A RUNAWAY DAY 61 



King George III pennies and farthings, and the rare 

 New Jersey pennies which were coined only during 

 two years, and which bear a plough and the old 

 name of New Jersey — Nova Csesarea. One day, 

 when I was gossiping with Charlie, I told hirn that, 

 if he took up the old dirt floor and sifted it through an 

 ash-sifter during the long winter evenings, he might 

 find a further store of rare coins. He took my advice, 

 and the first treasure he uncovered was these andirons 

 buried where once had been a hearth. Charlie gave 

 them to me, and they hold up logs now as well as 

 they did two hundred years ago. 



As I slipped into a well-worn suit of khaki, all the 

 worry of the month fell off my shoulders and rolled 

 down the bank and was drowned in the golden 

 water. Tucking a pair of field-glasses into one pocket 

 and a package of lunch into the other, I started off 

 on an exploring trip. In the barrens everywhere 

 are paths that wind for miles in and out among the 

 trees and along the edges of brooks and bogs. Who 

 made them? Who keeps them open? No one knows. 

 I have been able to follow a few of them out to the 

 end. One leads to Ong's Hat, a little clearing in the 

 heart of the woods, where grows an enormous white- 

 oak tree. A century and a half ago Ong, the Indian, 

 lived there. One day he disappeared. Nothing was 

 ever found except his blood-stained hat. Then there 

 is the path that leads to Sheep-Pen Hill, where 

 seven empty houses and a well stand deserted and 

 alone. Others lead to Gum Sprung, which, being 

 translated, means Gum-Tree Cove, and to Double 



