hing wet."

"Yes, and the spring has been rained on so much that the steam is rising
from it," said Paul.

"That's so," said Jim Hart. "Shore ez you live thar's a mist like a
smoke."

But Henry looked more closely and his tone was joyous as he spoke.

"Boys," he said, "I believe we're in luck, great luck. I think that's a
hot spring."

"So do I," said Shif'less Sol in the same joyous tone, "an' ef it is a
hot spring, an' it ain't too almighty hot, why, we'll all take pleasant
hot baths in it, go to bed an' sleep same ez ef we wuz really on them
feather beds in that inn that ain't."

Sol approached and put his hand in the water which he found warm, but
not too hot.

"It's all that we hoped, boys," he exclaimed joyfully. "So I'm goin' to
enjoy these baths of Lucully right away. After my bath I'll wrap myself
in my blanket, an' ez the rain hez stopped I'll hang out my clothes to
dry."

It was really a hot spring of the kind sometimes found in the West. The
water from the base of a hill formed a large pool, with a smooth bottom
of stone, and then flowed away in a little brook under the trees.

It was, indeed, a great piece of luck that they should find this hot
bath at a time when it was so badly needed. The teeth of both Paul and
Sol were chattering, and they were the first to throw off their clothes
and spring into the pool.

"Come right in and be b'iled," exclaimed the shiftless one. "Paul has
bragged of the baths o' Caracally but this beats 'em."

There were three splashes as the other three hit the water at once. Then
they came out, rolled themselves lightly in the warm blankets, and felt
the stiffness and soreness, caused by the rain and cold, departing from
their bodies. A light wind was blowing, and their clothes, hung on
boughs, were beginning already to dry. An extraordinary sense of peace
and ease, even of luxury, stole over them all. The contrast with what
they had been suffering put them in a physical heaven.

"I didn't think I could ever be so happy, a-layin' 'roun' in the woods
wrapped up in nothin' but a blanket," said Shif'less Sol. "I guess the
baths o' Rome that Paul tells about wuz good in their day, which wuz a
mighty long time ago, but not needin' 'em ez bad ez we did, mebbe, them
Roman fellers didn't enjoy 'em ez much. What do you say to that, Paul,
you champion o' the ancient times which hev gone forever?"

The only answer was a long regular breathing. Paul had fallen asleep.

"Good