help, whose amazement at
everything they saw, and especially at the canoe, was unbounded. One of
the men expressed his wonder at the little craft by saying, "Dat ar
trick's so light, I reckon it's gwine leab de water some fine day, an'
fly in de yair, like a duck."

Mrs. Elmer provided the women with brooms, mops, and pails, and took
them up to the house, where they proceeded to put the lower story in
order for immediate occupation. Mr. Elmer armed the men with axes, and
soon had them engaged in a struggle with the tangled growth in the
front yard, through which they cut a broad path to the house. While
they were doing this, Mr. Elmer and Jan cut and placed in position some
temporary supports under the rickety porches, and Mark was set work at
the windows. From these he knocked away all the boards, letting in
floods of blessed sunlight, that drove from their snug retreats numbers
of bats and several comical little owls.

One of the colored women--"Aunt Chloe Cato," as she called herself,
because she was Cato's wife--was sent into the kitchen to clean it and
to make a fire in the great fireplace. She could not explain the traces
of recent occupation, but "'lowed 'twere de ghoses, kase dis yere ole
Bang place done bin hanted."

"Well, it'll be 'hanted' now by the Elmer family," said Mark, who
overheard her, "and they'll make it lively for any other 'ghoses' that
come round."

"Don't ye, now, honey I don't ye go fo' to set up yo'sef agin de
ghoses, kase dey's powerful pernickety when dey's crassed," said the
old woman, whom Mark, with his love for nick-names, had already called
"Ole Clo."

At noon all hands stopped work to eat a hasty lunch, and soon
afterwards the lighter, being unloaded, was poled across the river for
the team. With the help of Captain Johnson and his crew, who had agreed
to remain over that night, most of the household goods were moved up to
the house during the afternoon and placed under shelter.

While this work was going on, one of the white men from the village
came over to see his new neighbors. He brought with him a wild-turkey,
half a dozen ducks, and a string of freshly caught fish, as cards of
introduction. His name was Bevil, and he welcomed the Elmers most
heartily, and said that he considered their coming a sign of better
times for that section of the country. He told Mr. Elmer that the Bangs
place used to be considered one of the finest plantations in the
county, and that its lands