290 In Touch with Nature. 



crossing the sparkling waters that brightened the 

 valley, or pausing by the bubbling spring that 

 welled up from the roots of a spreading chestnut, 

 and wherever we tarried we found that the Indian 

 had been there before us. 



It is mere child's play to pick up relics, and it 

 became monotonous before the day was done, for 

 wheresoever we halted had once been a village-site 

 or the spot whereon a wigwam had been built. With 

 what permanent ink fire writes its name ! Burned 

 and blackened pebbles, although cold for nearly, 

 if not quite, two centuries, were everywhere con- 

 spicuous, and half those that had escaped burning 

 were battered or chipped. There were strange 

 forms among them. To decipher their meaning 

 is labor and not pastime, and, out for a holiday, 

 it was enough to gather an abundance of such 

 treasure for the winter's study hours; and, so 

 laden, we finally halted for the night. But relic- 

 hunting was not the primary object of our outing, 

 and we had hurried by many a tempting nook in 

 field or woods, having knowledge of a certain far- 

 off cluster of old trees, among which was a cliff- 

 dwelling, rock-shelter, or what you will ; a place 



