mp," said Luke as he rolled himself in the blanket and dropped
asleep in a moment.

The sun shone in at the door and woke him. "I must have a trout for
breakfast," he cried, "there's one waiting for me at the mouth of Alder
Brook, I suppose." So he caught up his rod from behind the door, and got
into the canoe and paddled up the River of Rocks. There was the broad,
dark pool, like a little lake, with a rapid running in at the head, and
close beside the rapid, the mouth of the brook. He sent his fly out by
the edge of the alders. There was a huge swirl on the water, and the
great-grandfather of all the trout in the river was hooked. Up and down
the pool he played for half an hour, until at last the fight was over,
and for want of a net Luke beached him on the gravel bank at the foot of
the pool.

"Seven pounds if it's an ounce," said he. "This is my lucky day. Now all
I need is some good meat to provision the camp."

He glanced down the river, and on the second point below the pool he saw
a great black bullmoose with horns five feet wide.

Quietly, swiftly, the canoe went gliding down the stream; and ever as it
crept along, the moose loped easily before it, from point to point, from
bay to bay, past the little cabin, down the River of the Way Out, now
rustling unseen through a bank of tall alders, now standing out for
a moment bold and black on a beach of white sand--so all day long the
moose loped down the stream and the white canoe followed. Just as the
setting sun was poised above the trees, the great bull stopped and stood
with head lifted. Luke pushed the canoe as near as he dared, and looked
down for the rifle. He had left it at the cabin! The moose tossed his
huge antlers, grunted, and stepped quietly over the bushes into the
forest.

Luke paddled on down the stream. It occurred to him, suddenly, that it
was near evening. He wondered a little how he should reach home in time
for his engagement. But it did not seem strange, as he went swiftly
on with the river, to see the first houses of the town, and the
lumber-yards, and the schooners at the wharf.

He made the canoe fast at the dock, and went up the Main Street. There
was the old shop, but the sign over it read, "Wilson and Woods Company,
The Big Store." He went on to the house with the white iron images in
the front yard. Diana was still returning from the chase. The fountain
still squirted from the point of the little boy's parasol.

On the veranda sat