see what the food was it caught, or how it 

 caught it. I could not make out a pose or a 

 motion more than the general movements about 

 the pump. The one other time that I have 

 had a good look at the bird, when not asleep, 

 showed him at play. 



It was an early August morning, between two 

 and three o'clock. The only doctor in the vil- 

 lage had been out all night at a little town 

 about five miles away. He was wanted at once, 

 and I volunteered to get him. 



Five miles is pure fun to a boy who has run 

 barefoot every one of his fifteen summers ; so I 

 rolled up my trousers, tightened my belt, and 

 bent away for Shiloh at an easy dog-trot that, 

 even yet, I believe I could keep up for half a 

 day. 



There was not a glimmer in the east when I 

 started. I had covered three miles, and was 

 entering a long stretch of sprout-land when the 

 dawn began. The road was dusty, and the 

 dew-laid powder puffed beneath the soft, swift 

 pats of my feet. Things began to stand out 

 with some distinctness now as the pale light 

 brightened. No wagons had been along, and 

 [72] 



