110 NORTH CAROLINA 



ance, and in such places it is the part of 

 wisdom, and of good manners as well, to 

 make the most of chance opportunities. 

 " Yes, sir," he made answer, slackening his 

 pace ; "I want to get my road done. I 've 

 got till Saturday, and I want to get it done ; " 

 and he put on steam again, and was gone. 

 His countenance was familiar, but I could 

 not tell where I had seen him, one of the 

 fathers of the Webb settlement, perhaps. 

 The mountaineers, all thin, all light-com- 

 plexioned, and all wearing the same drab 

 homespun, look confusingly alike to a new- 

 comer. Whoever the stranger was, he had 

 evidently undertaken to build some part of 

 the new road, and was returning from the 

 village with supplies. In one hand he car- 

 ried two heavy drills, and under the other 

 arm a strip of pork, a piece of brown paper 

 wrapped about the middle of it, and the 

 long ends dangling. It did my vacationer's 

 heart good to see men so cheerfully industri- 

 ous ; but I thought it a reproach to the 

 order of the world that so much hard work 

 should yield so little of comfort. But then, 

 who knows which was the more comfortable, 

 the idle, criticising tourist or the sweating 



