tood it
remarkably well and benefited by it. Saranac reminded him of Scotland,
he said, without the smell of peats and the heather.

Dressed in a buffalo coat, astrakhan cap, and Indian boots, he and Lloyd
walked, skated, or went sleighing every day.

His pen was kept busy also. A new novel, "The Master of Ballantrae," was
started, and he contributed a series of articles to _Scribner's
Magazine_. For these he was paid a regular sum offered by the publishers
and agreed upon in advance--a new experience. It made him feel "awfu'
grand," he told a Scotch friend.

A venture he had been longing to make since a boy was a cruise among the
islands of the South Seas. While enduring the bitter cold of Saranac
such hazy ideas as he had had about such a trip began to form themselves
into a definite scheme. He was anxious for a long voyage; perhaps the
warm sea air might cure him after all else had failed.

So night after night he and Lloyd eagerly pored over books and maps,
and the family discussed plans for such an expedition.

When spring came Mrs. Stevenson started for San Francisco to secure, if
possible, a yacht in which they might undertake such a cruise. If all
went well Louis and his mother and Lloyd would follow.

While they waited for results they spent the time at Manasquan, on the
New Jersey coast. There Stevenson and his son enjoyed the sailing, and
their New York friends came often to see them.

Mr. Low tells of the day at Manasquan when word was received from Mrs.
Stevenson that she had found a schooner-yacht satisfactory for the
voyage.

An answer must be sent at once. Her husband telegraphed that they would
come, but it was not without misgivings that he made this final
decision. There was much at stake in an uncertain venture of the kind.
It meant a sacrifice of comfort for his wife and mother, big expense,
and perhaps no better health in the end.

However, it seemed worth the risk, and having decided to go he began to
look forward to the trip with boyish delight. "It will be horrid fun,"
he said, "to be an invalid gentleman on board a yacht, to walk around
with a spy-glass under your arm, to make landings and trade beads and
chromos for cocoanuts, and to have the natives swim out to meet you."

He and Lloyd spent hours laying their course and making out lists of
stores with which to furnish the schooner, regardless of the doubt
expressed by their friends as to the capacity of the boat. "They calmly
pro