a three-pounder. I envy you. Bass fishing is great sport. Did you get
these on a fly--the bass, I mean?"

"No. I use a fly in the spring and fall, but seldom in June or July,
here. Those were taken with live bait-shrimp. The pickerel with minnows.
Are you fond of fishing, Miss Colton?"

"Yes, indeed. Whoa, Don! steady! Yes, I fish a good deal in September,
when we are at our lodge in the Adirondacks. Trout there, principally.
But I have caught bass in Maine. I thought I must give it up this year.
I did not know there were fish, in fresh water, on the Cape."

"There are, a few. The people about here pay no attention to them. They
scorn such small fry. Cod and pollock are more in their line."

"I suppose so. But that is all the better for you, isn't it? Were you
fishing when I interrupted you?"

"No, I was just getting ready for lunch. My fire was ready to kindle."

"Fire? Why did you need a fire?"

"For my coffee."

"Coffee! You are a luxurious picnicer, Mr. Paine. Hot coffee on a
fishing trip! and without a guide. And you are unfeeling, besides, for
you remind me that I am very hungry. I must go at once. How far am I
from home? Four miles, did you say?"

"Four and a half, or more, by road. And the roads are like those you
have been traveling this morning. I doubt if you could find the way,
even with your horse's help. I must insist upon going with you as far as
the main road between Denboro and Bayport."

"I shall not permit it."

"But I insist."

Her answer was a little laugh. She put her foot in the stirrup and
vaulted to the saddle.

"Your insisting is useless, you see," she said. "You are on foot and I
have the advantage. No, Don and I will go alone, thank you. Now, will
you please tell me the way?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "Go back along the road you came," I said,
"until you reach the second, no, the third, path to the right. Follow
that to the second on the left. Then follow that for two hundred yards
or so until--well, until you reach a clump of bushes, high bushes.
Behind these is another path, a blind one, and you must take care to
pick the right clump, because there is another one with a path behind it
and that path joins the road to Harniss. If you should take the Harniss
road you would go miles out of your way. Take the blind path I speak of
and--"

She interrupted me. "Stop! stop!" she exclaimed; "please don't. I am
absolutely bewildered already. I had no idea I was in such a maze. Le