"No," replied Jonas, "but I have read about them. They are very large and flat, and your foot stands in the middle of them, and so presses them upon the snow; and they are so large that they will not sink in very far."
While Jonas was saying this, he was climbing down to the bank of the brook, with a pole in his hands, with which he was going to see if he could find firm footing, for the horse to go across.
"Yes," said he, punching his pole down to the bottom of the brook; "yes, it isn't deep. The old General will get down here very well, I think."
So he and Oliver trampled a sort of path down to the brook, and then they led the old General down. He seemed a little reluctant, at first, to step into the water. However, he soon went in, and walked over, and Oliver fastened him to a tree, so that he could stand upon the bare piece of ground. Jonas then pulled the sleigh out of the road, so that it should not be in the way, if any body should come along with any other team; then he bade Oliver good-by, and went on alone.
Jonas traveled along, as well as he could, through the snow, though he found it very laborious walking. In some places, he found hard footing for some distance; but then he would sink down again for several successive steps. After a short distance, he got out of the deep drift, which had prevented the horse from going on, and then he could advance faster. There was a singular-looking track in the road. It consisted of a smooth groove in the snow, as if the end of a large log had been dragged along.
It was, in fact, made by a log which had been drawn along that road towards the mill. One end of the log had been placed upon a sled, and the other left to drag along in the snow; and this was what made the smooth groove, which Jonas observed. He did not see it before, because the man who drove the sled had turned out of the main road, into a by-way across the fields, to avoid the deep drift where Jonas's horse got into difficulty.
Jonas found it pretty good walking after this. The snow was not so deep as it had been; and the path which the log had made was hard and smooth. He concluded that it must have been made by such a log, and, of course, if he followed it, that it would take him directly to the house of the man whom he wanted to see.
After walking about a mile, he came to the house. It was a small farm-house, in the woods. There were a great many large logs, lying each side of the road near it, ready to be drawn to the mill.
Jonas went up towards the door, which was in the end of the house. As he drew near to it, he saw a boy's head behind an enormous pile of wood. He went around it, and found that the boy was about as big as Jonas himself. He was rolling down a large stick of wood, and had an axe in his hand, as if he was going to chop it.
"Does Mr. Woodman live here?" said Jonas.