the
crisp, brown fish.

"And ye ain't to stay on the ragged rocks, nuther, Tess," cautioned
Skinner, rising from the table. "Ye be a good Tess. Scoot along now."

The fisherman moved lumberingly to the water's edge, pushing his boat
into the lake, and stepped in. Thrusting his powerful head down between
his shoulders, he pulled lazily away at the oars until he lost sight of
the shore on which stood the small silent figure in the fast gathering
gloom.

* * * * *

Tess did not fancy netting nights. She always feared that something
might happen to her father. But she knew, too, that they could not live,
even meagerly, through the long winter unless the nets were used. So
this night after she had received many kisses, "square on the bill," she
watched her father's bent shoulders, rising and falling with the motion
of the oars as long as she could see him, and turning, scudded through
the underbrush which grew in profusion near the forest--up to the rugged
rocks toward the Longmans' hut. She slid down beside a large stone as
she heard the lapping of oars below her on the lake, and knew that
"Satisfied" Longman and his son Ezra were going to join the others at
Jake Brewer's shanty.

She was alone under the heavens, alone with the eagles and sleepy
twittering birds--she could think of what had been forced upon her that
day. She bitterly regretted the tears shed before Ezra, and she must
never, never again look at the student Graves. She felt that to see his
face, even from a distance, would cause her to drop dead before him.
Every muscle tingled and her eyes burned with unshed tears. She had
never dared to speak even to his sister, the pretty Teola Graves, who
fluttered about with pink ribbons among her curls and wore high heels on
her shoes.

Suddenly Tess opened her lips and sent ringing over the lake in glorious
tones of pathos, the hymn she loved best,

"Rescue the perishin',
Care for the dyin'."

* * * * *

Tessibel knew what it meant to almost perish from the cold. She had felt
the cruel blasts of the winter winds upon her chilblained feet, for she
had never known the luxury of shoes. She had also seen the dying and
understood what it meant to turn a longing face toward heaven, with a
burning desire to know what was beyond.

Such a voice as Tessibel's had never been heard upon Cayuga lake. Ben
Letts said it put him in mind of li