ittle legs," returned Mr. Starr, as he consulted
his watch.

"Guess we'll all be glad to exercise after this awful smoky, crampy
ride," grumbled Donald, Dot's twin brother.

"Our winter in the lumber camp will have to be mighty fine to make us
forget this outlandish trip ever since we left Grand Forks," declared
Meredith Starr, the oldest boy.

"We have one consolation, Mete, and that is, we don't have to travel
home in the Spring by the same route," laughed his sister Lavinia.

"Well, children, you all have had some remark to make about the
discomforts of this car and the dreadful condition of the tracks, but it
is far better than riding in a springless lumber wagon for the same
distance," commented Mrs. Starr, shifting the baby's sleepy head from
her shoulder to her knees.

"We'd never have come if Daddum knew we had to travel _that_ way!"
exclaimed Don.

"No, but Daddum had to travel that way, and on horseback, years ago,
before this track was laid," replied Mrs. Starr.

"Did you, Daddum? Oh, do tell us about it!" cried the restless children,
as they crowded into the seat beside their father.

"It isn't an exciting tale, but it is very appropriate at this time,"
replied Mr. Starr, smiling at the eager faces. "I was a very young man
then. I didn't find out until I returned to New York after that trip
what a prize your mother was."

"Oh, how does Mumzie know about the trip, then?" asked Dot.

"Because I have often told her how that trip decided for me my future
business life," replied Mr. Starr.

"Dot, please don't interrupt Daddum with silly questions again," said
Lavinia to her little sister.

"When I got off the train at Grand Forks, on that trip, I expected to
meet an old friend at the station, but he was not there. I stopped at
the best hotel in the town, which would have been about sixth-rate
anywhere else, and the next morning my friend Dean came in. He had had
to ride about forty miles out of his way on account of a flooded river
and that was why he was not on time to meet me.

"Well, after he had made a few purchases in town he was ready to start
back. I had a good horse waiting for me at the hotel shed, and soon we
were on the return trip.

"The further north we went the more beautiful and wilder the scenery
became until I thought we would be lost in the dense primeval forests.
How Dean managed to find his way I could not make out, but he seemed to
know every stump, every mound, and every bl