Erema | Page 9

trouble, Sampson
Gundry's grandson "Firm"--as he was called for Ephraim--ran up the
stairs to the little room where I was sitting by myself.
"Miss Rema, will you come with us?" he said, in his deep, slow style of
speech. "We are going up the mountain, to haul down the great tree to
the mill."
"To be sure I will come," I answered, gladly. "What great tree is it, Mr.
Ephraim?"
"The largest tree any where near here--the one we cut down last winter.
Ten days it took to cut it down. If I could have saved it, it should have
stood. But grandfather did it to prove his rights. We shall have a rare
job to lead it home, and I doubt if we can tackle it. I thought you might
like to see us try."
In less than a minute I was ready, for the warmth and softness of the air
made cloak or shawl unbearable. But when I ran down to the yard of
the mill, Mr. Gundry, who was giving orders, came up and gave me an
order too.

"You must not go like this, my dear. We have three thousand feet to go
upward. The air will be sharp up there, and I doubt if we shall be home
by night-fall. Run, Suan, and fetch the young lady's cloak, and a pair of
thicker boots for change."
Suan Isco never ran. That manner of motion was foreign to her, at least
as we accomplish it. When speed was required, she attained it by
increased length of stride and great vigor of heel. In this way she
conquered distance steadily, and with very little noise.
The air, and the light, and the beauty of the mountains were a sudden
joy to me. In front of us all strode Sampson Gundry, clearing all tangles
with a short, sharp axe, and mounting steep places as if twoscore were
struck off his threescore years and five. From time to time he turned
round to laugh, or see that his men and trained bullocks were right; and
then, as his bright eyes met my dark ones, he seemed to be sorry for the
noise he made. On the other hand, I was ashamed of damping any one's
pleasure by being there.
But I need not have felt any fear about this. Like all other children, I
wrapped myself up too much in my own importance, and behaved as if
my state of mind was a thing to be considered. But the longer we rose
through the freedom and the height, the lighter grew the heart of every
one, until the thick forest of pines closed round us, and we walked in a
silence that might be felt.
Hence we issued forth upon the rough bare rock, and after much trouble
with the cattle, and some bruises, stood panting on a rugged cone, or
crest, which had once been crowned with a Titan of a tree. The tree was
still there, but not its glory; for, alas! the mighty trunk lay prostrate--a
grander column than ever was or will be built by human hands. The
tapering shaft stretched out of sight for something like a furlong, and
the bulk of the butt rose over us so that we could not see the mountains.
Having never seen any such tree before, I must have been amazed if I
had been old enough to comprehend it.
Sampson Gundry, large as he was, and accustomed to almost every
thing, collected his men and the whole of his team on the ground- floor

or area of the stump before he would say any thing. Here we all looked
so sadly small that several of the men began to laugh; the bullocks
seemed nothing but raccoons or beavers to run on the branches or the
fibres of the tree; and the chains and the shackles, and the blocks and
cranes, and all the rest of the things they meant to use, seemed nothing
whatever, or at all to be considered, except as a spider's web upon this
tree.
The sagacious bullocks, who knew quite well what they were expected
to do, looked blank. Some rubbed their horns into one another's sadly,
and some cocked their tails because they felt that they could not be
called upon to work. The light of the afternoon sun came glancing
along the vast pillar, and lit its dying hues-- cinnamon, purple, and
glabrous red, and soft gray where the lichens grew.
Every body looked at Mr. Gundry, and he began to cough a little,
having had lately some trouble with his throat. Then in his sturdy
manner he spoke the truth, according to his nature. He set his great
square shoulders against the butt of the tree, and delivered himself:
"Friends and neighbors,