EXPLORATIONS 



thought, by springs beneath its own sur- 

 face. I had paddled by and tramped over 

 the mouths of these two brooks a hun- 

 dred times and never knew before why 

 the pond always smiled and dimpled as 

 I went by. No wonder it laughs; it has 

 kept that same joke on ninety-nine of a 

 hundred of the people who frequent it, 

 and I am not sure there is anothef 

 hundredth. 



It seemed as if all the woodland burst 

 into guffaws of laughter, now that the 

 joke was out and there was no further 

 need of keeping quiet about it. The 

 cedars rocked in the west wind with sup- 

 pressed merriment and a couple of red 

 squirrels snickered like school children 

 and tore up and down the lichen-covered 

 trunks and fell off into a swamp birch 

 and had hardly strength to hold on, so 

 breathless were they. A pair of crows 

 125 



