ad of lying at the bottom he had been carried
by the under-current far out toward the middle of the river. On coming
to the surface, more dead than alive, he found himself among the
branches of an uprooted pine, also speeding toward the sea, at the mercy
of the torrent.

Numb with cold from the icy water, he clung to this friend all one day
and night, ever drifting toward the Gulf. At last, when rescued, he was
barely conscious. And on recovering his wits he found himself aboard a
Government coaster just starting on a two months' cruise.

"I insisted on being landed. They refused at first, but when I told them
the situation--of the solitary girl I was leaving alone in the
wilderness,--they not only put me ashore, but gave me all the provisions
I could carry."

"Bravo! A boat-load of lovers!" exclaimed the Princess. "And they did
well!"

"Indeed they did!" said Pats, "for they were pressed for time, and it
cost them several hours. So, in high spirits, I started westward along
the coast, expecting to get here in three or four days."

Then, turning to Elinor: "Do you remember the wide marsh we noticed from
the top of that farthest hill to the east, at the end of our journey
last autumn?"

"Yes, I remember. We thought it the mouth of a river."

"Well, it _was_ the mouth of a river, with a vengeance. That marsh
extends for miles on both sides of a river as impassable as ours. Ten
days I tramped northward up the farther bank. And then, in swimming
across, I lost nearly all my provisions, and most of my clothes."

With a slight bow to the Princess, he added, "I hope madam will pardon
these intimate details: also certain deficiencies in my present toilet."

"Make no apologies, and tell everything," she answered, "I am one of the
family."

Pats continued: "During nine days I travelled south, retracing my steps,
but on this side of the river. The woods are different up there, with a
maddening undergrowth, and it soon made an end of what clothes I had
left. Yesterday morning I saw the sea again."

To every word of this narrative Elinor had listened, absorbed and
self-forgetful. As for the Princess, she loved the unexpected, and here
she found it. The more she studied Pats, the better she liked him and
his cheerfulness,--a cheerfulness which seemed to rise triumphant above
all human hardship. She took an interest in his unkempt hair and
barbaric, four weeks' beard, in his scratched and sunburnt chest and
arms. Even in