t shovels. They burrow real deep.
If we had brought a dog with us, how he would dig into that hole!"

"I wish I had my Tiger here," said Oscar; "it's too bad father would
n't let me bring him with me."

Oscar thrust his cane into the hole, but did not reach the end of it;
and if the occupant of the tenement was within, he did not think it
worth while to show himself. The boys accordingly renewed their
journey. After they had reached the foot of the hill, they had to
cross a swamp. With its wet and miry bottom, and its dense growth of
vines, bushes, and small trees, this was no easy matter; but they
succeeded in getting through with no damage save wet feet, a few slight
scratches, and a good many mosquito bites. This latter trouble was the
most serious of all. The mosquitoes were large and ferocious. They
bit right through jacket, vest, and all, and Oscar declared that their
sharp stings even penetrated his boots.

After the boys emerged from the swamp, they came to the road in which
the man met a bear. They followed this road a short distance, till it
brought them to the shore of a large and beautiful pond. Leaving the
highway, they now walked along by the edge of the water, and soon came
to the old hut they were in pursuit of. It was but a few rods from the
pond, and was directly under the brow of a steep and rocky hill. It
had a very old and decayed appearance. The roof had fallen in, the
door had disappeared, and the single window was without sash or glass.
It contained but one apartment, and that was very small, and so choked
up with rubbish that the boys did not try to enter.

"Well, that must have been a great place for a man to live in," said
Oscar, after he had inspected the premises. "How long has the old
fellow been dead?"

"I don't know," said Jerry; "it must be fifteen years, for he died
before I was born."

"I wonder what he lived here for; does anybody know?" inquired Oscar.

"No, he was a hermit, and that's all anybody knows about him. They say
he used to have a garden, and raised everything he wanted to eat. In
the summer time he used to work a good deal for two or three farmers
that lived over at Cedar Hill, at the further end of the pond. He had
a little skiff, and rowed back and forth in that. He never used to
spend any money, and people say he must have had all of a thousand
dollars, that he had earned, when he died; but nobody knew what became
of it. They suppose he buried