wait till morning. But I at
once went over and hired the light wagon for the next day, and then we
got together the things which we deemed necessary for the expedition.
The tape-measure, of course, was a most essential part of the outfit.
Susan declared that she would take exclusive charge of that herself;
it made her feel that she was of importance, she said. During all the
evening she was quite quivering with excitement--and so was I, for that
matter--and I don't believe that we slept forty winks apiece all night
long.

We were up bright and early, and got off before seven o'clock--after
Susan had given the colored girl a great many directions as to what she
should and should not do while we were gone. This was the first time
that we ever had left the colored girl alone in the house for a whole
day, and Susan could not help feeling rather anxious about her. It would
be dreadful, she said, to come home at night and find her bobbing up and
down dead at the bottom of the well.

As we drew near the bay I asked several people whom we happened to meet
along the road if they knew where Pequinky Creek was, and I was rather
surprised to find that they all said they didn't. At last, however,
we were so fortunate as to meet with quite an old man who was able
to direct us. He seemed to be a good deal astonished when I put the
question to him, but he answered, readily:

"Yes, yes, o' course I knows where 'tis--'tain't nowhere. Why, young
man, there hain't ben any Pequinky Crik fur th' better part o' sixty
year--not sence thet gret May storm druv th' bay shore right up on eend
an' dammed th' crik short off, an' turned all th' medders thereabouts
inter a gret nasty ma'sh, an' med a new outlet five mile an' more away
t' th' west'ard. Not a sign o' Pequinky Crik will you find at this
day--an' w'at I should like ter know is w'ere on yeth a young feller
like you ever s' much as heerd tell about it."

This was something that I had not counted on, and I could see that Susan
was feeling very low in her mind. But by questioning the old man closely
I gradually got a pretty clear notion of where the mouth of the creek
used to be; and I concluded that, unless the oak and hickory had been
cut down or washed away, I stood a pretty good chance of finding the
spot that I was in search of. Susan did not take this hopeful view of
the situation. She was very melancholy.

Following the old man's directions, I drove down to the point on the
road