return, so let us have some cakes and butter, and do not forget a tin-cup
for water."

Nothing doubting, Catharine, with buoyant spirits, set about her little
preparations, which were soon completed; but just as she was leaving the
little garden enclosure, she ran back to kiss Kenneth and Duncan, her young
brothers. In the farm yard she found Hector with his axe on his shoulder.
"What are you taking the axe for, Hector? you will find it heavy to carry,"
said his sister.

"In the first place, I have to cut a stick of blue-beech to make a broom
for sweeping the house, sister of mine; and that is for your use, Miss
Kate; and in the next place, I have to find, if possible, a piece of rock
elm or hiccory for axe handles; so now you have the reason why I take the
axe with me."

The children now left the clearing, and struck into one of the deep defiles
that lay between the hills, and cheerfully they laughed and sung and
chattered, as they sped on their pleasant path; nor were they both to
exchange the glowing sunshine for the sober gloom of the forest shade. What
handfuls of flowers of all hues, red, blue, yellow and white, were gathered
only to be gazed at, carried for a while, then cast aside for others
fresher and fairer. And now they came to cool rills that flowed, softly
murmuring, among mossy limestone, or blocks of red or grey granite, wending
their way beneath twisted roots and fallen trees; and often Catharine
lingered to watch the eddying dimples of the clear water, to note the, tiny
bright fragments of quartz or crystallized limestone that formed a shining
pavement below the stream; and often she paused to watch the angry
movements of the red squirrel, as, with feathery tail erect, and sharp
scolding note, he crossed their woodland path, and swiftly darting up the