You may have noticed her--the one with a dark-purple dress and a little
purple cap. She's a school-teacher, and she will spend the rest of the
summer with her sister in Pennsylvania.

"That man Phil Matlack, who is going with us to-morrow, is quite a
character, and I expect I shall like him awfully. They say that about five
years ago he killed a man who made an attack on him in the woods, but he
was never tried for it, nor was anything whatever done to him, because Mr.
Sadler said he was right, and he would not have any nonsense about it.
There are people about here who believe that Phil Matlack would fight a
bear single-handed if it happened to be necessary. Mr. Sadler would do it
himself if he could walk. Nobody knows how many men he killed when he was
fighting Indians; and, would you believe it? his wife is a plain, little,
quiet woman, who lives in some part of the hotel where nobody ever sees
her, because she is rather bashful and dislikes company.

"The other person who is going with us is not very much more than a boy,
though they say he is very strong and a good hunter. His name is Martin
Sanders, and I forgot to say that the old gentleman with the heart-disease
is named Parker.

"It's generally thought that Phil Matlack would rather have some one else
than Martin Sanders to go with him, because he says Martin knows too much.
The fact is that Martin is well educated, and could have gone into some
good business, but he was so fond of the woods that he gave up everything
to come out here and learn guiding. You know we were told that our camp in
the woods has three rooms in it? Well, it really has four, for there was
an artist there last year who built a little room for a studio for rainy
days. I expect Mr. Sadler forgot that, or didn't think it worth counting.
There are no snakes at all where we are going to camp, but two miles
farther on there are lots of them."

"Over the brink of Niagara," interjected Mr. Archibald, "they say eighteen
million cubic feet of water pour every minute. Where on earth, Margery,
did you fill your mind with all that information?"

"I got it from those two Dodworth girls and Mr. Clyde," said she. "Mr.
Raybold told me some things, too, but mostly about his bicycle. He feels
badly about it, because he brought it here, and now he finds there is no
place to use it. I should think he ought to have known that the primeval
forest isn't any place for a bicycle."

"Mr. Archibald," said Mrs.