that he had guessed that the moments of obscuration and
of emersion were the moments when observers would be most
careful. After this signal they broke up again, and I
could not follow them. With daylight I sent off a
despatch to Haliburton, and, grateful and happy in
comparison, sank into the first sleep not haunted by
horrid dreams, which I had known for years.


Haliburton knew that George Orcutt had taken with him
a good Dolland's refractor, which he had bought in
London, of a two-inch glass. He knew that this would
give Orcutt a very considerable power, if he could only
adjust it accurately enough to find No. 9 in the 3d
Range. Orcutt had chosen well in selecting the "Saw-Mill
Flat," a large meadow, easily distinguished by the
peculiar shape of the mill-pond which we had made. Eager
though Haliburton was to join me, he loyally took moneys,
caught the first train to Skowhegan, and, travelling
thence, in thirty-six hours more was again descending
Spoonwood Hill, for the first time since our futile
observations. The snow lay white upon the Flat. With
Rob. Shea's help, he rapidly unrolled a piece of black
cambric twenty yards long, and pinned it to the crust
upon the snow; another by its side, and another. Much
cambric had he left. They had carried down with them
enough for the funerals of two Presidents. Haliburton
showed the symbols for "I understand," but he could not
resist also displaying ..-- .--, which are the dots and
lines to represent O. K., which, he says, is the