14 TRAMPS WITH AN ENTHUSIAST. 



on our way up the mountain. Each side of our 

 primitive wood road was bordered with ferns in 

 their first tender green, many of them still wear- 

 ing their droll little hoods. Forward marched 

 the Enthusiast ; breathlessly I followed. Up 

 one little hill, down another, over a third we 

 hastened. 



" See I " I said, hoping to arrest the tireless 

 steps ; "on that tree I saw yesterday a scarlet 

 tanager." 



" Oh, did you ? " she said carelessly, pausing 

 not an instant in her steady tramp. 



Then rose the note we were listening for, far 

 to the left of the road. 



" He 's over there ! " she cried eagerly, leaving 

 the path, and pushing in the direction of the 

 sound. " But I 'm afraid I shall tire you," she 

 added. " You sit down here, and I '11 just go on 

 a little." 



" No, indeed ! " I answered hastily, for I knew 

 well what " just go on a little " meant, — I had 

 tried it before : it meant pass out of sight in 

 two minutes, and out of hearing in one more, 

 so absorbed in followinof an elusive bird note 

 that everything else would be forgotten. " No, 

 indeed ! " I repeated. " I shall not be left in 

 these woods ; where you go I follow." 



" But I won't go out of sight," she urged, her 

 conscience contending with her eager desire to 



