48 NORTH CAROLINA 



definite period. Still, my instructions were 

 explicit. This was certainly the school- 

 house, and at the schoolhouse I was to turn 

 to the right. Lest I should be interpreting 

 a preposition too strictly, nevertheless, I 

 kept on for a piece in the way I had been 

 traveling. No, there was no other cross- 

 road, and I came back to the schoolhouse, 

 rested awhile under a big tree, and then 

 took the blind trail. Happily, it very soon 

 became more distinct, more evidently a road 

 in use ; and being now on a downward 

 grade, I jogged along in good spirits. 



It was drawing near noon, and unless my 

 jaunt was to measure more than eight miles 

 I must be somewhere near the end of it. 

 The mountain forest was especially inviting 

 here, with a brook now and then and a pro- 

 fusion of ground flowers, beside the laurel 

 and the azaleas; but I must not linger, I 

 said to myself, as I might be obliged to 

 spend an hour or two at Turtlepond. It 

 was hardly to be assumed that the ravens 

 would be waiting for me, to greet me on the 

 instant. Meanwhile, a pileated woodpecker 

 set up a lusty shout just in advance, and in 

 another moment went dashing off among the 



