He chose two from off his favorite tree and
put them into the knapsack, and took another in his hand to eat by the
way. Forester did the same, only he put the two that he carried with
him, into his pockets.
From the orchard the travelers walked across a field and down into
the glen, and after crossing a brook upon some stepping-stones, they
ascended upon the other side, and presently climbing over a fence,
they came out into what James had called the back road. They walked
along upon this road, for about three quarters of a mile, until at
last they came in sight of the school-house. Marco spied it first.
"There," said Marco, "that is the school-house."
"How do you know that that is the one?" asked Forester.
"Oh, I know the Jones district very well," said Marco.
In New England the tract of country included within the jurisdiction
of a town, is divided into districts for the establishment and support
of schools. These districts are called school-districts, and each one
is generally named from some of the principal families that happen to
live in it. It happened that there were several families of the name
of Jones that lived in this part of the town, and so their district
was called the Jones district.
"How do you happen to know it?" said Forester.
"Oh, I came out here two or three times with Thomas Jones to set my
squirrel trap," said Marco. "There goes Thomas Jones now."
"Where?" asked Forester.
"There," said Marco, pointing along the road a little way.
Forester looked forward, and saw in the road before them a boy walking
toward the school-house, with his slate under his arm. Beyond the boy,
upon the knoll on the left side of the road, was the school-house
itself.
[Illustration: THE SCHOOL-HOUSE.]
The school-house was not far from the road, and there was a little
grove of trees behind it. Beyond the school-house, and almost directly
before them, Marco and Forester saw the road turning a little to the
left toward the gate.
"There is the gate," said Marco, "that we are to go through."
"Yes," said Forester, "that must be the one."
Forester and Marco walked on until they came to the school-house.
Thomas got to the school-house before them, and went in. Forester and
Marco passed on and went through the gate. They then went on beyond
the gate a little way till they came to a pair of bars. Marco took
down all but the topmost bar, and Forester, stooping down, passed
under. Marco attempted to do the same; but forgetting that he had a
knapsack upon his back, he did not stoop low enough, and gave his
knapsack such a knock as almost threw him down. Fortunately there was
nothing frangible inside, and so no damage was done. One of his apples
was mellowed a little; that was all.
The path led the travelers first across a rough and rocky pasture, and
then it suddenly entered a wood where every thing wore an expression
of wild and solemn grandeur. The trees were very lofty, and consisted
of tall stems, rising to a vast height and surmounted above with a
tuft of branches, which together formed a broad canopy over the heads
of the travelers, and produced a sort of somber twilight below. Birds
sang in plaintive notes on the tops of distant trees, and now and then
a squirrel was seen running along the ground, or climbing up the trunk
of some vast hemlock or pine.
"I hope that we shall not lose our way in these woods," said Forester.
"Oh, there is no danger of that," rejoined Marco. "The path is very
plain."
"It seems plain here," said Forester, "and I presume that there can
not be any danger, or James would have recommended to us to go the
other way."
"We shall come home the other way," said Marco. "I wonder if there are
any saddles. Twelve miles would be too far to ride bareback."
"Yes," said Forester, "there are saddles. I asked James about that."
The path which Forester and Marco were pursuing soon began to
ascend. It ascended at first gradually, and afterward more and more
precipitously, and at length began to wind about among rocks and
precipices in such a manner, that Marco said he did not wonder at all
that James said it would be a rough road for horses.
"I think it is a very rough road for boys," said Forester.
"Boys?" repeated Marco. "Do you call yourself boys."
"For _men_ then," said Forester.
"But _I_ am not a man," said Marco.
"Then I don't see how I can express my idea," said Forester.
Marco's attention was here diverted from the rhetorical difficulty in
which Forester had become involved, by a very deep chasm upon one side
of the path. He went to the brink of it and could hear the roaring of
a torrent far below.
"I mean to throw a stone down," said Marco. He accordingly, after
looking around for a moment, found a stone about as large as his head.
This stone he contrived to bring to the edge of the precipice and then
to throw it over. It went thundering down among the rocks and trees
below, while Marco stood upon the brink and listened to the sound of
the echoes and reverberations. He then got another stone larger than
the first, and threw that down; after which he and Forester resumed
their journey.
The path, though it was a very rough and tortuous one, was pretty
plain; and it is probable that the travelers would have found no
difficulty in following it to the end of their route, had it not been
for an occurrence which they had not at all anticipated, but which was
one, nevertheless, that has often taken place to confuse the steps of
mountain travelers and make them lose their way.
