II. CAPTAIN BRIGHT EYES AND LADY QUICK EAR.

ONCE on a time two travelers, in search of a home, arrived in a country where they had never been before. It was entirely unlike any land they had ever seen, though a very beautiful country. The sun shone bright, birds sang, flowers bloomed everywhere, there were great groves of tall green trees, and high mountains, and wide rivers. Smooth roads led off in all directions.

"Ha!" said the travelers, "this is an easy country to go about in; with these good roads, it must be very plain traveling."

so she was, for this was Lady Quick Ear, who could hear the smallest sounds, at a greater distance than any one else in that country. She had been noted for this all her life. The little man in the shining helmet was her husband, Captain Bright Eyes. When the two were married, every one said:

"Now, there can not remain anything in the world worth knowing that these two will not find out!"

And so it proved. There was hardly a day that one or the other of them did not make some new and wonderful discovery. They were always together, and they were always busy, searching,

journeyed, the brightest, happiest couple in all the

"No," answered a white-headed man. "It I would not be of the least use. They would not believe us."

There was one thing in this country which struck the travelers as very strange. Every one looked old - very old indeed. The new-comers were not so impolite as to say so, but in their hearts they thought:

serviceable little folk was to go about as guides and companions, and they were always watching for strangers who should be eager to see the wonderful beauties and treasures they had discovered. They were often saddened by seeing how few people really cared for these beauties and treasures. For most travelers hurried through the country, and away again, hardly looking at anything. But sometimes visitors would come who wanted to see

"Will you not take guides with you?" asked one of the old men. "If you really think of settling in this land, they could show you the best places. Great treasures exist in our country for people who know how to find them; but great dangers also, which a stranger might not suppose." "Oh, no; thank you," answered the travelers, politely. "We shall just follow the roads, and go wherever they lead us. We wish to see the whole country; and one way will be as good as another." Just then there stepped up the oddest little couple, a man and a woman. They were so small, they looked almost like dwarfs. The man wore a shining silver helmet, so bright that it seemed to light up the whole place, even in broad daylight. And his keen eyes were as bright as his helmet. The woman was very slender and graceful, and was dressed all in green. On her head was a twisted turban of green gauze, partly hiding her short fair curls. Her rosy little ears were set in this golden hair, like pink pearls, and her face was lovely, with its sweet smile and thoughtful look. She seemed to be listening all the time. And

these visitors always went away rich with treasures, and bearing a lasting affection for Captain Bright Eyes and his wife.

When the white-haired man who, as I said, was advising the new-comers, saw Captain Bright Eyes and Lady Quick Ear coming up, he continued:

"Here are the two best guides in all our country. There is not an inch of it they do not know. I wish you would be persuaded to engage them. I assure you their help is invaluable."

Captain Bright Eyes looked steadily at the strangers, but did not speak. Lady Quick Ear, also silent, stood with downcast eyes. They never were known to press their services on any one.

The two travelers whispered together. They had very odd names, these travelers. One was called "Search Out," and the other, "Never Mind."

"What a fuss about nothing!" said Never Mind. "I believe they want to make money out of us; that 's all."

"I'm not sure," replied Search Out; "they may be right. I think we'd better take them along."

"Do as you please," answered Never Mind.

"All right," said Search Out, much hurt at his friend's readiness to part company with him. "All right; I shall take the guides. Good-bye!" So Search Out set off with Captain Bright Eyes and Lady Quick Ear, and Never Mind set off alone on another road, and that was the last they saw of each other for many a year. How many, I can not say, because in fairy lands and fairy stories time is not kept as clocks keep it, nor reckoned as almanacs reckon it. You see, they had started out on roads so different and with plans so different, that there was not one chance in a million of their coming together anywhere, and the odd thing was that they really did meet at the same place where they had parted. And there was a crowd of bystanders, as at their first coming. Not the same ones; most of the old, white-haired people were gone; but other patriarchs had taken their places. In this country the inhabitants were all the time changing, the old disappearing, the young turning old, and new ones becoming known. It happened, that on this day, when the half-forgotten travelers returned, two strangers had just arrived (as Search Out and Never Mind themselves had arrived, a lifetime or so before), seeking a home, and anxious to explore the new country. It seemed to these strangers that every one was watching for something to happen.

When the procession stopped, Search Out stood up in the chariot and made a speech to the people. He told where they had been; how they had discovered mountains of gold and silver and precious stones; valleys where all sorts of grain grew higher than men's heads; plains with natural oilwells to supply fuel and light; seas full of soft, furry creatures; and forests of rare woods. "Plenty for everybody and to spare," he said. "There can not be another country so rich as this in all the universe."

