110 NORTH CAROLINA 



ance, and in such places it is the part of 

 wisdom, and of good manners as well, to 

 make the most of chance opportunities. 

 " Yes, sir," he made answer, slackening his 

 pace ; " I want to get my road done. I 've 

 got till Saturday, and I want to get it done ; " 

 and he put on steam again, and was gone. 

 His countenance was familiar, but I could 

 not tell where I had seen him, — one of the 

 fathers of the Webb settlement, perhaps. 

 The mountaineers, all thin, all light-com- 

 plexioned, and all wearing the same drab 

 homespun, look confusingly alike to a new- 

 comer. Whoever the stranger was, he had 

 evidently undertaken to build some part of 

 the new road, and was returning from the 

 village with supplies. In one hand he car- 

 ried two heavy drills, and under the other 

 arm a strip of pork, a piece of brown paper 

 wrapped about the middle of it, and the 

 long ends dangling. It did my vacationer's 

 heart good to see men so cheerfully industri- 

 ous ; but I thought it a reproach to the 

 order of the world that so much hard work 

 should yield so little of comfort. But then, 

 who knows which was the more comfortable, 

 — the idle, criticising tourist or the sweating 



