Mercifully for the happiness of all concerned, it had
melted away before the spirit of busy, active life and deep content
that reigned over the island. Every one was intensely alive, and peace
was upon all.

* * * * *

Meanwhile the effect of the camp-life began to tell. Always a searching
test of character, its results, sooner or later, are infallible, for it
acts upon the soul as swiftly and surely as the hypo bath upon the
negative of a photograph. A readjustment of the personal forces takes
place quickly; some parts of the personality go to sleep, others wake
up: but the first sweeping change that the primitive life brings about
is that the artificial portions of the character shed themselves one
after another like dead skins. Attitudes and poses that seemed genuine
in the city drop away. The mind, like the body, grows quickly hard,
simple, uncomplex. And in a camp as primitive and close to nature as
ours was, these effects became speedily visible.

Some folk, of course, who talk glibly about the simple life when it is
safely out of reach, betray themselves in camp by for ever peering about
for the artificial excitements of civilisation which they miss. Some get
bored at once; some grow slovenly; some reveal the animal in most
unexpected fashion; and some, the select few, find themselves in very
short order and are happy.

And, in our little party, we could flatter ourselves that we all
belonged to the last category, so far as the general effect was
concerned. Only there were certain other changes as well, varying with
each individual, and all interesting to note.

It was only after the first week or two that these changes became
marked, although this is the proper place, I think, to speak of them.
For, having myself no other duty than to enjoy a well-earned holiday, I
used to load my canoe with blankets and provisions and journey forth on
exploration trips among the islands of several days together; and it was
on my return from the first of these--when I rediscovered the party, so
to speak--that these changes first presented themselves vividly to me,
and in one particular instance produced a rather curious impression.

In a word, then, while every one had grown wilder, naturally wilder,
Sangree, it seemed to me, had grown much wilder, and what I can only
call unnaturally wilder. He made me think of a savage.

To begin with, he had changed immensely in mere physical appearance,