first to appear, and everyone in Wareville old enough to know the
importance of such a manifestation went forth to examine them. Mr. Ware,
Mr. Upton and Mr. Pennypacker held solemn conclave, and the final
verdict was given by the schoolmaster, as became a man who might not be
so strenuous in practice as the others, but who nevertheless was more
nearly a master of theory.

"The stalks are at least a third heavier than those in Maryland or
Virginia at the same age," he said, "and we can fairly infer from it
that the grain will show the same proportion of increase. I take a third
as a most conservative estimate; it is really nearer a half. Wareville
can, with reason, count upon twenty-five bushels of wheat to the acre,
and it is likely to go higher."

It was then no undue sense of elation that Wareville felt, and it was
shared by Henry and Paul, and even young Lucy Upton.

"It will be a rich country some day when I'm an old, old woman," she
said to Henry.

"It's a rich country now," replied he proudly, "and it will be a long,
long time before you are an old woman."

They began now to plow the ground cleared the autumn before--"new
ground" they called it--for the spring planting of maize. This, often
termed "Indian corn" but more generally known by the simple name corn,
was to be their chief crop, and the labor of preparation, in which Henry
had his full share, was not light. Their plows were rude, made by
themselves, and finished with a single iron point, and the ground, which
had supported the forest so lately, was full of roots and stumps. So the
passage of the plow back and forth was a trial to both the muscles and
the spirit. Henry's body became sore from head to foot, and by and by,
as the spring advanced and the sun grew hotter, he looked longingly at
the shade of the forest which yet lay so near, and thought of the deep,
cool pools and the silver fish leaping up, until their scales shone like
gold in the sunshine, and of the stags with mighty antlers coming down
to drink. He was sorry for the moment that he was so large and strong
and was so useful with plow and hoe. Then he might be more readily
excused and could take his rifle and seek the depths of the forest,
where everything grew by nature's aid alone, and man need not work,
unless the spirit moved him to do so.

They planted the space close around the fort in gardens and here after
the ground was "broken up" or plowed, the women and the girls, all tall