an _im_-proper noun. I don't believe he has behaved
_proper_ one whole day in five years."

This remark got a hearty laugh upon Sam, and he felt it. He mumbled over
something, and shook his fist a little, but Nat could hear no part of
his remark but the oath that closed it. Sam was very profane, and his
brother was too. It was not unusual for both of them to utter the most
wicked oaths. They seemed to delight in using the worst words of the
English language.

This barbarous act of Sam was frequently spoken of thereafter, and he
stood lower than ever in the estimation of Nat. The latter possessed
tender feelings towards all sorts of animals, and he was much disposed
to pet them. It might be almost said of him as Parry did of Sir John
Franklin, "he never turned his back upon a danger, yet he was so tender
that he would not brush away a mosquito."

The winter session of the school closed, and vacation brought its work
and pleasures. We should be glad to follow Nat through these few weeks
of vacation, but we must hasten to a scene that was enacted when the
following summer was far spent.

CHAPTER VII.

PROSPECT HILL.

"Nat," said Frank, as they were going home from school one Friday night
of the following summer, "let us go up on Prospect Hill to-morrow
afternoon; it will be a capital time for a view, if it is a clear day."

"Agreed," responded Nat. "I told Harry the other day that I could count
a hundred churches from that hill, and he laughed at me, and I mean to
see if I was far from the truth."

"Well, I guess you set it a little too high," said Frank, "but it is a
grand sight that we have there."

"Yes! I heard Mr. Sawtelle (Nat's pastor) say, that he never enjoyed
such a fine prospect anywhere else, because so many different objects
can be seen. I wish I could look through a spy-glass from that hill,
wouldn't it be fine?"

Just then the two boys reached a corner where they must separate to go
to their respective homes, and the engagement was renewed by Nat's
saying, "Now remember, Frank, and be along in good season."

A word about Prospect Hill. We are not sure that this was the veritable
name given to this lofty eminence at that time; but we call it thus now
because we have heard Nat designate it thus since he became a man. It is
certainly a very appropriate appellation with which to christen a hill
that towers up so abruptly toward heaven.

This hill was situated just back of Nat's native vil