. Soon the cosy house
in which he had passed so many perfect hours would be quite denuded.
Frosts would nip the flowers nodding in a final glory of color outside
the windows; the telephone would be disconnected; his belongings would
once more be crowded into the stuffy little flat at home; and the door
of the camp on the river's edge would be tightly locked on a deserted
paradise.

Of course, everything had to come to an end some time and often when he
had been weeding long, and what seemed interminable rows of seedlings
and had been making only feeble progress at the task, the thought that
termination of his task was an ultimate certainty had been a
consolation mighty and sustaining. Such an uninteresting undertaking
could not last forever, he told himself over and over again; nothing
ever did. And now with ironic conformity to law, his philosophy had
turned on him, demonstrating beyond cavil that not only did the things
one longed to be free of come to a sure finality but so did those one
pined to have linger.

Although night was approaching, too intent had he been on his reveries
to notice that the room was in darkness. How still everything was! That
was the way the little hut would be after he was gone,--cold, dark, and
silent. He wondered as he sat there whether he should ever come back.
Would the Fernalds want him next season and again offer him the
boathouse for a home? They had said nothing about it but if he thought
he was to return another summer it would not be so hard to go now. It
was leaving forever that saddened him.

He must have remained immovable there in the twilight for a much longer
time than he realized; and perhaps he would have sat there even longer
had not a sound startled him into breathless attention. It was the
rhythmic stroke of a canoe paddle and as it came nearer it was
intermingled with the whispers of muffled voices. Possibly he might
have thought nothing of the happening had there not been a note of
tense caution in the words that came to his ear.

Who could be navigating the river at this hour of the night? Surely not
pleasure-seekers, for it was very cold and an approaching storm had
clouded in the sky until it had become a dome of velvet blackness.
Whoever was venturing out upon the river must either know the stream
very well or be reckless of his own safety.

Ted did not move but listened intently.

"Let's take a chance and land," he heard a thick voice murmur. "The boy
has