For a
considerable distance there was a causeway, built long ago of logs, to
drag lumber upon; it was now decayed and rotten, a red decay, sometimes
sunken down in the midst, here and there a knotty trunk stretching
across, apparently sound. The sun being now low towards the west, a
pleasant gloom and brightness were diffused through the forest, spots of
brightness scattered upon the branches, or thrown down in gold upon the
last year's leaves among the trees. At last we came to where a dam had
been built across the brook many years ago, and was now gone to ruin, so
as to make the spot look more solitary and wilder than if man had never
left vestiges of his toil there. It was a framework of logs with a
covering of plank sufficient to obstruct the onward flow of the brook;
but it found its way past the side, and came foaming and struggling along
among scattered rocks. Above the dam there was a broad and deep pool,
one side of which was bordered by a precipitous wall of rocks, as smooth
as if hewn out and squared, and piled one upon another, above which rose
the forest.
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