When Rich returned, shortly after the commencement of the summer term, he was joyfully welcomed by his pupils. In the course of ten days he received a box by the stage, of quite modest proportions, that was instantly transferred to the harness-room, and respecting the reception of which Rich seemed very much interested, having been several times to the stage tavern to inquire about it.

This box contained all the bones of the human frame; and no wonder that Rich was concerned about their arrival, considering his intense interest in the study of anatomy, and furthermore, the low state of his funds, and that they cost him but five dollars.

It was customary for the lecturer to procure subjects for dissection (in what way was best known to himself), for any students who wished this opportunity of private study and dissection, at twenty dollars apiece. Rich clubbed with three more and bought one. After they had dissected[Pg 261] and made a study of the different parts in which each felt most specially interested, the bones remained. To secure and put these together properly, so as to form an entire and perfect skeleton, repairing the damages made by the dissecting saw on the skull, to get at the brain, was a great deal of work, and required not only anatomical knowledge, but great patience and no small degree of mechanical skill; and the other students, who were able to purchase skeletons already prepared, and possessed neither the patience nor mechanical ability to perform the work, and, moreover, liked Rich, gave him their portion of the bones.

To prepare, classify, and wire them together was a most congenial as well as profitable occupation to Rich; it fixed the arrangement, names, and shape of the bones and articulations in his mind, and also gratified his mechanical tastes; and he in the course of the summer accomplished the work, during the performance of which his practice in working iron stood him in good stead, as he replaced the spinal marrow by an iron rod, cut a thread on each end, and made thumb-nuts with which to confine the vertebral column.

The fact of his having attended medical lectures at Brunswick, coupled with his previous success in some cases of minor importance, increased very much the confidence of people in general touching his ability as a physician, and he had numerous[Pg 262] calls, to all of which he turned a deaf ear, devoting himself entirely to his scholars and studies.

At length circumstances concurred to place him in a position of great perplexity, and one where he was, as it were, compelled to assume a responsibility from which he would gladly have been excused. Dan Clemens, Frank Merrill, and Horace Williams had natural history, in the form of ornithology, "on the brain." If these youngsters didn't sit on eggs, they dreamed of them. It would be difficult to mention anything they would not do for Rich when the remuneration was a rare bird, shot and stuffed.

To be soaked to the skin, and so tired they could scarcely put one foot before the other, were pastimes when birds were ahead; and to obtain eggs they would venture life and limb. The fatigue of soldiers on a forced march was trifling in comparison with what they cheerfully endured; and their mothers, during the spring and summer months, were in a state of chronic anxiety, expecting nothing less than their being brought home with broken bones.

One Saturday afternoon they were all in swimming with a crowd of boys who took not the least interest in their favorite study; but one of them, while undressing under a leafy elm, at whose roots the boys were accustomed to put their clothes, espied the nest of a Baltimore oriole, and told Dan, who was in the water with Frank and Horace.[Pg 263] They instantly dressed, and began to look with longing eyes at the nest that was pendent from the extremity of a slender branch near the top of the tree, and on its southern side.

"We can't get that nest," said Horace, "for we can't climb the tree, it's so far to a limb. If we could climb it, the limbs won't bear a fellow to reach the nest."

"Yes, we can," said Dan; "we must have those eggs. You give me a boost. I'll bet I can climb it."

"If you do, you can't reach the nest."

"I can tell better after I get there."

Dan did his best, but had to give it up; so did Horace. Frank was the best climber of the three, though of lighter weight than the others, and less plump—an exceedingly agile and sinewy boy. He did not, however, relinquish his efforts and slide reluctantly down the trunk till he was within three feet of the lowest limb.

"If you could only boost me up that much I fell short, I could go it," said Frank, "after I rest and get breath."

"Let us," said Dan, "pile up a great heap of stones, one of us stand on that, and the rest put Frank's feet on his shoulders."

"No; get some nails and a hammer, and nail some pieces of board on the tree," said Horace.

"Zuckers! I know how you can git up," said a barefooted, red-headed boy of twelve, whose [Pg 264]hat-rim was nearly torn off thrashing bumblebees on thistle blossoms, and who didn't go to the academy nor any other school, save a few weeks in the winter, and who lived on a farm three miles from the village, but had the presumption to come there and go in swimming with the academy boys, because it was the best place on the river, and who could swim like a fish.

"You shut up," said Frank. "How much do you know about it? And what business have you there in our swimming-place?"

"Tain't none of your place, nuther; it's Mr. Seth Hardin's pastur. I've good right here's you have. If you touch me, I'll heave a stone at your head, and I'll tell our Sam, and he'll give you a lickin'."

"What is the way, bub?" said Dan, too anxious to get the eggs to fling away any chance of success. "What do you know about it?"

"I know our Sam would git up that tree quick as a cat would lick her ear, I swanny."

