104 FORTY-FOUR YEARS OP 



kind of a thicket. I i»ointecl her to the little path I had 

 made while I was working at the house, and told her to 

 look out for snakes. 



" Oh 1 " said she, " I will keep the dogs before me, and 

 they will smell them. I am not afraid if I have Watch 

 with me." 



Off she ran for water ; but no sooner had the dogs 

 reached the swamp, than out rushed five wolves, some 

 passing on one side of Mary, and some on the other ; she 

 hissing on the dogs, and calling to me to look out for 

 wolves. But they all escaped my rifle, owing to the high 

 and thick weeds. Our dinner being finished, Mr. and 

 Mrs. Hoy, together with TJncle Spurgin and Mrs. Mc- 

 Mullen, got ready to go home. " Now," thought I, " I 

 shall see my poor little wife have another cry." 



When her father bid her farewell, he said : " You have 

 got yourself into a hard-looking place." 



" It is so, father," she replied ; "but outside this dread- 

 ful thicket, it is the most beautiful country I ever saw." 



They all departed, leaving Mary and her brother Hugh, 

 whom I had forgotten to mention, till now, as being one 

 of our party. He had agreed to remain with his sister a 

 week or two, till she became a little acquainted with the 

 place. Mary and myself proposed to walk a little through 

 the beautiful glade, which was covered with grass knee- 

 high, and intermixed with wild flowers of all the kinds 

 and colors that nature had ever produced. All that fancy 

 could desire was here to be seen at a single glance. This 

 pleasant walk finished, we returned to the house, where 

 Hugh and our little daughter were playing on the bed, 

 she being much pleased with the appearance of the place 

 When the sun began to sink behind the tops of the tall 

 pine-trees, the deer and bears might be seen stalking over 

 the open glades, feeding leisurely in the cool evening air. 



I asked Mary if she would stay in the house by herself 



