the river in the long evenings, paddling up to the falls and dropping his line in the deep, black pools there. He had brought some English hooks back with him from Boston and liked them well. No more news came from the outer world save that at Boston there was much uneasiness of an uprising of the Indians and drilling of the militia each day. If Philip meant mischief he bided his time.
The days grew very hot and the river dwindled in its bed. The brook through the clearing was no more than a trickle, for the spring had been unusually dry and the little showers no more than dampened the soil. One night David awoke in the darkness with the sound of great thunder in his ears and saw the window flash glaring white with the lightning. But the storm passed them by, rumbling off at last into the north, leaving the ground as parched as before. The kitchen garden must be watered by hand, and, lest the well go dry, David carried water in buckets from the small pool that lay in the swamp to the west, stumbling so frequently on his way back that the pails were seldom more than half-filled when he arrived. William Vernham came one day past the middle
