When, after the long climb up the hill, they saw the quaint mill and the
town lying just across rushing Little Bill Creek; when from their
elevation they beheld the placid lake half hidden by its stately pines
and gazed up the rugged and picturesque foot-hills to the great
mountains beyond, then indeed they drew in deep breaths and began, as
Patsy exclaimed, to be "glad they came."
"That Millville?" asked Uncle John, eagerly.
"Yes, sir."
"And which of those houses belongs to the Wegg farm?"
"Ye can't see the Wegg house from here; the pines hide it," said the
man, urging his horses into a trot as they approached the bridge.
"Pretty good farm?" inquired Uncle John, hopefully.
"Worst in the county," was the disconcerting reply. "Half rocks an' half
trees. Ol' Cap'n Wegg wasn't no farmer. He were a sea-cap'n; so it's no
wonder he got took in when he bought the place."
Uncle John sighed.
"I've just bought it myself," he observed.
"There's a ol' addige," said the man, grinning, "'bout a fool an' his
money. The house is a hunker; but w'at's the use of a house without
a farm?"
"What is a 'hunker,' please?" inquired Louise, curiously.
The liveryman ventured no reply, perhaps because he was guiding his
horses over the rickety bridge.
"Want to stop at the village?" he asked.
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