He knew that if his father carried out this plan, it would cost a great
deal of money; and if this money should be spent for him, then the rest
of the family would have to deny themselves of many comforts which they
might otherwise have.

"Oh, never mind that, Dan," said his brother Ezekiel. "We are never so
happy as when we are doing something for you. And we know that you will
do something for us, some time."

And so the boy spent the winter in Boscawen with Dr. Wood. He learned
everything very easily, but he was not as close a student as he had been
at Exeter.

He was very fond of sport. He liked to go fishing. And sometimes, when
the weather was fine, his studies were sadly neglected.

There was a circulating library in Boscawen, and Daniel read every book
that was in it. Sometimes he slighted his Latin for the sake of giving
more time to such reading.

One of the books in the library was _Don Quixote_. Daniel thought it the
most wonderful story in existence. He afterwards said:

"I began to read it, and it is literally true that I never closed my
eyes until I had finished it, so great was the power of this
extraordinary book on my imagination."

But it was so easy for the boy to learn, that he made very rapid
progress in all his studies. In less than a year, Dr. Wood declared that
he was ready for college.