e river
stretched away for half a mile, straight as a canal and there, away
beyond, leapt the waves of Caribou Lake on the bar.

Natalie cheered. "Hooray for the crew of the _Flat-iron_!" she cried.
"We've actually done it!" She reached back. "Shake, partner!"

Near the head of the river, in the wild waste of sand on the lake shore,
squatted a weather-beaten little log cabin, almost eave-deep behind the
dunes. Smoke arose from the chimney.

"Good!" cried Garth in high satisfaction. "You can dry your clothes
here, anyway."

A glance up and down the shore of the river revealed no trace of the
canoes or the outfit of the expedition they were in pursuit of.

"We've missed him again," said Garth grimly.

They landed, dripping and stiff; and plodded through the sand to the
tiny door. The outlook was desolate in the extreme; there was no sign
of life anywhere, save only the wisp of smoke from the chimney. At their
left hand, the lake spread bleakly to the horizon, torn and white under
the west wind, and with great billows tumbling on the beach.

"The _Flat-iron_ could never negotiate that," remarked Garth.

He knocked on the little door.

"Come in!" rang instantly from within.

They looked at each other in astonishment.

"An English voice!" she whispered.

"A white man! Thank God!" said he.

IX

THE HEART OF A BOY

It was a youth who presently faced them on the threshold of the hut;
an apple-cheeked boy of seventeen, who bared two rows of shining white
teeth; and whose blue eyes, at the sight of them, sparkled with the
purest enthusiasm of welcome.

"Come right in, and dry out!" he cried. "I certainly am glad to see
you!" The haunting reed of boyhood still vibrated faintly in the manlier
notes of his voice.

Here was a greeting from a stranger to warm the hearts of the wet and
weary wayfarers! It presented the North in a new aspect. Natalie in
especial, beamed on their young host; he was wholly a boy after her
own heart.

Looking at Natalie more particularly, the boy blushed and faltered
a little. "It isn't much of a place to receive a lady in," he said
apologetically. "I haven't been on my own long enough to get
anything much together."

It was a characteristically boyish abode. The furniture was limited
to the cook-stove in the centre of the room; and a home-made table and
a bench. His bed was spread on straw in one corner; and another corner
was given up to the heterogeneous assortment of h