ppened only to her. As they gazed at the
two houses so closely jammed together, all of them wondered, some of
them even laughed, but not one offered a suggestion which afforded
satisfaction to Mrs. Carson or myself. The general opinion was that,
now my house was there, it would have to stay there, for there were not
enough horses in the State to pull it back up that mountainside. To be
sure, it might possibly be drawn off sidewise. But whether it was
moved one way or the other, a lot of Mrs. Carson's trees would have to
be cut down to let it pass.

"Which shall never happen!" cried that good lady. "If nothing else can
be done, it must be taken apart and hauled off in carts. But no matter
how it is managed, it must be moved, and that immediately." Miss
Carson now prevailed upon her mother to go into the house, and I stayed
and talked to the men and a few women who had gathered outside.

When they had said all they had to say, and seen all there was to see,
these people went home to their breakfasts. I entered my house, but
not by the front door, for to do that I would have been obliged to
trespass upon Mrs. Carson's back porch. I got my hat, and was about to
start for the town, when I heard my name called. Turning into the
hall, I saw Miss Carson, who was standing at my front door.

"Mr. Warren," said she, "you haven't any way of getting breakfast, have
you?"

"Oh, no," said I. "My servants are up there in their cabin, and I
suppose they are too much scared to come down. But I am going to town
to see what can be done about my house, and will get my breakfast
there."

"It's a long way to go without anything to eat," she said, "and we can
give you some breakfast. But I want to ask you something. I am in a
good deal of perplexity. Our two servants are out at the front of the
house, but they positively refuse to come in; they are afraid that your
house may begin sliding again and crush them all, so, I shall have to
get breakfast. But what bothers me is trying to find our well. I have
been outside, and can see no signs of it."

"Where was your well?" I gasped.

"It ought to be somewhere near the back of your house," she said. "May
I go through your hall and look out?"

"Of course you may," I cried, and I preceded her to my back door.

"Now, it seems to me," she said, after surveying the scene of
desolation immediately before, and looking from side to side toward
objects which had remained untouche