of rainbow spray into the air, and plunged in miniature cascades
over tiny gullies; the wet stones flashed in the light upon the banks, and
tall daisies, peering over, painted shifting white outlines of themselves
in the swelling current and the shallow pools; here and there, too, where
the water was deep, the fish darted to the surface, and darted out of
sight.

"Isn't it _beau_--tiful!" cried Sarah.

"Pretty enough," said Gypsy, affecting carelessness, and trying to unwind
her line in as _au fait_ and boyish a manner as possible.

"You girls keep this pool. Mr. Hallam and I are going a little ways up
stream," said Tom. "Now don't speak a word, and be sure you don't scream
if you catch a fish by any chance between you, and frighten them all
away."

"As if I didn't know that! Here, Sarah, hold your rod lower," said Gypsy,
assuming a professional air. Mr. Hallam and Tom walked away, and the girls
fished for just half an hour in silence. That is to say, they sat on the
bank, and held a rod. Sarah had had one faint nibble, but that was all
that had happened, and the sun began to be very warm.

"I'm going out on those stones," said Gypsy. "I believe I see a fish out
there."

So she stepped out carefully on the loose stones, which tilted ominously
under her weight.

"Oh, you'll fall!" said Sarah.

"Hush--sh! I see one."

Up went the rod in the air with a jerk, over went the stone, and down went
Gypsy. She disappeared from sight a moment in the shallow water; then
splashed up with a gasp, and stood, dripping.

"Oh, dear me!" said Sarah.

Tom came up, undecided whether to laugh or scold.

"Well, Gypsy Breynton, you've done it now! Now I suppose you must go
directly home, and you'll catch cold before you can get there. This is a
pretty fix!"

"N--no," gasped Gypsy, rubbing the water out of her eyes; "I have dry
clothes up in the tent. Mother said I should want them. I guess I'll go
right up. I'm--rather--wet, I believe."

Tom looked at his watch, as Gypsy toiled dripping up the bank. The
temptation was too great to be resisted, and he called out,--

"Precisely half an hour! Gypsy, my dear, I'd stay all long, as the boys
do, by all means!" It was a very good thing about Gypsy, that she was
quite able to relish a joke at her own expense. She laughed as merrily as
Tom did, and the morning's adventure made quite as much fun as they would
have gained from a string of perfectly respectable fishes, properly and
sc