As he finished speaking, Captain Bright Eyes pointed out to him a miserable, ragged fellow in the crowd.

"There," he said, "is the friend who came to this country with you. He seems not to have prospered."

Search Out looked. It was, indeed, his old comrade, Never Mind, so aged, so altered by suffering and poverty as hardly to be recognized.

The next day, when the two new travelers, who had seen this spectacle and had heard reports of Search Out's discoveries, were about to set off on their own journey, there came up to them an old white-haired man, and said, as the other old man had said a lifetime or so before to Search Out and Never Mind:

"Will you not take guides with you? If you

best places. We have great treasures, as you have seen, but dangers exist also, which a stranger might not suspect. Captain Bright Eyes and Lady Quick Ear are here still. If you take them along, you will not regret it." While these words were being spoken, Captain Bright Eyes and Lady Quick Ear stood by, silent, waiting.

They looked not a day older than when they had gone with Search Out.

"Oh, nonsense!" said one of the strangers. "We don't want any guides. We can follow the beaten path.” "To be sure," said the other. "In a country with such roads as these, who wants guides?" So they set off alone, and were never heard of again.

IT was a cold, gray Saturday afternoon. There were clouds of snow in the sky, and plenty of snow already fallen on the earth, while the woods seemed frozen as stiff as ship-masts. Ollie Phipp was at home with something the matter; the girls of the neighborhood were doing crocheting, so cheerless was it out of doors; and Nick Woolson, who, if given freedom, never staid in the house except to eat and sleep, was out, you may be sure, and wondering what sort of fun could turn up with so little to do, and so few to help him do it.

He could go to the barn, of course, and look at the cows out of the corners of his eyes, and grin a little because they were having a rather more stupid time than he was; or he could go to the cellar and get an ice-cold apple to chew, which was n't a bit warmer on the red side than on the yellow; and he could get some hazel-nuts from the darksome attic, and easily spend two hours in extracting the meat from a handful of them.

He had taken his sled out with him, however; and a savage, hard, heavy little sled it was. Just now its sharp runners poked at his rubber boots threateningly, as much as to say that, if he abandoned it for any other sport, there might be a future tumble on snow or ice to punish him. So Nick gave his sled a jerk by the cord in response, leaving no doubt that he was master of that impertinent plaything, although he considered and met its demands; and off he sauntered up the highway.

It would have been impossible for Nick not to come upon something to do, after starting off into the world outside his father's gate in this trusting manner. It was delightful to have no notion what his occupation was to be, and yet to be sure that it was coming on from before or behind, or from one side or the other. It was not likely to come from his own brain, for he had no definite plan nor fancy as to how it would be jolly to pass the time from

now until supper. Of course, there was his sled. Perhaps it would be well to bring his sled into conjunction with a hill. The image of a very steep and from the top! - an inviting hill came to Nick's inner vision, and he began to wonder whether it was well covered with snow, and whether the snow there had frozen as stiff as everywhere else. It would be very lonely, if he went to that hill to coast all by himself. No one ever went there, except in summer to cut hay if they could, in spite of the sevenleague-booted grasshoppers. The gate and woodpath leading toward the hill of which Nick was thinking suddenly presented themselves at the side of the road, and Nick marched directly toward them with a dogged thud of his rubber ankles, as they struck together in a fashion denoting dauntless resolve. A delicious cold chill passed over his heart as he realized that the real Nick Woolson was carrying off the timid Nick Woolson, with the intention of making him play in as lonely a spot as the country could boast. The hill shone like silver and gold in the afternoon sun, and shadowed away toward the valley and the neighboring woods with great blue spaces that looked like lakes of magic water. After he had advanced some distance, Nick turned in a circle, and in every direction he beheld a picture of stillness. He pulled off one of his mittens and felt in an inner pocket of his coat for his particular treasure, for which he had bartered a pocket-knife, with one blade missing. It was a small china Buddha, about an inch and a quarter high, and as ugly as Buddha knows how to be. He touched the little idol's smooth surface, and his too great loneliness was banished.

