232 HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS. 
camp-fires. We expected to see them making prepara- 
tions for breakfast, but early as it was, we found them 
missing. Like others of their tribe, “they had folded 
their tents and quietly stolen away.” The place was 
so inviting that the nomad spirit took possession of us, 
and we determined also for a time to be Gypsies. We 
were not at all satisfied that the “active member of the 
firm” had fared better than the others. As usual, we 
were prepared for such emergencies, having with us a 
feed of oats and a comfortable lunch of bread and butter, 
canned tongue, sardines and a bottle of ‘Tokay.’ A little 
farther along was an open space, with a clear brook run- 
ning through it. This place was selected, and the prep- 
arations for breakfast soon completed. Taking off the 
bridle and pouring a generous feed of oats on the clean 
grass, we invited Bess to enjoy herself. .A mossy knoll 
near by answered for table and chairs, and we were 
soon busy and as much at home as though to the 
“manor born.” The dining room was neat and spacious, 
with no smoke or smell of pent-up cooking. <A flood of 
warm sunshine lay on the grass and trees about us, mak- 
ing them a still richer green in the light. A soft breeze 
shook the sweet elder blossoms down from their feath- 
ery sprayed corymbs, powdering us with pearl and 
perfume. In a hemlock near us a red squirrel laughed at 
and scolded us by turns, for invading his premises. A 
woodpecker drummed away on the dry limb of a tree, 
contrasting pleasantly with the soft chirp of some hand- 
some cedar birds that sat nearly motionless in a small 
maple. Just as we were in readiness to start, the squir- 
