Presently he came to a place where there was a gate, and a branch path,
turning off from the main road, directly towards the mountain. Here
Rollo, quite to his relief and gratification, found his uncle. Mr.
George was sitting on a stone by the side of the road, reading.

He shut his book when he saw Rollo and the guide, and put it away in his
knapsack. At the same time he rose from his seat, saying,--

"Well, Rollo, which is the way?"

"I don't know," said Rollo.

The guide, however, settled the question by taking hold of the horse's
bridle, and leading him off into the side path. The two travellers
followed him.

The path led through a very romantic and beautiful scene of fields,
gardens, and groves, among the trees of which were here and there seen
glimpses of magnificent precipices and mountains rising very near, a
little beyond them. After following this path a few steps, two girls
came running out from a cottage. One of them had a board under her arm.
The other had nothing. They both glanced at the travellers, as they
passed, and then ran forward along the road before them.

"What do you suppose those girls are going to do?" asked Rollo.

"I can't conceive," replied Mr. George. "Some thing for us to pay for,
I'll engage."

"And shall you pay them?" asked Rollo.

"No," said Mr. George. "_I_ shall not pay them. I shall leave all such
business to my courier."

The purpose with which the two girls had come out was soon made to
appear; for after running along before the party of travellers for about
a quarter of a mile, they came to a place where two shallow but rather
broad brooks flowed across the pathway. When Rollo and Mr. George came
up to the place they found that the girls had placed boards over these
streams of water for bridges. One of the boards was the one which the
girl had brought along with her, under her arm. The other girl, it
seems, kept her board under the bushes near the place, because it was
too heavy to carry back and forth to the house. It was their custom to
watch for travellers coming along the path, and then to run on before
them and lay these bridges over the brooks,--expecting, of course, to be
paid for it. Rollo gave them each a small piece of money, and then he
and Mr. George went on.

Soon the road began to ascend the side of the mountain in long zigzags
and windings. These windings presented new views of the valley below at
every turn, each successive picture being more extend