from side to side. It reminded me of a persistent moth, dipping and
dodging about a screen. I drowsily wondered if he would ever get it
fixed, and if he wasn't getting hot and tired, for it was a still,
sticky night. Yet I suppose I did not realize how hot and tired one
might get on such a night, especially after a hard day. When he ceased
his lightsome movements at last and crept as carefully as a worm under
the net, I expected him to light the candle lamp and read. He did not do
so. He gave one long sighing groan of utter exhaustion, dropped down on
his bed without removing his clothes and never stirred again until
morning.

The net was a great success. Only two mosquitoes got in and they bit
Eddie.

Chapter Twenty-four

_Apollo has tuned his lute again,_
_And the pipes of Pan are near,_
_For the gods that fled from the groves of men_
_Gather unheeded here._

Chapter Twenty-four

It was by no means an unpleasant camp, first and last. It was our
"Farthest North" for one thing, our deepest point in the wilderness. It
would require as much as three or four days travel, even by the quickest
and most direct route to reach any human habitation, and in this thought
there was charm. It was a curious place, too, among those roots and
springs, and the brook there formed a rare pool for bathing. While the
others were still asleep I slipped down there for my morning dip. It was
early, but in that latitude and season the sun had already risen and
filtered in through the still treetops. Lying back in that natural basin
with the cool, fresh water slipping over and about one, and all the
world afar off and unreal, was to know the joy of the dim, forgotten
days when nymphs and dryads sported in hidden pools or tripped to the
pipes of Pan. Hemlock and maple boughs lacing above, with blue sky
between--a hermit thrush singing: such a pool Diana might have found,
shut away in some remote depths of Arcady. I should not have been much
surprised to have heard the bay of her hounds in that still early
morning, and to have seen her and her train suddenly appear--pursuing a
moose, maybe, or merely coming down for a morning swim. Of course I
should have secluded myself had I heard them coming. I am naturally a
modest person. Besides, I garner from the pictures that Diana is likely
to be dangerous when she is in her moods. Eddie bathed, too, later, but
the spell was gone then. Diana was far away, the stillness a