Lucy asked Miss Anne if she would let her go with her the next time that she went out to make sketches, and let her try to see if she could not make sketches too, with her new pencil. Miss Anne had two or three pencils, which she kept in a little morocco case, and some small sheets of drawing paper in a portfolio. Sometimes, when she went out to walk, she used to take these drawing implements and materials with her, and sit down upon a bank, or upon a rock, and draw, while Lucy was playing around.

But now, as Lucy herself had a pencil, she wanted to carry it out, so that she could make sketches too.

Miss Anne said that she should like this plan very much; and accordingly, one pleasant summer afternoon, they set off. Miss Anne tied Lucy’s pencil and India rubber together, by a strong silk thread, so that the India rubber might not be so easily lost. The other necessary materials—namely, some paper, some pencils for Miss Anne, and two thin books with stiff covers, to lay their paper upon, while drawing—were all properly provided, and put in a bag, which Miss Anne had made, and which she always used for this purpose.

Lucy observed, also, that Miss Anne put something else in her bag. Lucy thought, from its appearance, that it was a square block; but it was folded up in a paper, and so she could not see. She asked Miss Anne what it was, and Miss Anne told her it was a secret.

They walked along without any particular adventure until they came to a bridge across a stream. It was the same stream where they had sat upon the rocks and seen George and the other boys fishing; but this was a different part of the stream, and the water was deep and still. Lucy and Miss Anne stopped upon the middle of the bridge, and looked over the railing down to the dark water far below.

“O, what deep water!” said Lucy.

“How could we get over this river if it were not for this bridge?”

“Not very conveniently,” said Miss Anne.

“We could not get over at all,” said Lucy. “Perhaps we might,” said Miss Anne; “there are several ways of getting over a river besides going over upon a bridge.”

“What ways?” said Lucy.

“One is by a ferry.”

“What is a ferry?” said Lucy.

“It is a large boat which is always ready to carry persons across. The ferry-man generally lives in a house very near the bank of the river; and if any body wants to go across the river, they call at his house for him, and he takes them across in his boat. Then they pay him some money.”

“But suppose they are on the other side,” said Lucy.

“Then,” said Miss Anne, “they have to call or blow a trumpet. Sometimes they have a trumpet for people to blow when they want the ferry-man to come for them. But sometimes, where there are a great many travellers on the road that leads to the ferry, the boats are coming and going all the time; and then people don’t have to call or to blow any trumpet.”

“How much money do they have to pay,” said Lucy, “for carrying them across?”

“That depends upon circumstances,” said Miss Anne. “If a man goes alone, he does not have to pay so much as he does if he is in a chaise; and if he has a carriage and two horses, he has to pay more still.”

“Why, Miss Anne,” said Lucy, “can they carry over a carriage and two horses in a boat?”

“Yes,” said Miss Anne, “a stage-coach and six horses, if necessary. They have large, flat-bottomed boats for the carriages and carts, and small, narrow boats for men, when they want to go alone.”

While this conversation had been going on, Miss Anne and Lucy had walked along to some distance beyond the bridge. They took a road which led to an old, deserted farm-house, and some other buildings around it, all in a state of ruin and decay. The man who owned it had built himself a new house, when he found that this was getting too old to be comfortable to live in. The new house was upon another part of his farm, and it was another road which led to it; so that these old buildings had been left in a very secluded and solitary position. Miss Anne liked very much to come to this place, when she came out to make sketches, for she said that in all the views of the buildings, on every side, there were a great many beautiful drawing lessons.

The roof of the house in one place had tumbled in, and the shed had blown down altogether. There was one barn, however, that was pretty good; and, in fact, the farmer used it to store his surplus hay in it.

Lucy sat down, with Miss Anne, under the shade of some trees, at a little distance from the buildings, and they began to take out their drawing materials.

“Now, Miss Anne,” said Lucy, “what shall I draw?”

“I think that the well will be the best lesson for you.”

There was an old well at a little distance from the house, upon the green, with a group of venerable old lilac bushes near it. The water had been raised by a well-sweep, but the sweep itself had long since gone to decay, though the tall post with a fork at the top, which had supported the sweep, was still standing.

So Miss Anne recommended that Lucy should attempt to draw the well.

“But, Miss Anne,” said Lucy, “I want to draw the same thing that you do.”

“Very well,” said Miss Anne; “then we will both draw the well.”

“So we will,” said Lucy; “but, Miss Anne, you must tell me how. I don’t know how to draw, myself.” Miss Anne gave Lucy some instructions, according to her request. She told her that she must mind the shape of the things more than anything else. “All depends upon the proportions,” said Miss Anne.

“What is proportion?” said Lucy. “Royal told me something about it, but I could not understand him very well.”

“Suppose you look over me a few minutes, and see how I do it,” said Miss Anne.

Lucy liked this proposal very much; and she stood very still, for some time, while Miss Anne, with her paper upon her book, and her book upon her knee, began to make her drawing, talking all the time as follows:—

“First, there is the post; I will draw that first. I must make it look just as long upon the paper as it does in reality. And do you think it stands quite upright?”

“No,” said Lucy, “it leans.”

“Which way does it lean?” asked Miss Anne.

“It leans towards the well, I think,” said Lucy.

