re on the bench?"

"A man hurt me by talking harshly about poor father," said the girl from
Lake Honotonka.

"Come on! tell me," urged Wyn, giving her a little shake. Polly suddenly
threw an arm about the town girl and hugged her tightly.

"I _do_ love you, Wyn Mallory," she sobbed. "I--I wish you were my
sister. I get so lonely sometimes up there in the woods, for there's
only father and me now. And this past winter he was very sick with
rheumatic fever. You see, there was an accident."

"He met with an accident, you mean?"

"Yes. It was awful--or it might have been awful for him if he and I had
not had signals that we use when there's a fog on the lake. I'll tell
you.

"You see, there is a man named Shelton--Dr. Shelton--who lives in one of
the grand houses at Braisely Park--you know, that is the rich people's
summer colony at the upper end of the lake?"

"I know about it," said Wyn. "Although I never was there."

"Well, Dr. Shelton had his motor boat down at our float. He left it
there himself, and he told father to go to the express office at Meade's
Forge on a certain day and get a box that would be there addressed to
Dr. Shelton. It was a valuable box.

"When father went for it the expressman would not give it up until he
had telephoned to Dr. Shelton and recognized the doctor's voice over the
wire. It seems that that box was packed with ancient silver images that
had been found in a ruined temple in Yucatan, and had been sent to Dr.
Shelton by the man who found them. They claim they were worth at the
least five thousand dollars.

"The doctor had a party at his house right then, he said over the
telephone, and he wanted father to come up the lake with the box. He
wanted to display his antique treasures to his friends.

"Now, it was a dreadfully bad day. After father had started down to the
Forge in the motor boat he knew that a storm was coming. And ahead of it
was a thick fog. He told Dr. Shelton over the 'phone that it was a bad
time to make the trip the whole length of Lake Honotonka.

"The doctor would not listen to any excuses, however; and it was his
boat that was being risked. And his silver images, too! Those rich
people don't care much about a poor man's life, and if father had
refused to risk his on the lake in the storm Dr. Shelton would have
given his trade to some other boatkeeper after that.

"So father started in the _Bright Eyes_. He did not shoot right up
the middle of the lake, as