"How, bub?"

"Arter plantin', dad allers gives Sam half a day to go troutin' and git elum rine (elm rind) to string our corn, and me and Abigail allers go too. Sam takes the axe and starts a strip of bark at the butt of a tree, till he can git his hands hold; then he gives it a twitch, and rips it up clear to the limbs; then he starts another one till he gits enough. Arter that he takes hold of one[Pg 265] on 'em, and climbs up jist like nothin', and cuts 'em all off but one rope that he saves to come down on. They break off sometimes when there's a knot-hole; they won't run over a knot-hole. Abigail and me has jolly times swingin' on the ropes afore he cuts 'em off, and strippin' 'em into twine arter he takes the outside bark off, and windin' 'em into big balls."

The inner bark of the elm, cedar, bass, and willow is very strong and tough; when peeled from the outside layer and soaked in water it makes a very good substitute for twine. Our ancestors were taught the value of it by the Indians, and used it to string their corn and bind sheaves, and some old-fashioned people have not yet abandoned the practice. Getting elm rind and cutting withe rods were always popular with the boys, as it gave them part of a holiday.

"That's it," said Dan; "I see it all now. Here, bub."

He gave him three cents, upon which little Red-head put his bare feet to the ground and went off at a killing pace.

An axe was procured at Seth Harding's, and a strip of bark peeled from the butt of the tree to one of the lower limbs.

"Let us all go up," said Horace. "We will stay in the tree and take the nest from Frank. He's the lightest to go out on the limb."

Frank, taking hold of the piece of bark, put his[Pg 266] legs around the tree, and pulled himself up, ascending in this way quite easily. Too impatient to wait, Dan and Horace followed suit, all three ascending at the same time.

In their haste and anxiety to run the bark as far up as possible, in order to reach one of the lower limbs easily, they ran it too far, within a few inches of the place where the branch joined the tree. The result of this was, that when they were pretty well up the trunk, Frank incautiously pressing the bark from the tree with his knees, it started the second time and ran out on the limb. Away swung the boys, far off from the trunk, in mid-air. The bark kept running narrower and narrower, as the limb grew smaller, till, its farther progress being suddenly arrested by a number of small limbs, it divided up and broke, while the boys came down into the water, amid the shouts and laughter of the rest, who were either swimming or putting on their clothes.
A Slippery Elm

A Slippery Elm. Page 266.

Frank escaped without hurt, but he gave Dan a bloody nose with the heels of his shoes, while Horace, who was undermost, barked both shins on a rock that just broke the surface of the water.

Learning wisdom from experience, they stripped the bark at the next trial farther from the limb, ascending one at a time, and met with no difficulty. The branch on which the nest hung bent over the river. Frank, grasping the branch, put his feet on the one directly beneath it, and thus[Pg 267] gradually worked his way till he came very near the nest, and the parent birds began to fly around his head.

But the branch now bent so much that Dan, who had been the most anxious to obtain the nest and its contents, begged him to desist and give it up; so did Horace; but Frank's blood was up and his pride roused, for there was a crowd of boys looking at him.

"If I fall," he said, "I shall fall into the water, and I can swim ashore."

At length he could touch the outside of the nest with the tips of his fingers.

"O, if my arm was only two inches longer!"

"Don't, Frank," said Dan, "go any farther. It frightens me to see the limb bend so."

Scarcely were the words uttered, when the limb upon which he stood broke as he was holding to the branch above by only one hand. Reaching after the nest with the other, he fell feet foremost into the river, catching by the limbs as he went. There were boys still in the water, who, instantly swam to him, while Dan and Horace, hurrying down the tree, plunged in. Frank kept himself on top of the water, after rising, but when the boys reached him, said,—

"I can't swim; I believe my leg is broke. I struck something under water, and heard it snap."

It was on a Saturday afternoon that this accident occurred, and Rich had embraced the opportunity[Pg 268] to work upon his bones. He was busily engaged in the harness-room, with the door fastened, when he was startled by a rousing rap, and the voice of Dan clamoring for admittance. Opening the door, he beheld Dan pale and excited, and the face of Mrs. Clemens over his shoulder, who manifested no less alarm.

"O, Mr. Richardson!" cried Dan, "Frank's fell off a tree and broke his leg. Horace and Mr. Harding have carried him home, and Dr. Ryan has gone down there, and wants you to come right down. Mr. Harding said be expected they'd cut his leg off. Mr. Richardson, don't let 'em cut poor Frank's leg off—will you?"

"I hope it won't be necessary," said Rich, as he locked the door; "but the doctors will do what they think is for the best."

"Just what I have been expecting all the spring, ever since this egg-hunting began. I hope it will be a solemn warning to you, Daniel," said his mother.

It happened very opportunely that this was a day fixed upon by Dr. Ryan and his............