home at Thanksgiving," remarked Marjorie, as she
and Alice crossed the campus on their way to the lake. "And I don't know
how I'll ever do without it."

"Oh, well, there will be skating," Alice reminded her. "And then, it
will soon be spring again."

They came in sight of the tree to which Marjorie always kept the canoe
tied, and she looked anxiously, as usual, for the first sight of it.
Suddenly, her heart stopped beating: she could not see it!

"Alice!" she shrieked, in terror. "It's gone!"

Alice followed Marjorie's gaze, but she, too, saw no canoe. However, she
attributed no particular significance to that fact.

"It's probably around the other side," she said optimistically: "or
maybe you tied it to another tree."

But as the girls came nearer to the spot, Marjorie knew that she had
been right. They looked all around the small lake; but the canoe was
nowhere to be found!

"Somebody's borrowed it!" suggested Alice, "and probably couldn't find
you to ask permission!"

"But then they'd be on the lake!"

"No--if you should carry the canoe about a hundred yards, you'd find the
stream gets deep enough to paddle. And it goes a long way, too, even
joins a river. I know because once Daisy and I hiked and hiked, meaning
to follow it to the end. There were several swift places where you might
have to carry the canoe a few yards, but it could easily be done."

Marjorie's face brightened at the hope the words offered.

"Let's walk up that way ourselves," she suggested.

Climbing the school fence at the edge of the lake, they followed a
little creek, which, though shallow in many places, could still be
navigated by a canoe.

"Why didn't any of us ever think of this?" remarked Marjorie. "I've
never had the canoe off the lake."

"Couldn't we try it to-morrow?" asked Alice, wondering whether it were
quite the thing for her to suggest.

"Yes, I'd love to!" replied Marjorie. But her expression grew sad again,
as she recalled the circumstances which led them on this walk of
exploration.

The woods were wonderful now, dressed in their gorgeously colored
foliage. Brown, orange, scarlet, with just enough somber evergreen to
set off the brilliancy of the other trees by contrast, the scene was at
the height of its splendor. But so intent were the girls upon watching
the water, they hardly noticed the spectacle.

"Look! Look!" cried Alice suddenly. "There--around that bend! Isn't that
the end of a canoe?"

Marjorie h