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 Cesarea. One day, 
when I was gossiping with Charlie, I told him 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 
