The slide.

Phonny's alarm.

Wallace.

down a hill at a place where there were thickets of trees and shrubbery at the bottom, and Phonny was very much afraid of running into them. He called out aloud,

"Oh, Wallace! Wallace! you are running against the woods!"

But Wallace knew that the sled was fully under his command, for he could press his heels into the snow and stop it at any moment. So he went on until he reached the bottom of the hill, and then stopped suddenly by means of his heels.

Rabbit discovered. Phonny's pursuit of him. Return toward home.

Phonny saw a rabbit which had been frightened out of the thicket, by their approach to it. He was thrown into a state of great excitement at this sight, and called out to Wallace to look at the rabbit, and then he ran after him as fast as he could run. He soon came back, however, without having been able to overtake him.

"How I wish that Franco had been here," said he. "What a pity it is that he got lost before I saw that rabbit! How unlucky!"

"How fortunate!" said Wallace to himself— though he said nothing aloud.

As Phonny came in sight of the house, on his return from the woods, which he did at the turn of the road under the foot of the precipice, as seen in the picture, the thought of Franco returned, and the pleasure which he had felt in having been so successful in obtaining poles, was almost wholly displaced by feelings of uneasiness and anxiety, at the thoughts of what Malleville would say when she found that Franco was lost. He then recollected too that he had promised to bring Malleville some snowdrops, and he had not once thought of looking

for any.

66

Phonny determines to go back for snow-drops.

There!" said he, stopping suddenly; "I must go back, after all.”

66 What for?" asked Wallace.

Phonny was drawing the sled, and Wallace was walking a little before him. Phonny stopped, but Wallace continued to walk on.

To get some snow-drops," said Phonny. "I promised Malleville some snow-drops."

"Oh there are no snow-drops," said Wallace. "There will not be any for a fortnight."

"Yes," said Phonny; "I think I can find some-if you will only go with me-Wallace." But Wallace had advanced so far, that he did not hear very well what Phonny said.

So he called out louder, "Wallace!"

Wallace turned round, but continued to move on, walking backward.

"Can you not go back into the woods with me to get some snow-drops?"

"No," said Wallace, "my play-time has expired."

"Well, I must go," said Phonny, “for I promised them to Malleville."

"Very well," said Wallace; so saying he turned round and walked on as before.

He is going to his studies," said Phonny, in a tone of contempt. "He is always a-studying.

His anxiety.

He leaves his sled.

Thoughts about Franco.

I would not be in college and have to study so much, if the books were all of gold.

it is vacation."

Besides,

Phonny stood a moment in the middle of the road, with a countenance expressive of disappointment and vexation, and then he concluded that he would leave his sled with the poles and axe upon it there, and go back and try to find Malleville some snow-drops. He would probably not have been so anxious to fulfil his promise, if he had not felt uneasy at having lost the dog. He wanted the snow-drops as a sort of peace-offering.

He accordingly drew his sled out to one side of the road, that it might not be in danger if any horses or oxen should chance to come along, and began to go back up the hill. But as soon as he was once more round behind the precipice, so as to be out of sight of the house, it began to seem very lonesome and solitary for him to go back up the glen alone. He thought of Franco too, and imagined that he might be mad, and if so, that he might bite him. He thought it very likely, in fact, that Franco was at that moment tearing about the woods, foaming at the mouth, and biting all the little trees.

He climbs up upon the rocks.

Phonny's reflections.

1

"Then besides," said Phonny, talking to himself, "I am too tired to go away up into the woods again; and I don't think that I should find any snow-drops either, if I should go. Wallace says that there are not any, and he knows. But perhaps there are some up among these rocks. I mean to climb up and see."

So saying, he turned off from the road toward the right, and began to climb up among the rocks. This was near the precipice where the pasture road turns, as seen in the frontispiece. It was very sunny and pleasant in one spot, where the snow had almost melted off. Phonny sat down there, and began to throw little stones down into the road. After amusing himself there for some time, he found a small stone which was quite transparent and brilliant; he called it a diamond, and determined to carry it home and give it to Malleville instead of the snow-drops. He also found some green moss, which was growing in a little sunny nook. He pulled up a small specimen of that. He was sure that Malleville would like the diamond stone and the moss together, better than the snow-drops, and so he climbed down from the rocks again, and began to go toward home.