They then set forward, the children in advance of the rest. Jonas
walked with Rollo and Lucy, and he had round his waist a broad leather
belt, which he always wore on such occasions, and which had, on one
side, his hatchet and knife, and on the other a sort of bag or pocket,
containing several things, such as matches, a little dipper, &c.
Rollo’s father and mother, and his uncle George, walked along behind
them. The way was, for some distance, a sort of cart-path, too steep
and rough for a chaise, but hard and dry, and pretty comfortable
walking. Rollo and Lucy asked Jonas if he would not tell them a story,
as they went along, to beguile the way.
Jonas began a story, about a boy that lived a long time on a mountain
alone, but he had not proceeded far, before they heard a voice behind,
calling them. They looked buck, and saw that Rollo’s father was
beckoning them to stop.
They waited till he came up, and he told them he wanted to give them
their orders for the day; and they were rules, he said, which ought to
be observed on all berrying expeditions, by children.
“_First_” said he, “always keep in sight of _me_. For this purpose,
watch me all the time, when we are stepping, and keep before, rather
than behind, when we are walking.
“_Second_. Take no unnecessary steps, but keep in the right path, and
walk slowly and steadily there, so as to save your strength. Otherwise
you will get tired out very soon.
“_Third_. Do not touch any flower or berry that you see, except
blueberries, without first showing them to one of us.”
The children listened to these rules, and promised to obey them, and
then walked on. They tried to walk slowly and steadily, listening to
Jonas’s story. They turned off, after a time, into a narrower and
steeper path, and ascended, stepping from stone to stone The trees and
bushes hung over their heads, making the walk shady and cool.
After slowly ascending in this way, for some time, they came out of the
woods into an opening of rocky ground, and patches of blue
berry-bushes. They saw, also, at some distance before them, three or
four boys, sitting upon a rock, with pails and baskets in their hands,
talking and laughing loud. They did not take much notice of them, but
walked on quietly. They were going on directly towards them, but
Rollo’s father called them, and pointed for them to turn off to the
right, round a rocky precipice which was in that direction.
The children were turning accordingly, when they heard a shout from the
boys before them,—“Hallo,—come this way, and we will show you where the
blueberries are.”
“Father,” said Rollo, as he stopped and turned round to his father,
“the boys say they will show us the blueberries, out that way: shall we
go and see?”
“No,” said his father in a low voice, so that the boys did not hear.
“No: go the way I told you.”
They went along, and presently got round the precipice out of sight of
I he boys again. They walked slowly until their parents overtook them.
“Father,” said Rollo, “why could you not let us go out with those boys?
They said they were thickest out there.”
“Because,” said he, “I presume they are not good boys, and I do not
want you to have any thing to do with them.”
“But, father, they must be good boys, or they would not want to show us
the blueberries. If they were bad, selfish boys, they would want to
keep all the good places to themselves.”
If Rollo had only asked his father, in a modest manner, how it could be
that the boys were bad, when they wanted to show him the best place for
blueberries, it would have been very proper; but his manner of speaking
showed a silly confidence in his own opinion, which was very wrong. His
father, however, did not attempt to reason with him, but only said,
“I think they are bad boys, for I overheard them using bad language;
and I wish you to have nothing to do with them.”
He then found a good place for them to begin to gather their berries.
It was a beautiful spot of open ground, between the thick woods on one
side, and a broken, rocky precipice on the other.
Uncle George took Jonas forward alone, until they were out of sight,
and presently returned without him. Rollo asked where Jonas was gone,
and his uncle told him that that was a secret at present. They heard,
soon after, the strokes of his hatchet in the woods, on before them,
but could not imagine what he could be doing.
Thus things went on very pleasantly, and they gathered a large quantity
of berries. There was, indeed, in the course of the day, a serious
difficulty between Rollo and the bad boys; and there is an account of
it given in the next story of “TROUBLE ON THE MOUNTAIN.” With Ibis
exception, every thing went on well until about, noon, when Rollo
observed that Jonas had been missing a long time.