the right, and only for the dense growth of trees with their
foliage still hanging on, we might see the cliff forming the background
of the quarry right now."

Julius and Horatio looked around them with increasing interest, and
perhaps a slight flutter of unusual vigor in the region of their hearts.
It was about as gloomy a scene as any of them had ever gazed upon.
Years had elapsed since work in the stone quarry had been abandoned,
and Nature, as usual, had done her best to hide the cruel gashes made
in her breast by man; the trees had grown and spread, while bushes
and weeds extended their sway so as to almost choke everything
around. The distant cawing of the crows sounded more gruesome than
ever amidst such surroundings; but there was no sign of bird-life to
be seen. It was as though the little feathered creatures found this
region too lonely even for their nest building. Not even a red or
gray squirrel frisked around a tree, or boldly defied the intruders
of his wilderness haunt.

"There, I just had a glimpse of the place through an opening!" suddenly
announced Hugh; "I calculate that we'll soon come in plain sight of
the whole business, for this road leads straight across the dumps, I
was told, and then on again in the direction of Hobson's Pond."

The sun was passing behind the first cloud of the whole day just then.
Somehow the added somber conditions had an effect on all the boys; for,
with the temporary vanishing of the king of day, the shadows around
them appeared to grow bolder, and issue forth from their secret
retreats.

"Ugh! this is certainly a fierce place for a fellow to visit, say
around midnight," K.K. was forced to admit, for he was the essence of
candor at all times.

"Wild horses couldn't drag me up here at such a time as that," said
Horatio, as he looked ahead, and shivered, either with the chill of
the air, or from some other reason, he hardly knew himself.

"Hugh, would you try it if someone dared you to?" demanded Julius
suddenly, taking the bull by the horns, so to speak.

"I don't think I would, on a dare," replied the other calmly, yet
deliberately, as he smiled at the speaker; "but if there was any
good and sufficient reason for my doing the same, I'd agree to come
alone, and spend a whole night in the deserted quarry. However, I'm
not particularly _hankering_ after the experience, so please don't
try to hatch up any wild scheme looking to that end. If you want to
come, Juli