and Nature, as usual, had done her best to hide the cruel gashes made
in her breast by man; the trees had grown and spread, while bushes
and weeds extended their sway so as to almost choke everything
around. The distant cawing of the crows sounded more gruesome than
ever amidst such surroundings; but there was no sign of bird-life to
be seen. It was as though the little feathered creatures found this
region too lonely even for their nest building. Not even a red or
gray squirrel frisked around a tree, or boldly defied the intruders
of his wilderness haunt.

"There, I just had a glimpse of the place through an opening!" suddenly
announced Hugh; "I calculate that we'll soon come in plain sight of
the whole business, for this road leads straight across the dumps, I
was told, and then on again in the direction of Hobson's Pond."

The sun was passing behind the first cloud of the whole day just then.
Somehow the added somber conditions had an effect on all the boys; for,
with the temporary vanishing of the king of day, the shadows around
them appeared to grow bolder, and issue forth from their secret
retreats.

"Ugh! this is certainly a fierce place for a fellow to visit, say
around midnight," K.K. was forced to admit, for he was the essence of
candor at all times.

"Wild horses couldn't drag me up here at such a time as that," said
Horatio, as he looked ahead, and shivered, either with the chill of
the air, or from some other reason, he hardly knew himself.

"Hugh, would you try it if someone dared you to?" demanded Julius