“That he was,” answered Washington, and took up a third stone. “I don’t see anything more of him,” he added, after a pause.
“Nor I. That first throw paralyzed him I think and the second finished him. I am thankful to you for coming to my aid,” went on Dave, warmly.
“I have only balanced our account,” answered the surveyor, with a smile. “You helped me against the snakes, now I have aided you against this turtle.”
“It’s too bad that turtle should turn up,” went on Dave, after he was settled down. “I don’t much like to think of going back into that swamp. There may be more of them there.”
“If you do go back put on your boots and take your gun, David. But, wait awhile, perhaps I can arrange it to survey around the swamp. It may take longer, but I do not wish to expose you to unnecessary peril. If that snapper had taken off one of your toes you would have to walk lame for the rest of your life.”
Washington told Dave to leave the stakes in the swamp as they were, and then ordered measurements taken around the north shore of the swamp. Dave went to work briskly, and by night the pair had worked their way to another point and had laid out a new triangle, so that the lad would have to go into the swamp only a short distance. This he did the next day, with his boots on, and it was then that the dead snapping turtle was discovered and hauled ashore.
The days followed each other in rapid succession, and after the work around the swamp was completed, Washington said they must now move up into the mountain gap, before the winter snows came to stop all surveying. They went on foot, for horses in that wild section would have been worse than useless. Each carried a heavy load, and in addition the surveyor had two negroes from Denton’s “tote” along supplies. The negroes remained with them for two days, assisting them to put up a mountain shelter of logs and brush, and then left them.
Work for one or two days was not difficult, but on the third day they moved out of the gap up the side of one of the mountains and along a narrow cliff. Here was a grant of land hardly of any value excepting for the timber on it, but it belonged to an English nobleman who was anxious to have it surveyed and who had offered Washington a neat sum to do the work.
“This is one of the difficult undertakings,” said Washington. “To lay out a straight line is next to impossible, but we can do our best, and there is no hurry, so long as the good weather lasts.”
The scenery, even for this time of year, was magnificent, and Dave often paused to survey the surroundings. Here were acres upon acres of cedar and hemlock as green as ever, and, in between, other trees, either bare or covered with leaves turned to red and yellow. The patches of wood were separated by the black rock, covered in many spots by the vari-colored mosses, and giving birth to innumerable springs of crystal water which flashed gaily in the sunshine.