"Johnny on the spot, teacher!"

A blank-book and pencil he threw in her lap and
leaned close.

"Tear the leaves out, if you like."

"No, I'll just draw the maps on the pages and leave
them for you to study."

With deft touch she outlined in rough on the first
page, the states of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware,
Virginia and North Carolina, tracing his possible route
by Trenton, Philadelphia, Wilmington, Dover, Norfolk
and Raleigh, or by Washington, Richmond, and Danville
to Greensboro.

"Either route you see," she said softly, "leads to
Salisbury, where you strike the foothills of the
mountains. It's about two hundred miles from there to
Asheville and `The Land of the Sky.'"

For two hours she answered his eager, boyish
questions about the country and its people, his eyes
wide with admiration at her knowledge.

The sun was sinking in a sea of scarlet and purple
clouds behind the tall buildings beside the Park before
she realized that they had been talking for more than