76 THE FAIRY-FOLK OF THE BLUE HILL.

peopled by the small beings she had learned
to love. If she could but have seen the
tiny faces that peeped after her from
their leafy hiding-places, she would have felt
secure in the thought that she was not
alone.

Bushes heavy with their weight of blueber-
ries were on either side, and mie flowers grew
under her footsteps, but Mona did not stop to
pick any, fearing the sun might go out of sight
before she een the top of the hill again.
Soon, to her great joy, the foot of. the hill,
where the erence cap hung on the fir tree,
seemed nearer and nearer, and, looking back
on the path down which she had gone so
slowly and with so much difficulty, she was
surprised to see how steep and how far off the
summit of the precipice was. This gave the
little maid new hope, and she proceeded more
resolutely than ever.

As Mona was feeling about with one foot
for a foothold on aha to trust her weight, a
sudden noise from behind arrested her atten-
tion, and she started violently, fearing that one
of the bears of which Wassa had spoken had
indeed come in search of her; and, losing her