red
locality, and he and Philip soon came to the conclusion that it was not
a thing to be done in a hurry. Fortunately Mr Norman did meet them,
and with his assistance they at last found a spot to suit them. "The
next thing you will have to do is to _get fixed_" he said, laughing.
"You will soon find out the meaning of that term, I guess."

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Note. "Get fixed" is the American cant term for settled.

CHAPTER FOUR.

Towards the close of a bright summer day, several wheeled vehicles were
progressing slowly along a broad but roughish road cut through the
forest in the northern part of the peninsula of Upper Canada. In
colonial phrase, they were all waggons; but some carried luggage only,
and one of them human beings, with a small amount of personalities, in
the shape of carpet bags and hat boxes between their feet. This vehicle
was a long shallow box, or it might be called a tray on wheels, with
four seats across, each calculated to hold three persons, and with a box
for the driver. The baggage-waggons were of the same build, without the
seats, and were heavily laden with chests, casks, bales, and bedding,
with other household furniture. They must have been stronger than they
looked, to withstand the violent bumpings and jerks they received as
they progressed along the chief highway as yet opened up in that part of
the country. The nature of the road varied very much, according to the
character of the land over which it passed: now it was of corduroy--that
is to say of trees laid across it, the interstices filled up with clay
or sand. In a few places in the neighbourhood of saw-mills, planks had
been placed diagonally across the road, secured to sleepers beneath, and
over these bits the horses dragged the vehicles at a speed which made
the travellers wish that the whole road was formed in the same manner.
This they found was called a plank road. How the machines could hold
together, or the limbs of the occupants escape dislocation, seemed
surprising as they surged over the first-mentioned style of road. Now
and then the foundation of the road was of rock; and this though even
rougher, caused no fear of its letting the carriages sink through. Here
and there gravel appeared and allowed of firm footing; but the worst
parts of all were those undelightful spots called cedar swamps, across
which neither plank nor corduroy had been thrown, a