as asked to ac company Mrs.
Merton to a ready-made clothing house on Clark Street, where he was
presented with a fine suit, costing twenty dollars.

"How kind you are, Mrs. Merton!" said Luke.

"I didn't notice that you needed a new suit," returned the old lady,
"but my niece, Mrs. Tracy, spoke of it, and I was glad to take the
hint."

It was in the afternoon of the same day that Luke, having an errand
that carried him near the lake shore, strolled to the end of North
Pier. He was fond of the water, but seldom had an opportunity to go
out on it.

"How are you, Luke?" said a boy in a flat-bottomed boat a few rods
away.

In the boy who hailed him Luke recognized John Hagan, an acquaintance
of about his own age.

"Won't you come aboard?" asked John.

"I don't mind, if you'll come near enough."

In five minutes Luke found himself on board the boat, He took the oars
and relieved John, who was disposed to rest.

They rowed hither and thither, never very far from the pier. Not far
away was a boat of the same build, occupied by a man of middle size,
whose eccentric actions attracted their attention. Now he would take
the oars and row with feverish haste, nearly fifty strokes to a
minute; then he would let his oars trail, and seem wrapped in thought.
Suddenly the boys were startled to see him spring to his feet and,
flinging up his arms, leap head first into the lake.

CHAPTER XX

AMBROSE KEAN'S IMPRUDENCE

Luke and his companion were startled by the sudden attempt at suicide,
and for an instant sat motionless in their boat. Luke was the first to
regain his self-possession.

"Quick, let us try to save him," he called to John Hagan.

They plunged their oars into the water, and the boat bounded over the
waves. Fortunately they were but half a dozen rods from the place
where the would-be suicide was now struggling to keep himself up. For,
as frequently happens, when he actually found himself in the water,
the instinct of self-preservation impelled the would-be self-destroyer
to attempt to save himself. He could swim a very little, but the
waters of the lake were in lively motion, his boat had floated away,
and he would inevitably have drowned but for the energetic action of
Luke and John. They swept their boat alongside, and Luke thrust his
oar in the direction of the struggling man.

"Take hold of it," he said, "and we will tow you to your own boat."

Guided and sustained by the oar, the man gripped the