Page:Barbour--Metipoms Hostage.djvu/40

28 gold on the needle-carpeted ground. Birds sang about him, and presently a covey of  partridges whirred into air beyond a beech  thicket. It was good to be alive on such a morning, and better still to be adventuring,  and David’s heart sang as he strode blithely  along. The voyage down the river would be pleasant, the town held much to excite interest, and the visit to his uncle and cousin  would be delightful. He only wished that his stay in the town was to be longer, for he and  Raph, who was two years his elder, were firm  friends, and the infrequent occasions spent  with his cousin were always the most enjoyable of his life. This morning he refused to think of the trip back when, with a laden  canoe, he would have to toil hard against the  current. The immediate future was enough. Midges were abroad and attacked him bloodthirstily, but he plucked a hemlock spray and fought them off until, presently, the path  ended at the bank of the river, here narrow  and swift and to-day swollen with the spring  freshets. Concealed under the trees near by lay a bark canoe and a pair of paddles, and  David soon had the craft afloat and, his gun  and bag at his feet, was guiding it down the  stream.