o the work, he exhibited his knowledge of mowing
with the scythe or the machine, as well as raking and putting up the
hay in bunches ready to be hauled in that afternoon.

It was a bright, beautiful day, and Douglas found it good to be out
there in the open instead of being shut up in the crowded city. He was
almost like a boy in his joy and enthusiasm. Everything appealed to
him and brought back memories of other days; the fragrant scent of the
new-mown hay, the zig-zagging butterflies, and the birds darting here
and there. Though the day was hot and the perspiration at times stood
out in beads on his forehead, yet he was more contented than he had
been for a long time. "Why did I ever leave the country?" he asked
himself. "What life so free and happy as this?" Then the thoughts
which had entered his mind the night before came to him once again.
"Would it not be better to live in God's open, and rove at will?" he
mused. "Why should I be a slave any longer, and conform to a dry
ecclesiastical system? Better to follow nature and the dictates of my
own heart. What is the use of striving to help others when they do not
wish to be helped?"

He found Jake a capital companion. He was not a driver, but an
encourager, and when once he saw that a man was doing his best, he was
satisfied.

"Ye're all right," he told Douglas that evening after the chores had
been done, and they were resting for a while on a log near the house.
"I suppose ye feel a little sore?"

"Not yet," Douglas replied, "but I expect to be rather stiff in the
morning after to-day's work. It will take me a little while to get
hardened up, and then I'm going to have a wrestling bout with you. My,
how calm the water is to-night," and he turned his eyes upon the
peaceful river away to the left. "I'm going down to have a swim. The
last one I had was in the harbour."

"In the harbour!" Jake exclaimed in amazement. "What in the world were
ye swimmin' there fer?"

"Oh, I'll tell you some day when I've got nothing else to do. Where's
the best place for a swim?"

"Most anywhere, but ye'll find the water extry good down by that old
pine tree," and Jake pointed away to the left. "There are no weeds
there."

It took Douglas but a few minutes to reach the river, and he walked
slowly along the shore. Not a ripple disturbed the surface of the
water, and the trees along the bank were mirrored in the clear depths.
How good it was to be in such a plac