm, and the young leaves over the stream hung heavily on their tender f

the Sawyer sounded as I had never heard it sound. He was much too hard at work to pay any heed

o him; "there is something quite wrong in the weather, I am sure. I entrea

spectacles tilted up, and his apron wedged in a piece of timber, and his solid figure resting in the

. I am in such a fright about you. D

be a corn or two of rain; no more. My sea-weed was like tinder. There can't be no heavy

altogether wrong, till a bolt of lightning, like a blue dagger, fell at my very feet, and a crash of thunder shook the earth and stunned me. These opened the sluice of the heavens, and before I could call out I was drenche

hat I fell upon the wet earth. Every moment I expected to be killed, for I never could be brave in a thunder-storm, and had not been told much in France of God's protection around me. And the darts of lightning

It seemed to fill up all the valley and to swallow up all the trees; a whole host of animals fled before it, and birds, like a volley of bullets, flew by. I lost not a moment in running away, and

n the head of the deluge struck the mill. But whether I saw it, or whether I knew it by any more summary process

rd no scream or shriek; and, indeed, the bellow of a lion would have been a mere whisper in the wild roar of the elements. Only, where the mill had been, there was nothing except a black streak

good, obstinate ways, and my heart was almost broken. "What a brute-what a wretch I am!" I kept saying, as if

s they would go, by a short-cut over a field of corn, to a spot where the very last bluff or headland jutted into the river. This was a good mile below the mill according to the bends of chann

alive, but the most part dead. A grand black bull tossed back his horns, and looked at me beseechingly: he had frightened me o

d no time to think, and deserve no praise, for I knew not what I did. But just as an eddy swept him near me, I made a desperate leap at him, and clutched at something that tore my hands, and then I went under the water. My senses, however, were not yet gone, and my weight on the wattle stopped it, and I

anches swept the torrent. Here I let him go, and caught fast hold; and Uncle Sam's raft must have stuck there also, for what could my weak arm have done? I rem