Joe was not equal to this; here was a man born immune from the primal curse, first turning tramp and sleeping in barns, and now soberly threatening to go to work. So unaccountable a frame of mind put Joe on guard; very likely Wayne was preparing for another spree and Joe was troubled. The next morning Wayne, without explanation, laid their course toward the north; but Joe thought he knew where they were going. CHAPTER XXXV GOLDEN BRIDGE They followed the Susquehanna northward into Jean’s country--“my country” she had called it. They saw dawn and sunset brighten the glad water into silver and gold and bronze. They moved slowly, for it is sweet to loiter in that lovely valley when June is young, and a man in search of his soul may catch glimpses of it on the hilltops. When the days were hot they tramped at night and many pleasant adventures were theirs. We are foolish--we men--in our loving, thinking that we can hide the blind god’s arrow when it quivers in our hearts; and these men believed that each hid from the other his happiness in the knowledge that they journeyed toward her hills--“my country!” They loitered the more because Wayne knew she might not be there; she must be about her errands in the South and West, and he had no idea what effect her grandfather’s death might have had upon her affairs. At any rate it would be sweet to see the hills of her youth and the places that had known her. They paused one afternoon at a little town to which their bags had been expressed. They had now come into the region where the irregular outlines of the anthracite breaker are roughly etched on the horizons, and Joe at once found acquaintances. The prospect of a baseball contest between the local nine and its formidable rival from a neighbouring town thrilled the community. Joe’s eligibility as an amateur was not discussed; the opposing nine openly boasted of a retired professional. He was got into uniform without ado, and put his left arm in commission with a few hours’ practice. The young fellow’s joy in this opportunity to display his skill emphasized to Wayne the irreconcilable difference between Jean Morley with her high aspirations and this young fellow with his childish ideals. There was no hour of the day that did not bring its thought of her.