72 CAROLINE.

Beechnut determines to wade through the water. His various preparations.

 

and found a vacant place among some _ bushes, which
afforded him a little shelter. It is true it rained as much
in that place as in any other, but there was no wind there
to drive the rain under the umbrella. Here Beechnut
began to undress himself, taking off his clothes with one
hand, and holding his umbrella over his head with the
other. His valise he had previously put down upon the
ground at his feet. As fast as he took his clothes off he
folded them up carefully, and put them on his valise.
When all his clothes were off, he put his great coat on
again, with nothing underneath it. He thought that this
coat would be a sufficient protection for him in case he
should meet any one coming, and besides, it would keep
him from being cold. He supposed that the skirts of his
coat would probably get wet, as he waded, but this, he
concluded, would be of no great consequence. He could
wring them out again, when he got to the other side.

After putting on his coat, Beechnut bound his other
clothes snugly to his valise by means of two straps which
passed over the top of it. He then cut a long staff from
the bushes growing near him, and finally, taking up the
valise in his hand again, by means of a leather handle
that was attached to it in front, he went back to the road,
and then began to walk forward into the water, holding
his valise in one hand, and his staff and umbrella in the
other.

It was now quite dark, and as Beechnut went on
through the water, he was guided by the reflection of the
sky upon it, and by the lines of trees and thickets which
rose like dark walls on each side of the road. He kept
as nearly as possible in the middle between these bounds.
He felt somewhat afraid, but he knew that as it was