and divide by
three, and then we will all stand on a level."

CHAPTER III

SADLER'S

It was in the afternoon of Monday, the 11th of June, when Mr. and Mrs.
Archibald, accompanied by Miss Margery Dearborn, arrived at Sadler's, and
with feelings of relief alighted from the cramped stage-coach which had
brought them eight miles from the railroad station.

"Can this be Sadler's?" said Mr. Archibald, in a tone of surprise.

"Of course it must be," said his wife, "since they brought us here."

"It certainly is the place," said Margery, "for there is the name over
that door."

"How do you feel about it?" said Mr. Archibald to his wife.

"I feel very well about it," said she. "Why shouldn't I?"

"How do you feel about it?" he asked of the younger lady.

"Well," she answered, "I don't exactly understand it. I had visions of
forests and wilds and tumbling mountain streams and a general air of
primevalism, and I am surprised to see this fine hotel with piazzas, and
croquet-grounds, and tennis-courts, and gravelled walks, and babies in
their carriages, and elderly ladies carrying sun-shades."

"But it seems to me that there is a forest behind it," said Mr.
Archibald.

"Yes," replied Margery, a little dolefully, "it has that to back it up."

"Don't let us stand here at the bottom of the steps talking," said Mrs.
Archibald. "I must say I am very agreeably surprised."

In the wide hall which ran through the middle of the hotel, and not far
from the clerk's desk, there sat a large, handsome man, a little past
middle age, who, in a hearty voice, greeted the visitors as they entered,
but without rising from his chair. This was Peter Sadler, the owner of the
hotel, the legal owner of a great deal of the neighboring country, and the
actual ruler of more of said country than could be easily marked out upon
a map or stated in surveyors' terms.

In fact, Peter Sadler, was king of that portion of the vast district of
mountain and forest which could be reached in a day's journey in any
direction. If he had wished to extend his domain to points at a greater
distance than this he would have done so, but so far he was satisfied with
the rights he had asserted. He ruled supreme in that region because he had
lived longer in the vicinity than any other white man, because he had a
powerful will which did not brook opposition, and because there was no one
to oppose him.

[Illustration: "'CAN THIS BE SADLER'S?'"]

On the ar