tle word, that strawberries would de just as
well as fish, and better. So Winthrop put up his fishing-rod
and shouldered the oars, and armed with baskets of all sizes
the whole party trooped after him.

In the boat Elizabeth might have had a good opportunity to act
upon her cousin's request; for Rufus sat in the stern with
them and talked, while Winthrop handled the oars. But Rufus
and her cousin had the talk all to themselves; Elizabeth held
off from it, and gave her eyes to nothing but the river and
the hills.

They crossed the river, going a little up, to a tiny green
valley just at the water's edge. On every side but the river
it was sheltered and shut in by woody walls nigh two hundred
feet in height. The bottom of the valley was a fine
greensward, only sprinkled with trees; while from the edge of
it the virgin forest rose steeply to the first height, and
then following the broken ground stretched away up to the top
of the neighbouring mountains. From the valley bottom,
however, nothing of these could be seen; nothing was to be
seen but its own leafy walls and the blue sky above them.

"Is this the place where we are to find strawberries?" said
Miss Cadwallader.

"This is the place," said Rufus; "this is Bright Spot, from
time out of mind the place for strawberries; nobody ever comes
here but to pick them. The vines cover the ground."

"The sun won't be on it long," said Elizabeth; "I don't see
why you call it Bright Spot."

"You won't often see a brighter spot when the sun _is_ on it,"
said Winthrop. "It gets in the shadow of Wut-a-qut-o once in a
while."

"The grass is kept very fresh here," said Rufus. "But the
strawberry vines are all over in it."

So it was proved. The valley was not a smooth level as it had
looked from the river, but broken into little waves and
hollows of ground; in parts, near the woods, a good deal
strewn with loose rocks and grown with low clumpy bushes of
different species of cornus, and buckthorn, and sweetbriar. In
these nooks and hollows, and indeed over the whole surface of
the ground the vines ran thick, and the berries, huge, rich
and rare, pretended to hide themselves, while the whole air
was alive with their sweetness.

The party landed and scattered with cries of delight far and
near over the valley. Even Elizabeth's composure gave way. For
a little while they did nothing but scatter; to sit still and
pick was impossible; for the novelty and richness of the store