hending, in his sudden distress what they told him, the
doctor had sprung upon his horse and galloped towards the lake. As he
saw the group of people moving towards him, looking shadowy and dim in
the darkness, his heart stood still. Were they bearing home Hetty's
body? Would he see it presently, lying lifeless and cold in their arms?
He dashed among them, reining his horse back on his haunches, and
looking with a silent anguish into face after face. Nobody spoke. That
first instant seemed a century long. Nobody could speak. At a glance the
doctor saw that they were not bearing the sad burden he had feared.

"Not found her?" he gasped.

"No, doctor," replied one nearest him, laying his hand on his arm.

"Then by God what have you come away for! have you got the souls of men
in you?" exclaimed Eben Williams, in a voice which seemed to shake the
very trees, as he plunged onward.

"It's no use, doctor," they replied sadly.

"We found her boat bottom up, and one of the oars; and it was hours
since it capsized."

"What then!" he shouted back. "My wife was as strong as any man: she
can't have drowned; Hetty can't have drowned;" and his horse's hoofs
struck sparks from the stones as he galloped on. A few of the younger
men turned back and followed him; but, when they reached the lake, he
was nowhere to be seen. Old Caesar, who was sitting on the ground, his
head buried on his knees, said:

"He wouldn't hear a word. He jest jumped into one of thim boats, and he
was gone like lightning: he's 'way across the lake by this time."

Silently the young men re-entered their boats and rowed out, carrying
torches. Presently they overtook the doctor.

"Oh, thank God for that light!" he exclaimed, "Give one to me; let me
have it here in my boat: I shall find her."

Like a being of superhuman strength, the doctor rowed; no one could keep
up with him. Round and round the lake, into every inlet, close under the
shadows of the islands; again and again, over every mile of that
treacherous, glassy, beautiful water, he rowed, calling every few
moments, in heart-breaking tones, "Hetty! Hetty! Hetty! I am here,
Hetty!"

As the hours wore on, his strength began to flag; he rowed more and more
slowly: but, when they begged him to give over the search, and return
home, he replied impatiently. "Never! I'll never leave this lake till I
find her." It was useless to reason with him. He hardly heard the words.
At last, his friends, worn out by