Well, it was good to be back again, Toby thought as, spurning carriages and valiantly lugging their bags, they set off along the road to school. Oxford Hall, imposing and a bit grim by reason of its gray granite walls, met their sight first as they left the tiny village and started up the hill. At the top of the tall pole in front the flag was snapping in the brisk breeze. Merle Hall, the home of the Preparatory Class boys, peered around the corner of Oxford, almost frivolous by comparison with its red brick and limestone trimming. A moment later, following the road to the right at the beginning of its wide swing around the base of the Prospect, as the plateau was called, other buildings came into sight: Whitson, like Oxford, of granite; Clarke, a replica of Merle; and, just showing between the other buildings, Dudley Hall, the exclusive residence of the graduating class. The buildings at Yardley follow the curve of the Prospect, forming a somewhat stunted letter J, with the Kingdon Gymnasium, out of sight from the road, doing duty as the tip of the curve and Dudley set in back like a misplaced dot. From the gymnasium the ground slopes gently back to the river, and there is the playing field and the boat house and landing and, further beyond, a fair nine-hole golf course. Across the river from the field lies a wide expanse of salt meadow known as Meeker’s Marsh. A little way upstream is Flat Island and a little further downstream is Loon Island. And not far from Loon Island is the footbridge that connects Wissining with Greenburg and the railway bridge across which trains dash or trundle at almost every hour of the day or night. From the bridges the little river runs fairly straight to the Sound, a mile or so away.