2O Introductory 



followed the trail to the waters from its very 

 beginning. 



The course of the trail from that point was 

 well known to me. 



The source alone had been its mystery. 



I knew all its deep holes and the rapids, 

 where the speckled trout loved to lie, and the 

 pebbly shallows where the minnows darted, 

 and the deep hole where the lazy suckers 

 stood with head up-stream sucking in their 

 dinner. 



I knew the bank where the noisy kingfisher 

 had his nest, and his favorite stump from 

 which he loved to fish. 



The broad pool where the heron speared 

 fish, and the tall grasses that hid the musk- 

 rat's house. 



All the little waterfalls, including the 

 one that turned the small water wheel, I 

 knew. 



I knew the brook in spring when it ran 

 riot, in summer when it had dwindled to a 

 tiny thread, in the autumn, when the life 

 along its banks was nipped by the first frost, 



