A JOURNEY TO NATURE 



sat down on a flat stone by the roadside, and 

 Charlie mildly suggested that it was time to eat. 

 As we sat there a farmer came by driving a 

 heavy wagon leisurely. I hailed him, &quot; Say, 

 neighbour, how far is the town ? &quot; 



&quot; What town ? &quot; 



&quot;The nearest town.&quot; 



&quot; Do you mean Slocum ? &quot; 



&quot;Yes, anything.&quot; 



&quot; Well, you strike the Slocum pike about three 

 miles over yander, and that ll fetch you to Slo 

 cum. It s about eighteen mile.&quot; 



&quot; How far is it back to the Hotchkiss woods ?&quot; 



He turned square round in his seat, threw one 

 leg over the other, and regarded us with a new 

 interest. 



&quot; Be you the man that s livin in the Hotch 

 kiss woods ? &quot; 



I felt instinctively that the whole county had 

 heard of me. &quot; I be,&quot; I said. &quot; I ve lost my way. 

 I ll give you a dollar to haul us back. Maybe 

 you could tell us where we could get a lunch.&quot; 



That struck him as funny. &quot;Lunch hey? 

 I s pose you want yer dinner. Wai, it s an hour 

 past dinner-time.&quot; 



The impropriety of being hungry when the 

 dinner hour was past had never struck me so 

 forcibly before. Finally he &quot; allowed &quot; that we 

 might get a hunk of bread and a dish of milk at 

 the sawmill, but he wasn t going any farther. So 

 we climbed in, and he jolted out of us what little 

 resignation we had left, and landed us in a stable- 



26 



