252 Trails to Woods and Waters 



rials," explained Ben, " and they could com- 

 municate several miles away by means of 

 them. This was their telegraph. 



" What I enjoy about camping out," con- 

 tinued Ben, " is the wonderful mysterious life 

 all about us. The flowers, the trees, the 

 grass, the birds, the squirrels and all the four- 

 footed creatures. God made the trees to 

 shelter man and to rustle their leaves above 

 his head, and it is a pity that we have to cut 

 down so many of them. Why, Harry, there 

 is more wonder to me in an ant-hill than there 

 is in the whole city of New York. The 

 Brooklyn bridge and the tall blocks, and the 

 great churches are not nearly as hard for man 

 to build as it is for the ants to do some of the 

 things that they do. 



" There is music, too, in the woods. The 

 glad trilling of birds, and the joyous chatter 

 of squirrels. The long roll of the cock par- 

 tridge, and the merry tattoo of the wood- 

 pecker. Then the wind and the waters are 

 always talking and the leaves are telling se- 

 crets overhead. 



