el. My ignorance caused many a blunder, to her high amusement;
but at last I discovered that the daisy's head was larger than that of
its humble brother. A half-mile's walk along the pike brought us to an
old sagging gate, which I pushed open, and we went through. A grassy
hill was before us, sloping down to a cool hollow where a spring
bubbled out from beneath a moss-grown old rock.

There were trees and bushes, and a soft green bank, and we joined hands
and ran like two school-children till we reached the spring. Of course
she must have a drink, so down she knelt, and plunged her pouting lips
into the cool water. Her hair, tangled and loosened by our run, fell in
wavy strands about her face. When she had drunk her fill, it was my
turn, and so I stretched out full length, and carefully put my lips just
where hers had been. Never had water tasted so sweet! I was taking it
in, in long, cool swallows, when a sudden pressure on the back of my
head bobbed my face deep into the spring. I turned my head with a smile,
to find her standing back and laughing like a child at the trick she had
played.

"You rascal!" I fumed good-naturedly, "I'll pay you back!"

Another peal of laughter was her only answer, caused, no doubt, by my
wet face and the water dripping from my chin.

"Yonder come the sheep," she said. "Get up, and let's salt them."

I arose and picked up the bucket. Coming slowly up the hollow were five
or six shabby-looking sheep. Their wool stood on them in patches, and
they seemed scarcely able to walk.

"What's the matter with them?" I queried.

"See how rusty the poor things look!" Her voice told of deep concern.
"Father says they have the scab, and it must be a dreadful disease, like
leprosy. Let's go meet them, and save them the trouble of walking so
far."

I could not help smiling at the tender heart this speech betrayed, but
I went with her. As we neared the sorry-looking group, Salome took a
handful of salt and placed it upon a large flat stone. They rushed at it
eagerly, despite their weakened state, and lapped it with their tongues.
We put out more salt, at a dozen different places, so that all might
have enough, then went back to the bank by the spring, and while she sat
down in the shade and held her bonnet in her lap, I reclined by her
side, and looked up at her, content.

XIII

"Do you love the country as much as you seem to?" she asked, gazing
blissfully up at the dense foliage of the