He was willing enough to go and came back with her, carrying his
shotgun.
"It will be a long jaunt," the old gentleman said as we started off.
"But if you move on briskly and don't stop by the way, you can get back
before dark."
The snow crust was so hard and the walking so good that we struck
directly across the fields and pastures to the northeast and within an
hour reached the town corner on the Silver farm. At that point our tramp
along the north line of the town began, and we went from one blazed tree
to another and freshened the blazes.
We went on rapidly, crossed Hedgehog Ridge and descended to Stoss Pond,
which the town line crossed obliquely. We had expected to cross the pond
on the ice; but the recent great rainstorm and thaw had flooded the ice
to a depth of six or eight inches. New ice was already forming, but it
would not quite bear our weight, and we had to make a detour of a mile
through swamps round the south end of the pond and pick up the line
again on the opposite shore.
Stoss Pond Mountain then confronted us, and it was almost noon when we
neared Wild Brook; we heard it roaring as we approached and feared that
we should find it very high.
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