20 PEPACTON 



nothing to being wrecked upon those rocks. The 

 boys were quite in earnest, and I told them I would 

 walk up to the village and post some letters to my 

 friends before I braved all these dangers. So they 

 marched me up the street, pointing out to their 

 chums what they had found. 



"Going way to Phil — What place is that near 

 where the river goes into the sea 1 " 



"Philadelphia?" 



"Yes; thinks he may go way there. Won't he 

 have fun 1 " 



The boys escorted me about the town, then back 

 to the river, and got in their boat and came down 

 to the bend, where they could see me go through 

 the whirlpool and pass the binocle (I am not sure 

 about the orthography of the word, but I suppose 

 it means a double, or a sort of mock eddy). I 

 looked back as I shot over the rough current beside 

 a gentle vortex, and saw them watching me with 

 great interest. Rock eddy, also, was quite harm- 

 less, and I passed it without any preliminary sur- 

 vey. 



I nooned at Sodom, and found good milk in a 

 humble cottage. In the afternoon I was amused by 

 a great blue heron that kept flying up in advance 

 of me. Every mile or so, as I rounded some point, 

 I would come unexpectedly upon him, till finally 

 he grew disgusted with my silent pursuit, and took 

 a long turn to the left up along the side of the 

 mountain, and passed back up the river, uttering a 

 hoarse, low note. 



