bear. Let's look at the
ruins, if there are any left."

They forced their way through a dense grove of fruit-trees and wild
growth which towered above the plantings of the past, the ponies
breaking down the lush vines and succulent canes, till they were brought
up suddenly by something solid which was overgrown by a vine.

"What!" cried the doctor.

"Ahoy! Griggy!" roared Chris through his hands. "Ahoy! Hooray!
Here's one of our vines loaded and breaking down with grapes."

The next minute the American and his companions had forced their way up
to the front of the big shanty and its shed--the barracks, as they had
termed it--to find that their fellow-settlers had respected the
nailed-up doors and shutters, leaving at their exodus the unlucky
district just as it had been at the peril finders' departure; but Nature
had been hard at work for her part, toiling as she toils in a rich
country to destroy man's work and restore all to its pristine state.

But though vines had draped, and shoots had dislodged shingles, the
stoutly-nailed walls stood firm. No firebrand had been set to the
sawn-up wood, and after some work with an axe to wrench away the boards
that had been nailed over window-shutter and door, there was the old
place fairly intact, with the utensils just as they had been left.

The consequence was that the wanderers, after seeing to their weary
beasts and leaving them grazing in the midst of abundance, made their
own dinner seated at the rough table, drinking the water from the swift
river hard by, and finding, half smothered by the competing growth,
abundance of peaches and Bartlett-pears to supplement the grapes
ripening on the roof of the old home.

"I say, Chris," said Ned, with his mouth full, or nearly so, of juicy
pear, "is this all a dream?"

"My peach tastes just like a real one," was the reply. "But I say,
father, the fruit never used to grow like this."

"No, my boy," said the doctor; "I feel half stunned in my surprise. A
complete change seems to have come over everything. The weeds and wild
things have run rampant, but the fruit-trees, such as I can see, all
look clean and free from blight."

"Say, neighbour," cried Griggs, "I'm going over to my place now, if some
one else will help at the clearance. These grapes, you know."

"They're splendid," said the doctor. "What about them?"

"Why, this," said Griggs; "I planted lots, and they'd never grow any
more than my oranges would."