III-VII

He knew, generally, where Alexander Crandall's
farm lay; and, shortly after, drove
through the village and mounted the road
over which plied the Stenton stage. In the Bottom,
beyond the east range, he went to the right and
passed over an ill-defined way with numerous and
deep fords. It was afternoon; an even, sullen expanse
of cloud hid the deeps of sky through which
the sun moved like a newly-minted silver dollar. A
sharp wind drew through the opening; the fallen
leaves rose from the road in sudden, agitated whirling;
the gaunt branches, printed sharply on the curtain
of cloud, revealed the deserted nests of past
springs.

He drove by solitary farms, their acres lying open
and dead among the brush; and stopped, undecided,
before a fenced clearing that swept back to the
abrupt wall of the range, against which a low house
was scarcely distinguishable from the sere, rocky
ascent. Finally he drove in, over a faintly marked
track, past a corner of the fence railed about a trough
for sheep shearing, to the house. A pine tree stood

[[300]]

p299 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p300w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p301

v?