making what the children of the Settlement knew and esteemed as a
"Chaney House." There was keen rivalry among the children as to both
location and furnishing of these admired creations; and to Mandy Ann's
daring imagination it had appeared that a "Chaney House" in the old
bateau would be something surpassing dreams.

For an hour or more Mandy Ann was utterly absorbed in her enchanting
task. So quiet she was over it that every now and then a yellow-bird
or a fly-catcher would alight upon the edge of the bateau to bounce
away again with a startled and indignant twitter. The woodchuck,
having eaten his carrot, curled up in the sun and went to sleep.

Mandy Ann's collection was really a rich assortment of colour. Every
piece in it was a treasure in her eyes. But much as she loved the bits
of painted china, she loved the glass better. There were red bits, and
green of many shades, and blue, yellow, amber, purple and opal. Each
piece, before arranging it in its allotted place on the thwart, she
would lift to her eyes and survey the world through it. Some near
treetops, and the blue sky piled with white fleeces of summer clouds,
were all of the world she could see from her retreat; but viewed
through different bits of glass these took on an infinite variety of
wonder and delight. So engrossed she was, it quite escaped her notice
that the old bateau was less steady in its movements than it had been
when first she boarded it. She did not even observe the fact that
there were no longer any treetops in her fairy-tinted pictures. At
last there sounded under the keel a strange gurgle, and the bateau
gave a swinging lurch which sent half the treasures of the "Chaney
House" clattering upon the bottom or into Mandy Ann's lap. The
woodchuck woke up frightened and scrambled into the shelter of its
mistress's arms.

Much surprised, Mandy Ann knelt upright and looked out over the edge
of the bateau. She was no longer in the little sheltered cove, but far
out on the river. The shores, slipping smoothly and swiftly past,
looked unfamiliar to her. Where she expected to see the scattered
cottages of the Settlement, a huge bank covered with trees, cut off
the view. While she was so engrossed with her coloured glass, a puff
of wind, catching the high sides of the bateau, had caused it to tug
at its tether. The rope, carelessly fastened by some impatient boy,
had slipped its hold; and the bateau had been swept smoothly out into
the hurrying