A Terrible Tomboy

d In their wide sweep the

giant kings, in

the enchant

down the banisters in her hurry to see why her father was pullin

sheep. I shall stay all night at the cottage, so y

beguiling manner, 'couldn't you take Bobby and me with you this time?

an eight-mile walk, and all uphill, and such a rough place when you get there

at such a suggestion. 'We can walk quite as well as grown-up people, and ca

said Mr. Vaughan doubtfully, begi

so let me be a boy for to-day. Oh, Auntie, do

y to the dining-room, with a dish of ham in

at it must be quite dry up there, so I hardly think they would catch cold in the cottage. But they must promise to beh

nth heaven of joy to inform Bobby of the delightful prospect, nearly upsetting Nancy and the breakfas

s hut there, just sufficient to form a shelter at night-time, and every now and then he would make an expedition t

so it was with very gay faces that, their fishing-baskets full of provisions slung over their shoulde

chink of the blacksmith's hammer came mingled with the refrain of a stirring melody from a good bass voice; under the spreading yew-trees of the churchyard, and out through the lych-gate to the old mill, where the great wheel was turning slowly round, its dripping blades gleaming bright in the sunshine; up the steep path through the little hazel-wood, scrambling over the ladder-like stile into the narrow lane that ran ever uphill towards the mountains, which

he children begged for mercy, and sat down to rest for a few minut

the boundary between England and Wales. When we are over

toy by the side of the river which wound, a mere silver thread, along the valley. Far in the distance, among the trees, the outline of the Abbey rose gray against the background of soft beeches; a little dark cloud, the only one in the w

infectious spirits, Mr. Vaughan shook off his forebodings, and joined in the delight of the moment as if he were a boy once more. He hunted in the brook for sedges, captured a Red Admiral to grace Bobby's collectio

that little farm nestling in the hollow, with the fir-trees behind it? That is our last link with civilization. We shall find no more human habitations until we reac

ern as to completely hide the slate underneath. There was no garden, only a low wall on which the milk-cans and most of the family crockery seemed to be ta

ock-headed girl peeped shyly from behind the shelter of his rough back. At the sight of a stranger she fled with a howl, for visitors were almost unknown on these heights, and the child was as w

us have some milk?'

aking her head, which, being interpr

had picked up a little Welsh in his expeditions on the mountains, and rea

the Abbey, but her milk seemed sweet and good, and the woman sang a song in Welsh while she milked it, to a st

get food up here,' whispered Peggy to Father, anxious t

we live on mostly? Bread and bacon, oatmeal and potatoes, and a few eggs. It's a healthy life, but terribly cold in winter. No, I've never been inside Gorswen Church. We go to a little chapel u

world behind them, and to be all alone among the hills. Oh, the boundless delight of those rolling miles of heather, which looked like a crimson sea spreading onward towards the horizon, and the delicious smell of the sweet-gale as they trod i

ps to keep a safe track over the soft, spongy surface, for Joe had told them dark tales of pedlars, trave

the distance the gleaming outline of a lake, loo

That is Llyn y Gaer. We shal

afternoon was wearing on, and there was much to be done before night. Close beside the lake, on a flat piece of grass sheltered under a high cliff, stood the shepherd's hut, a small one-roomed shanty of rough stones piled up without either mortar or plaster, and roofed with a few tree-tru

at fireplace, with a chimney so wide that, looking up, you could see the sky above. Grate there was none, and the fire must burn on the hearth-stone, but a good stack of dry peat and heather stood in the ingle nook, eviden

, putting down her heavy b

o explore, and wondering whether it would be possible to

any tea! Bobby, take the kettle, and fill it from the stream outside; an

er, they soon had a glowing red blaze, and swung the kettle on a hook, fastened to the end of

for our beds, before the dew begins to fall upon it. Come along, my two sub

this night m

s curtain fo

uoted it on all occasions. 'But we ought not to have a hut at all. We sho

if you are so anxious to taste the romantic you may sleep in

sheets and nightshirts, and horrid things of that sort, again. I'd like to be a hunter whe

said Peggy. 'I wish we lived up here, and then we shouldn't need to g

en hastened to set out the cups and plates. There was no table-cloth, but that did not matter in the least, and the absence of teaspoons was regarded as rather an advantage than otherwise. It was so quaint to sit right inside the chimney corner, and smell the delicious blue peat smo

t some Court ceremony. Aunt Helen's hard-boiled eggs and bread-and-butter disappeared like magic,

thing so fast, we shall be obliged to go hungry before we get home again. Now I am going out to look after the sheep, and I shall leave you to cle

ste calculated to break anything but the stout blue enamel ware which Aunt Helen had thoughtfull

re the children tilted in their load, sitting down on the heather fo

e!' shouted Father after them. 'And keep up the

p over the hills, with old Rover

uld have driven the sheep all the wrong way, in spite of what Father say

bits; and if Jack doesn't get his supper he'll scold so dreadfully outside the kitchen door that someone is sure to hear him. Oh, Bobby! I saw a fish in the pool just then. I have two pins in

ere both rather relieved to hear his cheery whistle outside the door, for it was just a little eerie sitting by the peat fire in that lonely cottage, without a sound to break the vast silence, and the knowledge that the nearest human habitation lay fully three miles away; and Bobby had already asked Peggy if she believed in ghosts, and whether it was true what Joe had told him that t

Vaughan, 'but I'm dog-tired, and we had better go

ant heather, while Father threw thick bundles of it over them to serve instead of blankets. Heather makes one of the most delicious be

e peat fire flicker upon the rough beams of the roof, till at length fire and heather merged into a dreamlan