r eyes lingered about the cottage.
Nestling peacefully among the pines, it also caught the morning light.

"Adieu, little house," said Elinor. And then, turning to Pats, "Why, I
am really sorry to leave it."

"So am I, for it has given me the happiest days of my life--or of
anybody's life."

In and out among the trees they tramped, three hours or more, with
intervals for rest, generally through the woods, but always keeping near
the coast unless for a shorter cut across the base of some little
peninsula. Elinor stood it well and enjoyed with Pats the excitement of
discovery. After a long nooning they pushed on until nearly sunset. When
they halted for the night both explorers were still in good condition;
but the next morning, in starting off, each confessed to a stiffness in
the lower muscles. This disappeared, however, after an hour's walking.

Early in the afternoon of this second day's march they stood upon the
top of the hill which, from a distance, had promised a commanding view.
But they found, as so often happens to every kind of climber, that
another hill, still higher and farther on, was the one to be attained.
So they pushed ahead. Just before reaching the summit of this final hill
Pats halted.

"Now comes a critical moment. What do you think we shall see?"

Elinor shook her head sadly. "I am prepared for the worst; for the
wilderness, without a sign of human life."

Pats's ever-cheerful face took on a smile. "I suspect you are right, but
I am not admitting it officially. I prophesy that we shall look down
upon a large and very fashionable summer hotel."

"Awful thought!" And she smiled as she surveyed her own attire and that
of Pats. "What a sensation we should create! You with that faded old
flannel shirt, your two days' beard, and those extraordinary South
African trousers; and I, sunburnt as a gypsy, with my hair half down--"

"No hair like it in the world--"

"And this weather-beaten dress. What would they take us for?"

"For what we are--tramps, happy tramps."

Five minutes later they stood upon the summit. To the eastward, as far
as sight could reach, lay the same wild coast. For several miles every
detail of the shore stood clearly out beneath a cloudless sky. Of man or
his habitation they saw no sign. To the vast sweep of pines--like an
ocean of sombre green--there was no visible limit either to the east or
north. And southward, over the blue expanse, no sail or craft of any
kind distur