esh towel on the peg above th' bench, sir, an' a comb on
th' shelf under th' mirror by th' window," she continued, as Emily
placed a basin of water on a bench by the door.

"Thank you," acknowledged Shad, turning to complete his toilet.

"Now, Emily, dear, call Father an' Bob," said Mrs. Gray; "dinner's
sot." And Emily, glad of a respite from the embarrassing presence of
the stranger, ran out, presently to return with her father and Bob.

When dinner was disposed of, Richard suggested that it was "wonderful
warm so handy t' th' stove," and leaving Mrs. Gray and Emily to clear
the table he conducted Shad and Bob to a convenient seat near the boat
landing, where they could enjoy a cooling breeze from the bay. Here he
drew from his pocket a stick of very black and very strong-looking
tobacco, and holding it toward Shad, asked:

"Does you smoke, sir?"

"No, thank you," declined Shad. "I had just learned to smoke when I
entered college, but I was trying for a place on the 'varsity nine,
and I had to drop smoking. A fellow can't play his best ball, you
know, if he smokes. So I quit smoking before I formed the habit."

"Is that a game like snowshoe racin'!" asked Bob.

"Oh, no!" and Shad described the game and its tactics minutely, with
thrilling detail of battles that his college nine had won and lost
upon the diamond.

"Well, Bob," Shad asked finally, "have you decided to go with me for a
trip into the country?"

"I'm not rightly knowin', sir, where you wants t' go," said Bob.

Shad stated the object of his journey, and the three talked over the
possibilities of making such a trip as he desired within the time at
Bob's disposal.

"Countin' on bad weather, 'twouldn't be much of a trip you could make
in a fortnut, and that'd be th' most time Bob could spare, whatever,
with his gettin' ready t' go t' th' trails," Richard finally
explained. "His mother an' me be wantin' he home, too, till he goes,
for 'twill be a long winter for his mother t' have he away without
seein' he.

"Now you says you has no hurry t' go away. Dick Blake an' Bill
Campbell goes t' th' handiest tilt o' th' Big Hill trail t' help Bob
an' Ed Matheson in with their outfit, an' they starts th' first o'
August. Then they comes back t' take their outfits up an' they has t'
get in before freeze up.

"You bein' in no hurry, sir, could go with un on th' first trip, an'
come back with un, an' that gives you a fine trip an' a fine view o'
th' country.