“So it does; and I must draw a line for one side of the post, and make this line lean over towards the place where my well is going to be, just as much as the post really leans.” Miss Anne then drew the line, and asked Lucy to look at it carefully, and see whether it leaned any more, or any less, than the real post did.

Lucy looked at it very carefully, but she could not see that there was any difference.

“Now,” continued Miss Anne, “I must begin to draw the well; and I must have it at just the right distance from the post.”

Then Miss Anne put down her pencil very near to the post, and asked Lucy if she thought that that was about right.

“O no,” said Lucy, “that is a great deal too near.”

Miss Anne then moved the point of her pencil off almost to the end of the paper.

“Would that be right?” said Miss Anne.

“O no; that is too far.”

“But it is not so far as it is in reality, on the ground, from the post to the well.”

“No,” said Lucy, “but you are not going to have the picture so large as the real well.”

“That is it, exactly,” said Miss Anne. “The picture itself is all going to be smaller than the reality; and the drawing of the well must be just as much smaller than the real well, as the drawing of the post is than the real post. Then it is all in proportion.” “Now,” said Miss Anne, “I will move my pencil up nearer, and you may tell me when it is too far off, and when it is too near, for the proper place for me to draw the side of the well. Is that right?” she added, after placing the point of the pencil in a new position.

“That is too near,” said Lucy.

“And that?” said Miss Anne.

“That is about right,” said Lucy.

“Look again, carefully.”

“Hark! what’s that?” said Lucy.

“It sounds like thunder,” said Miss Anne; “but I rather think it is only a wagon going over the bridge.”

A few minutes afterwards, however, the sound was repeated, louder and more distinct than before, and Miss Anne said it was thunder, and that they must go home, or that they should get caught in a shower. They looked around, and saw that there were some large, dark-looking clouds rising in the west; and Miss Anne said that they must put away their things, and go home as fast as they could.

“But, Miss Anne,” said Lucy, “it is a great way home. I am afraid it will rain on us before we get there.”

“Why, if we can get across the bridge,” said Miss Anne, “we can go into some of the houses.”

“Are there no houses before we come to the bridge?” asked Lucy.

“No,” said Miss Anne; “but I think we shall have time to go farther than that.”

By this time they had put up their drawing materials, and began to walk along towards the main road. Miss Anne said that she presumed that they should have ample time to get home; for showers seldom came up so very suddenly as to prevent their getting home from a walk.

But when they had gone about half way to the bridge, Miss Anne began to be afraid that they should not get home. There was a large, black cloud spreading along the western sky, and the low and distant peals of thunder came oftener, and grew gradually louder and louder. Miss Anne walked very fast, leading Lucy, who ran along by her side.

Just as they came to the bridge, the great drops of rain began to fall.

“There!” said Lucy,—“it’s beginning.”

“Yes,” said Miss Anne, “and I have a great mind to go under the bridge.”

Miss Anne had just time to say “under the bridge,” when there came another heavy clap of thunder, which sounded louder and nearer than any which they had heard before. This decided Miss Anne at once. She turned off from the entrance to the bridge, and began to walk down the steep bank, leading Lucy. When they had descended to the margin of the stream, they found a narrow strip of sand between the water and the foundation of the bridge.

“Yes,” said Miss Anne, “here is plenty of room for us to stand.”

They found a good place to stand, with the water of the stream before them, and the great wall, which the bridge rested upon, behind them. There were also some large, smooth stones lying there, which they could sit down upon. A very few minutes after they had fixed themselves in this place of shelter, the rain began to come down in torrents. The thunder rolled and reverberated from one part of the heavens to another, and once or twice Lucy saw a faint flash of lightning.

Lucy was very much amused at the curious effect produced by the drops of rain falling upon the water. They covered the water all over with little bubbles. She kept calling upon Miss Anne to see; but Miss Anne looked anxious and afraid. By and by, the rain began to come down through the bridge, and they had to move a little to keep from getting wet. But they succeeded in getting a dry place, and keeping pretty comfortable.

“But what shall we do,” said Lucy, “if it rains all night? We can’t stay here all night.”

“Thunder showers don’t last long,” said Miss Anne. “I presume it will be pleasant by and by, only we shall get our feet wet going home; for the roads will be very wet, and full of pools of water.”

Just then they heard the noise of wheels in the road, as if a chaise or carriage of some sort were coming along towards them. The horse travelled very fast, and soon came upon the bridge, and went along over it, passing directly above their heads with great speed, and with a noise which sounded louder to them than any clap of thunder which they had heard. Lucy was sure that they would break through, and come down upon their heads; and even Miss Anne was a little frightened. They little knew who it was in the chaise. It was Royal going to find them, to bring them home. He thought it probable that they had gone into the old, ruined buildings, to be sheltered from the rain, and that he should find them there.

After looking there for them in vain, he came back, and he happened to come to the bridge just as Miss Anne and Lucy were coming out from under it. They were very glad to see him. The shower was over. The sun had come out; the grass and trees were glittering with the reflection of the bright light from the drops of rain; and there were two great rainbows in the east, one bright, and the other rather faint. Royal said that he would have the faint rainbow, and Lucy might have the bright one for hers. Lucy’s rainbow lasted until some time after they got home.