taining of knowledge, the growth of a man's mind and
soul, had to me seemed the one ambition worth a man's while; and now,
as I might well be assured, I had learned more and grown more,
these last twelve hours or so, than I had in any twelve years of my
life before. Before me, indeed, had opened a vast and wonderful world.
That morning, as we swept around curve after curve of the swift
trout-stream that I loved so well, among my alders, through my bits of
wood, along my hills--with Lafitte and L'Olonnois standing, each
alert, silent, peering ahead under his flat hand to see what might lie
ahead (I astern with Partial's head on my knee), I felt rise in my
soul the same sweet grateful feeling that I had when the new world of
music opened to me, what time I first caught the real meaning of the
_Fruehlingslied_. My heart leaped anew in my bosom, for the time
forgetting its sadness. I saw that the world after all does hold faith
and loyalty and friendship and perpetual, self-renewing Youth.... I
also rose, cast my hat aside, and with one hand reaching down to touch
my friend's head, I, too, stood, shading my eyes with my edged hand,
peering ahead into this strange new world that lay ahead of me.

CHAPTER VII

IN WHICH I ACHIEVE A NAME

So winding is my trout river, and so extensive are my lands along it,
that it was not until nearly noon that our progress, sometimes halted
by shallows, again swift in the deeper reaches, brought the _Sea
Rover_ to the lower edge of my estate. Here, the river was deeper and
more silent, the waters were not quite so cold, but as we passed a
high hardwood bridge from which issued a cool spring of water, I
suggested a halt in our voyage, to which my companions, readily
enough, agreed. We, therefore, disembarked and prepared to have our
luncheon.

It was obvious to me that Jean Lafitte and Henri L'Olonnois were not
on their first expedition out-of-doors, for they set about gathering
wood and water in workmanlike fashion. They did not yet fully classify
me, so, in boyish shyness, left me largely ignored, or waited till I
should demonstrate myself to them. It was, therefore, with delicacy
that I ventured any suggestions from the place where Partial and I sat
in the shade watching them.

I have mentioned the fact that I had been a hunter and traveler, and
had met success in the field; yet the truth is, I began all that late
in life, and deliberately. To me, used to exact habit of though