hat," he said quietly. "Hot weather in the towns is
a long way off yet."

"What'd the jedge say in the matter o' the new shed?" asked Lem, when
he had somewhat recovered from the enjoyment of his joke.

"He said he thought we'd better have the old one shingled."

"Turrible short-sighted, that's what I say," grumbled the old man; "but
he ain't ever fer branchin' out, the jedge ain't. Why didn't ye talk
him over to it, Thinkright?"

"I didn't feel strongly about it. He'd do it if I urged him; but it's
just as you say, he doesn't want to branch out. The place serves his
purpose as it is, and while he owns it he'll keep it just as compact as
it is now."

"What judge are you talking about?" asked Sylvia.

"Jedge Trent, of course," replied Cap'n Lem. "There hain't never ben a
time when he wa'n't as sot as the everlastin' hills."

"Judge Trent is this child's uncle," said Jacob Johnson.

"No offense, no offense," remarked Cap'n Lem equably. "Seems if she's
related to a lot o' folks," he added, and at this moment a team of
colts came prancing around a curve in the road, trying their best with
every nervous spring to escape their driver's control. Cap'n Lem's
heavy horses shrank and shied, then as the others clattered by they
resumed their steady gait. The old man turned and saw the white, fixed
look in Sylvia's face.

"They wouldn't do nawthin'," he declared consolingly. "They're both
powerful mawdrate hosses. Besides,"--the speaker stole a half-mischievous,
half-shy look at her companion,--"Thinkright'll tell ye it's one o' the
seven deadly sins to be skeered of anythin' that's in heaven above, or
the earth beneath, or the sea that in them is."

The curving road was leading up a hill. The gray horses soon began to
draw their burden at a walk, and when they reached the summit they
stopped, for it was a time-honored observance for them to catch their
breath at this point, as it was for the passengers, if strangers, to
hold theirs.

The grandeur hitherto concealed by earth and forest suddenly broke into
view. A limitless expanse of sea lay revealed, pierced by points of
fir-crowned land that drove rock ledges into the liquid blue. Sylvia
gazed fascinated at the snowy froth tossing itself against every gray
point. Islands of varied shapes rose here and there, some tree-covered,
some bare mounds of green, studding the rolling sapphire distances, and
the girl's breast rose involuntarily to meet the untold miles of
spar