THE DKAGON" OF THE SWALE 



MY path tc 

 blinff wo 



to Cubby Hollow ran along a tum- 

 rorm-fence, down a gravelly slope, 

 and across a strip of swale, through which flowed 

 the stream that farther on widened into the 

 Hollow. A small jungle of dog-roses, elder, and 

 blackberry tangled the banks of the stream, 

 spreading into flanks of cinnamon-fern that crept 

 well up the hillsides. 



As I descended the gravelly slope, my path led 

 through the ferns into a tunnel of vines, to a 

 rail over the water, and on up to the woods. By 

 the middle of June the tangle, except by the 

 half-broken path, was almost rabbit-proof. The 

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