drop near
enough to speak again. Then he shouted:

"Another hour and we reach Snowbird River, M'sieur. That is four miles
from Adare House. But ahead of us the wind rushes across a wide sweep
of the lake. Shall we hazard it?"

"Yes, yes," cried the girl, answering for Philip. "We must go on!"

Without another word Croisset led the way. The wind grew stronger with
each minute's progress. Shouting for Jean to hold his canoe for a
space, Philip steadied his own canoe while he spoke to the girl.

"Come back to me as quietly as you can, Josephine," he said. "Pass the
dunnage ahead of you to take the place of your weight. If anything
happens, I want you near me."

Cautiously Josephine did as he bade her, and as she added slowly to the
ballast in the bow she drew little by little nearer to Philip, Her hand
touched an object in the bottom of the canoe as she came close to him.
It was one of his moccasins. She saw now his naked throat and chest. He
had stripped off his heavy woollen shirt as well as his footwear. He
reached out, and his hand touched her lightly as she huddled down in
front of him.

"Splendid!" he laughed. "You're a little brick, Josephine, and the best
comrade in a canoe that I ever saw. Now if we go over all I've got to
do is to swim ashore with you. Is it good walking to Adare House?"

He did not hear her reply; but a fresh burst of the wind sent a loose
strand of her hair back into his face, and he was happy. Happy in spite
of a peril which neither he nor Jean would have thought of facing
alone. In the darkness he could no longer see Croisset or his canoe.
But Jean's shout came back to him every minute on the wind, and over
Josephine's head he answered. He was glad that it was so dark the girl
could not see what was ahead of them now. Once or twice his own breath
stopped short, when it seemed that the canoe had taken the fatal plunge
which he was dreading. Every minute he figured the distance from the
shore, and his chances of swimming it if they were overturned. And
then, after a long time, there came a sudden lull in the wind, and the
seas grew less rough. Jean's voice came from near them, filled with a
thrill of relief.

"We are behind the point," he shouted. "Another mile and we will enter
the Snowbird, M'sieur!"

Philip leaned forward in the gloom. Josephine's cap had fallen off, and
for a moment his hand rested on her wet and wind-blown hair.

"Did you hear that?" he cried. "We're almost ho