Jonas, who had been stooping down at his work, rose up at hearing this call, and replied to Rollo.
Rollo asked him how he should get across to him.
“O, walk right along,” said Jonas; “the ground is pretty dry now. Go up a little farther, and you will find my canal, and then you can follow it directly along.”
So Rollo walked on a little farther, and found the canal where it opened into the brook. He then began slowly and cautiously to walk along the side of the canal, into the marsh; and he was surprised to find how firm and dry the land was. He thought it was owing to Jonas’s canal.
“Jonas,” said he, as he came up to where Jonas was at work, “this is an excellent canal; it has made the land almost dry already.”
“O, no,” said Jonas, “my canal has not done any good yet.”
“What makes the bog so dry, then?” said Rollo.
“O, it has been drying all summer, and draining off into the brook.”
“Draining off into the brook?” repeated Rollo.