58 NORTH CAROLINA 



and a pedestrian's blister, when rare flowers 

 were in question, and the next morning 

 would be off again before breakfast, scour- 

 ing the country for new trophies. Like 

 Mme. Trepof, she would have gone to 

 Sweden in search of a match-box, had the 

 notion taken her. As for ravens, she had 

 already seen one, only a few days before my 

 arrival. It flew directly over the hotel, and 

 she recognized it at once, not as a raven, to 

 be sure, but as " the blackest crow she had 

 ever seen." A man who happened to be 

 doing some carpenter's work about the 

 house heard her exclamation, and told her 

 what it was, and by good luck he was to-day 

 our driver. It was wonderful how much 

 encouragement I received in my amusing 

 pursuit. If only there were fewer stories 

 and more ravens ! I was ready to say. 



Yet if I said so, it was only in a fit of 

 impatience. In point of fact, I received 

 with thankfulness every such bit of evidence 



that Dr. 's gloomy prognostications were 



ill founded. On the very morning after 

 this expedition to Whiteside, for example, I 

 was on my way to the summit of Satulah, 

 an easy jaunt, and a capital observatory, 



