There was no little brook careering through the garden now--only a few
pools here and there--and its channel would soon be dry in the hot sun.
But Willie thought how delightful it was to be able to have one there
whenever he pleased. And it might be a much bigger brook too, for,
instead of using the stone which could but partly block the water from
the underground way, he would cut a piece of wood large enough to cover
the opening, and rounded a little to fit the side of the well; then he
would put the big stone just so far from the opening that the piece of
wood could get through between it and the side of the well, and so be
held tight. Then all the water would be forced to mount up, get out at
the top, and run through the garden.

Meantime Mr Macmichael, having gone to see what course the water
had taken, and how it had left the garden, found that, after a very
circuitous route, it had run through the hedge into a surface drain in
the field, and so down the hill towards the river.

When Willie brought him the jug, he filled it from the well, and carried
the water into his surgery. There he put a little of it into several
different glasses, and dropping something out of one bottle into one
glass, and something out of another bottle into another glass, soon
satisfied himself that it contained medicinal salts in considerable
quantities. There could be no doubt that Willie had found the Prior's
Well.

"It's a good thing," said his father at breakfast, "that you didn't
flood the house, Willie! One turn more and the stream would have been in
at the back-door."

"It wouldn't have done much harm," said Willie. "It would have run along
the slabs in the passage and out again, for the front door is lower than
the back. It would have been such fun!"

"You mischievous little thing!" said his mother, pretending to scold
him,--"you don't think what trouble you would have given Tibby!"

"But wouldn't it have been fun? And wouldn't it have been
lovely--running through the house all the hot summer day?"

"There may be a difference of opinion about that, Master Willie," said
his mother. "You, for instance, might like to walk through water every
time you went from the parlour to the kitchen, but I can't say I
should."

Curious to know whether the village pump might not be supplied from his
well, Mr Macmichael next analysed the water of that also, and satisfied
himself that there was no connection between them. Within the ne