summer-house met my eyes, and almost startled me, so little did I
expect in that place to see any thing that should recall to my mind
the dwellings or the vicinity of man.

The next minute I began to scrutinize, and to wonder--for it was
evident that this building must be an appendage to the estate of some
gentleman or person of degree, and, knowing all the families of note
in that neighborhood, I was well assured that no one dwelt here of
sufficient position to be the owner of what appeared at first sight to
be a noble property.

Anxious as I was, however, to effect my entrance into that enchanted
ground, I could discover no means of doing so; for the depth of the
water effectually cut off all access to the hedgerow banks, even if
there had been any prospect of forcing a passage through the tangled
thorn-bushes beyond. Before I could find any solution to my problem,
the fast thickening shadows admonished me that I must beat my retreat;
and it was only by dint of redoubled speed that I reached college in
time to escape the consequences of absence from roll-call.

An early hour of the evening found me at my post on the following day;
for having a direct object now in view, I wasted no time on the road,
and the sun was still some distance above the horizon, when I reached
the summer-house.

It had been my hope, as I went along, that I might find some shallow
spot, with a corresponding gap in the hedge, before reaching the
place, by means of which I might turn the defences, and take the enemy
in the rear; but it was all in vain; and I came upon the ground
without discovering any opening by which an animal larger than a rat
could enter the forbidden ground.

Difficulty, it is well known, heightens desire; and, if I wished
before, I was now determined that I would get in. Quickening my pace,
I set off at a smart run to reconnoitre the defences beyond, but
having found nothing that favored my plans, in some half mile or so, I
again returned, now bent on forcing my way, even if I should be
compelled to undress, and swim across the pool to the further side.

Before having recourse to this last step, however, I reconnoitered my
ground somewhat more narrowly than before, and soon discovered that
one of the main limbs of the great oak shot quite across the pool, and
extended some little distance on my side over terra firma.

It is true that the nearer extremity of the branch was rather of the
slenderest, to support the we