t might be longer still."

"Hardly likely."

"And what am I to do while you are gone?"

"Oh, just wait."

She moved away and stood facing him.

"Yes, that is like a man. Just wait! Just wait and worry. Just watch by
day and lie awake at night. Just be sick with anxiety for four or five
days. You would find me dead when you returned. Why should not I go with
you?"

He seemed surprised. Into the ever-cheerful face came a look of anxiety.
"I am afraid it would be a hard tramp for you, Angel Cook. And there
would be twice as much luggage to carry, and we should be a longer time
away."

"I will carry my own luggage."

"Never!"

"But I shall go with you."

"Is that a final decision?"

She nodded, an emphatic, half-fierce little nod, and frowned.

Pats smiled. "Miss Elinor Marshall, I am, as I have before remarked,
your humble and adoring slave. Your will is law. When shall we start?"

"Whenever you say."

"To-morrow?"

She nodded, this time with a smile.

"Early?"

"As early as you please."

"Then at crack o' dawn we go."

And the next morning, at crack o' dawn, they started off, Pats with a
knapsack so voluminous that he resembled a pedler.

Elinor thought it too much for him to carry. "You can never walk all day
with that on your back. Pedestrians that I have seen never carry such
loads."

"Then you have never seen pedestrians who carry their food and lodgings
with them. And you forget that we are not in the zone of large hotels."

"I feel very guilty. If I were not along you would have less to carry."

"Have no fears, Light of the North. If one of us three falls by the
wayside it will be neither Solomon nor myself."

This knapsack consisted of three blankets,--two of flannel, one of
rubber,--some claret bottles filled with water, and food for five days.
There was also coffee and a little brandy.

As they started off, along their own little beach, the sun was just
appearing over the strip of land ahead. Solomon, in high spirits,
galloped madly about on the hard sand, with an occasional plunge among
the breakers. But Pats and Elinor, although similarly affected by the
morning air, economized their steps, for a long day's tramp was before
them.

At the eastern end of the beach, before entering the woods, both stopped
and took a final look toward home. A rosy light was on sea and land.
Beyond the beach, with its tumbling waves all aglow from the rising sun,
stood the Point of Lory, and thei