g to watch them, but Dave had not
kept his word about the netting; the decoy had not been worked; and
gunning was reserved for those of elder growth. So that morning, though
the great lakes and canals among the reeds were dotted with birds, the
lads were patiently watching the cutting of the little drain.

Six men were busy, and making steady progress, for the peat cut easily,
the sharp-edged tools going through it like knives, while the leader of
the gang busied himself from time to time by thrusting down a
sharp-pointed iron rod, which always came in contact with sand and
gravel a few feet down.

"No roots, my lad?" said the squire, coming up.

"No, mester," said the labourer. "I don't think--well, now, only think
of that!"

He was thrusting down the iron rod as he spoke, and the point stuck into
something that was not sand or gravel, while upon its being thrust down
again with more force it stuck fast, and required a heavy jerk to drag
it out.

"That seems to be a good one," said the squire, as the lads watched the
process with interest.

"Shall we hev it out, mester?"

"Have it out! Oh, yes!" said the squire; and a couple of hours were
spent widening the drain at that part, so as to give the men room to
work round what was the root of an old tree, just as it had been growing
in the far-distant ages, before the peat began to rise over it to nine
or ten feet in thickness.

It was a long job, and after the great stump had been laid bare, axes
had to be used to divide some of the outlying roots before it was
finally dragged out by the whole force that could be collected by the
hole, and finally lay upon the side.

"Just like the others, Dick. There must have been a tremendous fire
here at one time."

"And burned the whole forest down?"

"Burned the whole of the trees down to the stumps, my lad, and then the
peat gradually formed over the roots, and they've lain there till we
come and dig them out for firewood."

"And they haven't rotted, father, although they have been under the peat
and water all this time."

"No, my boy; the peat is a preservative. Nothing seems to decay under
the peat. Why, you ought to have known that by now."

"I suppose I ought," said Dick rather dolefully, for he was beginning to
wake up to the fact of what an enormous deal there was in the world that
he did not know.

As he spoke, he picked up some of the red chips of the pine-root which
had been sent flying by the str