r a three-mile tramp, Eleanor, who was in front, stopped
suddenly at a point where the trees thinned out, on top of a ridge, and
called out, "Here's the lake, girls!" there was a wild rush to reach her
side. And the view, when they got the first glimpse of it, was certainly
worth all the trouble it had caused them.

Before them stretched a long body of water, sapphire blue in the
twilight, with pink shadows where the setting sun was reflected. Perhaps
two miles long, the lake was, at its widest point, not more than a
quarter of a mile across, whence, of course, came its name. About it
the land sloped down on all sides, into a cup-like depression that
formed the lake, so that there was, on all four sides, a tree crowned
ridge. From a point about half way to the far end of the lake smoke rose
in the calm evening air.

"Oh, how beautiful!" cried Bessie. "It's the loveliest place I ever saw.
And how wonderful the smell is."

"That's from the pine trees," said Eleanor. She sighed, as if overcome
by the calm beauty of the scene, as, indeed, she was. "It's always
beautiful here--but Sometimes I think it's most beautiful in winter,
when the lake is covered with ice, and the trees are all weighed down
with snow. Then, of course, you can walk or skate all over the
lake--it's frozen four and five feet deep, as a rule, by January."

Dolly shivered.

"But isn't it awfully cold here?" she inquired "Oh, yes; but it's so dry
that one doesn't mind the cold half as much as we do at home when it's
really ten or fifteen degrees warmer, Dolly. One dresses for it, too,
you see, in thick, woolen things, and furs, and there's such glorious
sport. You can break holes through the ice and fish, and then there are
ice boats, and skating races, and all sorts of things. Oh, it's
glorious. I've been up here in winter a lot, and I really do think
that's best of all."

Then she looked at the rising smoke.

"Well, we mustn't stay here and talk any more," she said. "Come along,
girls, it's getting near to supper time."

"Have we got to cook supper?" asked Dolly, anxiously.

"No, not to-night," said Eleanor, with a laugh. "The guides have done it
for us, because I knew we'd all be tired and ready for a good rest,
without any work to do. But with breakfast tomorrow we'll start in and
do all our own work, just as we've done when we've been in camp before."

Half an hour's brisk walk took them to the site of the camp. There there
was a little san