Chapter XVI: In the Woods

Forgotten medicine and renewed health--An excursion planned--A gun wanted, but denied--Setting out on a long tramp--Swamps--Upland--Brooks--How Brookdale got its name--Cutting canes--Birch and beech--How to crook the handle of a cane--The philosophy of it explained--The cigars--Fine groves--Stopping to rest--The forest described--Birds and guns--Other game--Jim Oakley's strange animal--Moose--The man who met a bear--A race--Mysterious disappearance of the bear--The probable cause of his visit--The boy who killed two bears--Oscar's courage--Prospect Rock--A fine view--The rabbit--The woodchuck's hole--Crossing a swamp--Mosquitoes--The pond--The hermit's hut--Some account of "Old Staples"--Buried treasures--Making a fire--Baking potatoes and toasting cheese--Drinking pond water--Dinner--Hunting for the hermit's money--What they meant to do with it--A bath proposed--Smoothing over the matter--Going Into water--Drying their hair--Going home--Lost In the woods--Arrival home--One kind of punishment for wrong-doing.

CHAPTER XVII.

CLINTON.

The missing cap--Splitting wood--Jerry and Emily--A quarrel begun--The cap found--A drink of buttermilk--Oscar's opinion of it--Jerry's love for it--Another delay--Feeding the fowls--A mysterious letter--The Shanghae rooster's complaint--Curiosity excited--The suspected author--Clinton's education--Keeping dark about the letter--Who Clinton was--Where he lived--Killing caterpillars--How caterpillars breed--The young turkeys--The brood of chickens--The hen-coop--Clinton's management of the poultry--His profits--Success the result of effort, not of luck--The "rooster's letter" not alluded to--The piggery--The barn--"The horse's prayer"--A new-comer--Her name--A discovery--Relationship of Clinton to Whistler--Mrs. Davenport--Oscar conceals his dislike of Whistler--The shop--Specimens of Clinton's work--Going home.

CHAPTER XVIII.

THE LETTER.

A forgotten duty called to mind--Letter writing--A mysterious allusion--The private room--No backing out--Making a beginning--Getting stuck--Idling away time--Prying into letters--A commotion among the swallows--Teaching the young ones how to fly--A good lesson lost--Mary and her book--Her talk about the pictures--A pretty picture--A wasted hour--Making another attempt--His success--Effects of being in earnest--A copy of Oscar's letter--Emily's inquisitiveness--A rebuke--The message she wanted to send--The meadow lot--Mulching for trees--Going to the old wood lot--Cutting birch twigs-Forgetting to be lazy--The load--A ride to the Cross-Roads--Mailing the letter--Paying the postage in advance.

CHAPTER XIX.

THE RECALL.

Hankerings after a gun--A plan--Jim Oakley's gun--A dispute--An open rupture--The broken gun--Going home mad--A call from Clinton--The toiler--Summons home--Disappointment--Bad feeling between Oscar and Jerry--How they slept--Remarks about their appearance at the breakfast table--Borrowing trouble--Another visit proposed--Jerry's explosion of anger--His imprudence--Confinement down cellar--An unhappy day--"Making up" at night--A duty neglected--Inquiries about the gun--Starting for home--A pleasant drive--The stage-coach--The cars--Luncheon--Half an hour in Portland--The Boston train--A spark in the eye--Pain and inflammation--Boston--Ralph's surprise--Welcome home--The eye-stone--The intruder removed.

CHAPTER XX.

DOWNWARD PROGRESS.

Oscar's dread of going to school--Unsuccessful pleas--Oscar at school--His indifference to his studies--A "talent for missing"--A reproof--Kicking a cap--Whistler's generosity--Benny Wright--Oscar's bad conduct--Regarded as incorrigible--The tobacco spittle--Oscar's denial--Betrayed by his breath--A successful search--The teacher's rebuke--The new copy--Its effect--A note for Oscar's father--What it led to--Concealment of real feelings--Bridget's complaint--The puddle on the kitchen floor--Oscar's story--Conflicting reports--A new flare-up--The truth of the matter--Bridget's departure--Examination day--The medals--The certificate for the High School--A refusal--Bitter fruits of misconduct.