it should tolerate
him. Mr. Archibald's first impressions of the man did not formulate
themselves in these terms; he simply thought that the guide was a slipshod
sort of a fellow.

"Phil," said Mr. Sadler, "here is the gentleman you are going to take into
camp."

"Glad to see him," said Matlack; "hope he'll like it."

"And I want to say to you, Phil," continued Sadler, "right before him,
that he is a first-class man for you to have in charge. I don't believe
you ever had a better one. He's a city man, and it's my opinion he don't
know one thing about hunting, fishing, making a camp-fire, or even digging
bait. I don't suppose he ever spent a night outside of a house, and
doesn't know any more about the weather than he does about planting
cabbages. He's just clean, bright, and empty, like a new peach-basket.
What you tell him he'll know, and what you ask him to do he'll do, and if
you want a better man than that to take into camp, you want too much.
That's all I've got to say."

Matlack looked at Peter Sadler and then at Mr. Archibald, who was leaning
back in his chair, his bright eyes twinkling.

"How did you find out all that about him?" he asked.

"Humph!" exclaimed Peter Sadler. "Don't you suppose I can read a man's
character when I've had a good chance at him? Now how about the
stores--have they all gone on?"

"They were sent out early this mornin'," said Matlack, "and we can start
as soon as the folks are ready."

CHAPTER V

CAMP ROB

It was early in the afternoon when the Archibald party took up the line of
march for Camp Rob. The two ladies, supplied by Mrs. Sadler with coarse
riding-skirts, sat each upon a farm-horse, and Mr. Archibald held the
bridle of the one that carried his wife. Matlack and Martin Sanders, the
young man who was to assist him, led the way, while a led horse, loaded
with the personal baggage of the travellers, brought up the rear.

Their way wound through a forest over a wood road, very rough and barely
wide enough for the passage of a cart. The road was solemn and still,
except where, here and there, an open space allowed the sunlight to play
upon a few scattered wild flowers and brighten the sombre tints of the
undergrowth.

After a ride which seemed a long one to the ladies, who wished they had
attired themselves in walking-costume, the road and the forest suddenly
came to an end, and before them stretched out the waters of a small lake.
Camp Rob was not far from th