nd be killed! Oh dear, let me get out!"
cried Sarah, as the wagon passed slowly forward.

"Hush up!" said Gypsy, quickly. "Tom won't let us go, if you act so. Don't
you suppose four grown men know better than we do whether it's safe? I'm
not afraid a bit."

Nevertheless, Gypsy and Tom, and even Mr. Hallam, looked narrowly at the
old frail log, and down into the gorge where the water was gurgling. Once
the wheels grazed the log, and it tilted slightly. Sarah screamed aloud.
Mr. Surly knew what he was about, however, and knew how to do it. He
passed on safely into the wider road, and the wood-cart rattled composedly
on.

"There a'r'd a ben a purty close shave in the night," he remarked, coolly,
pointing with his whip down the precipice. "There was a team went down
here five years ago,--jist off that maple-tree there,--horse, wagin, and
all, an'clock two men, brothers they was, too; one man hung onto a branch
or suthin'clock, and was ketched and saved; t'other one got crushed to
jelly. It was a terrible dark night."

Even Gypsy gave a little shiver during this entertaining conversation, and
was glad they had come up in the daytime.

Mr. Surly drove to a certain by-road in the woods, where he left them, and
returned home; and the party proceeded on foot, with their baggage, to the
place Mr. Hallam had chosen as a camp-ground.

It was a pleasant spot, far enough in the woods to be still and wild, near
enough to the little settlement on top of the mountain to be free from
bears, as Sarah had required to be informed ten separate times, on the
way. There was a little, natural clearing among the trees, which Mr.
Hallam and Tom made larger by cutting down the shrubbery and saplings.
They had brought hatchets with them, as well as guns, knives, and
fish-hooks. It seemed very warlike and real, Gypsy thought--quite as if
they intended to spend the rest of their lives there. She almost wished a
party of Indians would come and attack them, or a bear or a wolf.

Having selected a smooth, level spot for the tents, Mr. Hallam thought
they had better put them up immediately. It chanced that he and Tom each
owned one, which was a much better arrangement than the dividing of one
into two apartments. The two were placed side by side, and the girls' tent
was distinguished and honored by a bit of a flag on top, and an extra fold
of rubber-cloth in front, to keep out the rain. There was also a ditch dug
around it, to drain off the water