fountain-head of the little stream when he had walked over a part
of the timbered land with Henry Pollock, and now he struck into
the open woods again, digging into the soil here and there with
his heavy boot, marking the quality and age of the timber, and
casting-up in his mind the possibilities and expense of clearing
these overgrown acres.

"Mrs. Atterson may have a very valuable piece of land here in
time," muttered Hiram. "A sawmill set up in here could cut many
a hundred thousand feet of lumber--and good lumber, too. But it
would spoil the beauty of the farm."

However, as must ever be in the case of the utility farm, the
house was set on its ugliest part. The cleared fields along the
road had nothing but the background of woods on the south and
east to relieve their monotony.

On the brow of the steeper descent, which he had noted on his
former visit to the back end of the farm, he found a certain
clearing in the wood. Here the pines surrounded the opening on
three sides.

To the south, through a break in the wooded hillside, he obtained
a far-reaching view of the river valley as it lay, to the east
and to the west. The prospect was delightful.

Here and there, on the farther bank of the river, which rose less
abruptly there than on this side, lay several cheerful looking
farmsteads. The white dwellings and outbuildings dotted the
checkered fields of green and brown.