s down there in the sand," Thomas
called after them, with a wink to the rest of us.

Our breakfast was nearly ready, and with everything keeping warm by the
fire, we now ran down to the ford, to perform our own rather tardy
ablutions. The girls, looking fresh as pinks, had finished theirs and
were gathering more hazel nuts, and Theodora and Kate had crossed the
ford to gather a few bunches of high-bush cranberry fruit, which they
espied hanging temptingly out over the stream, on that side. These
cranberries make a nice relish for meat, or fish.

"Come on, girls!" Tom called out, as soon as we had doused our faces and
ran a comb through our locks. "Come on now, lively! Breakfast is all
ready and I've got something nice, I assure ye."

We went back to the cabins together.

"I didn't know that deer made such big tracks as those down there in the
sand," said Theodora. "I thought deer made little tracks more like sheep
tracks."

"Oh, caribou deer make tremendous tracks, as big as a man's almost,
because they step down upon their fetlocks and their feet are hairy,"
said Thomas, with a wondrous wise look to the rest of us.

"But are there caribou deer in Maine?" Theodora asked.

"Oh, a good many," replied Addison.

"Don't ask them any more questions, Doad," said Kate. "They are
deceiving us about something, I don't know what, exactly. But let them
enjoy it, if they find so much sport in it."

We sat down to breakfast at once, and the trout were delicious, at least
we all thought so; and so were the baked potatoes, eggs and toast.

"Now," said Addison after we had finished, "my program for to-day is to
climb the mountain over on the other side of the stream, and search for
some mineral ledges which I have heard of there. I don't want the others
to go with me, unless they want to, and would rather do that than
anything else. There are plenty of nice trips to make. Those who wish
can go to dig spruce gum upon the side of that dark-looking mountain on
the far side of the opening here; or they can go fishing, or hunting, or
go out here and collect hazel nuts for winter. For we can carry home a
bushel of nuts with us if we choose."

"We might get ten bushels," said Thomas, "if we could only dig out the
hoards of these squirrels that have been at work all the fall."

"Then there is another trip that I want to make," said Addison. "They
say there is a mountain side, about five miles up here to the northeast
of us, that i