BALD-SUMMIT.

— INTRODUCTORY TO “THE CHIMARA.”

ewiPWARD, along the steep and wooded hillside,
OM] went Eustace Bright and his companions. The

Z| trees were not yet in full leaf, but had budded
forth sufficiently to throw an airy shadow, while the sun-
shine filled them with green light. There were moss-
grown rocks, half hidden among the old, brown, fallen
leaves; there were rotten tree-trunks, lying at full length
where they had long ago fallen; there were decayed
boughs, that had been shaken down by the wintry gales,
and were scattered everywhere about. But still, though
these things looked so aged, the aspect of the wood was
that of the newest life; for, whichever way you turned
your eyes, something fresh and green was springing
forth, so as to be ready for the summer.

At last, the young people reached the upper verge of
the wood, and found themselves almost at the summit of
the hill. It was not a peak, nor a great round ball, but
a pretty wide plain, or table-land, with a house and barn
upon it, ab some distance. That house was the home of