and snow upon the ground, but they are generally more blunt in the summer.  This prevented the ankle’s being cut as badly as it would have been, if the corks had been sharper.  Forester looked at the ankle, and found that nothing had been done for it.  It was inflamed and painful.  He got the woman to give him a basin of warm water, and then he bathed it very carefully, which relieved the sense of tension and pain.  Then he made an ointment of equal parts of tallow and oil, which he put upon the end of a bandage, and thus bound it up.  This treatment relieved the poor sailor very much.  Then Forester proposed to the sailor to get into the wagon and go with him to the next house, and the sailor consented.  Forester was then going to pay the woman for his night’s lodging, but the sailor said at once,—­“No, squire, not at all.  I’m much obliged to you for doing up my foot, but you need not pay any thing for me.  I’ve got plenty of shot in the locker.”

So saying, he put his hand in his pocket and drew out a handful of gold and silver pieces.  But the woman, who began now to feel a little ashamed that she had not done something for the wounded foot, said he was welcome to his lodging; and so they all got into the wagon, and Nero carried them rapidly back to his master’s.

Chapter IV.

The Village.

In due time, and without any farther adventure, Forester and Marco arrived at the end of their journey.  The village where Forester’s father lived was situated in a gorge of the mountains, or rather at the entrance of a valley, which terminated at last in a gorge.  There was a river flowing through this valley, and the village was upon its banks.  At the upper end of the village a branch stream came in from the north, and there was a dam upon it, with some mills.  The river itself was a rapid stream, flowing over a sandy and gravelly bottom, and there were broad intervals on each side of it, extending for some distance toward the higher land.  Beyond these intervals, the land rose gradually, and in an undulating manner, to the foot of the mountains, which extended along the sides of the valley, and from the summits of which, one might look down upon the whole scene, with the village in the center of it as upon a map.

Marco was very much pleased with the situation, and with the appearance of the village.  The street was broad, and it was shaded with rows of large maples and elms on each side.  The houses were generally white, with green blinds.  Most of them had pleasant yards before them and at their sides; these yards were planted with trees and shrubbery.  There were also gardens behind.  The mountains which surrounded the scene, gave a very secluded and sheltered appearance to the valley.