intending to stay on it. That was the only improvement he made. He came
late in the Fall and society in Toronto was more agreeable than felling
trees. He bet on horse-races that took place on the ice and spent the
evenings at cards. In the spring his money was gone; had to sell his
land to pay his debts, and returned to England. On reaching the end of
the bridle-path the horses were hitched. Jabez searched among the brush
until he found a surveyor's stake. Placing a compass on top of it, he
cut with his jackknife three rods which he pointed. He pushed two into
the soil on either side of the stake, and went ahead with the third.
Posting the master behind the first, he told him to keep the three in
range and to shout to him if he stepped on either side. Producing from
the bag behind his saddle a hatchet, he went forward, cutting down the
brush where it blocked his straight course. When some hundred yards
away, he cried to the master to come on, it was all right. On joining
him Jabez pointed to a scar made in the bark of a maple. 'That is the
surveyor's blaze, made five years ago. I was in doubts where to find it,
for the weather has blackened it. We are all right now, and will find
another farther on.' So they did, several more, though they were so
faint only the trained eye of Jabez could detect them. As he came to
each tree, he used the hatchet to make a fresh blaze, while any branch
that obstructed the view between the blazed trees was lopped off.
Suddenly it grew lighter: they were again in the sunshine and before
them was a sheet of water. It was too small to be called a lake; it was
just a pond, set in the heart of the woods. The master was greatly taken
with it and leaning over a log drank heartily, for the water was clear
and sweet, though warm. 'We may as well rest and take our bite here,'
remarked Jabez, producing from the pouch slung at his back some
soldiers' hard tack, with thin sliced pork between instead of butter. He
explained it was hard to tell the quality of the soil in the woods, and
many were deceived, especially as regards stones. The forest litter