Under the stone
a beautiful basin a foot and a half across and about as deep had been
chiselled out.
"A lot of us found it here," said the Ohio boy, "and we found, too,
a tin cup chained to a staple driven into the stone. See, it's here
still. We haven't broken the chain. I suppose it belongs to some farmer
close by. The boys brought other tin cups and we drank so fast that the
brook itself became dry. The water never got any further than the pool.
I suppose it's just started again. Drink."
The boys drank deeply and gratefully. No such refreshing stream had ever
flowed down their throats before.
"Ohio," said Dick, "you're a lovely, dirty angel."
"I guess I am," said Ohio, "'cause I found the spring. It turned me from
an old man back to a boy again. Cold as ice, ain't it? I can tell you
why. This spring starts right at the North Pole, right under the pole
itself, dives away down into the earth, comes under Bering Sea and then
under British America, and then under the lakes, and then under Ohio,
and then under a part of Kentucky, and then comes out here especially to
oblige us, this being a dry season.
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