162 
THE SPRING. 
he saw something suspicious at the bottom, 
and, looking more closely, perceived it to be 
a large dead toad. The boys looked rather 
blankly at each other. 
“We shall have to drink the brook-water 
after all,” said Sidney, “unless we under¬ 
take to clean out the spring; and that will 
take too long.” 
“I know where there is a much better 
spring than this, farther up the hollow,” 
said David ; “ and if one of you will go back 
and tell them where we have gone, I will 
go and find it.” 
“Iwill,” said Richard, “as I want to find 
some snail-shells for Daisy. Don’t be long, 
or we shall eat up all the supper.” 
Ten minutes of what proved to be rather 
hard walking brought David and Sidney 
to the other spring, which gushed out 
bright and sparkling into quite a large 
stream from under the rocks and ran down 
the bank. The ravine w T as here much nar¬ 
rower, the sides more precipitous, and the 
tall hemlocks and pines nearly met over¬ 
head. 
“ What a savage-looking place!” remarked 
Sidney, as he looked around. “I think this 