It seemed all a dream while Nick was floating down the icy hill-side on his sled so fast that the trees left behind him in the distance were like vague memories of trees dancing a horn-pipe to keep their toes warm. But it did not seem as if he had ever dreamed in his life when it came to climbing

the hill again, after his dizzy rush; for he had to break a hole into the hard snow every time he planted his foot, and then had to wrench his heavy sled with force after him, or coast to the foot of the hill on his back, whichever he preferred. Nick thought of going home, when he had nearly reached the top. But as soon as he found himself safe and sound on the summit, he sat right down on his sled and skimmed away to the blue valley sea. As he flew down-hill a second time, he thought to himself that he was contented with being a boy. He sat still in the valley for a moment, appar

nerves must have been superbly steady to allow of his indifference. But who ever arrived at the real feelings of a fox? As Nick looked up at the top of the hill from which he had descended, reluctantly viewing the steep distance he would be obliged to climb if he wanted another swallow's flight, he descried a being standing there, very much like a sturdy young man with a small bag in his hand. He shouted down to Nick: "Fine coast!"

Nick grinned, and forgot to answer. "Give us your sled a minute!" called the young

come up here!" the distant figure hallooed, not abashed by the youngster's still sitting quietly astride of his sled. But Nick did not move, after all, and the young man sat down on the snow to wait until the boy thought fit to respond. The inaction which ensued was distasteful to Nick, and he began the difficult ascent, and arrived, puffing for breath. The young man let him rest for a moment, during which the two eyed each other, and then he asked: "What on earth made you come to this solitary spot?"

his finger, and replied:

"What made you come?"

The fir-trees were laden with firm snow, and were very much like marble trees that had not been

Nick looked longingly at the coarse linen bag. "Do they ever skate on the pond!" he asked, as if he knew they never did.

"Once in five years, if they 're willing to have a delightful time," said the young man. "It is frozen over this year, I hear, and I mean to try it. But give me your sled, first; I wish to recall old experiences."

"Not that way!" cried Nick, as the young man laid himself flat on the sled, which disappeared under his tall figure. "This iced snow will carry you like fury, and you 'll be smashed to nothing!" The young man looked up with one sparkling eye. "It's worth anything," he answered, and was off.

Nick reflected coldly, that in case the sled and its rider were lost to the world in a mingled mass of bones and splinters, at any rate he could go skating on the skates next day. But the young man had no sooner reached the base of the slope, having guided himself in a masterly way with his toes, than he picked himself up, and strode up the glistening surface. Nick had never seen so agile and delightful a giant. "Thanks, old fellow," said the young man, not caring to sit down to rest, but taking up his skatebag with a sweep of the arm. “Follow me, and I'll carry you all over the pond on your sled, as I skate. It will be the finest half hour you ever spent." Nick was of the same opinion.

"Oh, what fun!" he exclaimed, trudging beside his new friend (for from that instant he looked upon him as a friend). "Where did you come from?"

"Oh, I'm a college man sojourning in the country for a little while!" And the young man smiled. "I've been here before, and I know about the resources of this pond. You see, there 's going to be a sunset soon, now, and then the young moon; and it will be lovely out there, depend upon it. We'll get home to supper by seven, I think."

Nick's heart bounded. Here was a real under

branches and the bent tops of the bushes were still fastened beneath the white surface. The pedestrians often burst the fetters of the snow-shackled branches as they passed, either by too near a step, or, apparently, by merely breaking the dead stillness with their distant foot-falls. The very birds, overtaken at long intervals, seemed dumb as fancies; and once a hidden tread of some wild thing passing along in the obscurity of the underbrush and the clustered tree-trunks, sounded like the passing of a huge animal, which Nick's companion thought likely to be a lioness escaped from the menagerie which had lately been spilled on the railroad track. Several animals were said to have been lost. Nick thought he never should be more excited or wonderfully jubilant than he began to be now. To be sure, he stepped along with the persuasion that each moment might be his last in this world, and he glanced now and then at his companion's big figure with pleasure in the sense of its protective power. But he really enjoyed the great danger in which his companion allowed the lad to imagine himself. And when one is enjoying a danger, pray what is there to worry about? Whereas, to enjoy a pleasure often means to dread its consequences.

Suddenly the great pond, or lake, as some called it, lifted itself up before them, black as night in its white and black rim of snow and fir-trees. While the sun cast an orange light over one side of the sky, against which the woods reared their pinnacles, Nick's new friend hurried on his skates, and slid off on the ice. He sailed about for a minute or two, and then came back to the pond's edge. "Ready?" said he.

Nick left land on his sled at once, the young man caught the rope, and away they all shot,— skates, sled, young man, and Nick in bliss.

So wildly fast flew the collegian that, with a whizzing touch here and there of Nick's skillful heels, the sled never swerved to right or left. Every little while the young man would turn his head far enough to say: