had not shown
himself quite as ready to meet her views that day as she would have
liked. An impulse that she did not altogether understand impelled her
to persist.

"The Indians go down now and then," she said.

"Yes," admitted Weston, "I believe they do."

"Then why can't you?"

Weston appeared a trifle embarrassed.

"It wouldn't be quite safe."

"You mean to you?"

The man's face flushed a little. He had done a good deal of river
work, and none of his companions had accused him of lack of nerve,
but, though he had an excellent reason for knowing that the thing was
possible, he had no intention of shooting the fall.

"Well," he said, "if you like to look at it in that way."

Ida rose and stepped ashore without taking his proffered hand. Then
she leaned on a boulder while Weston sat still in the canoe, and for a
moment or two they looked at each other. The situation was a somewhat
novel one to the girl, for, in spite of the fact that she desired it,
the packer evidently did not mean to go. This alone was sufficient to
vex her, but there was another cause, which she subconsciously
recognized, that made her resentment deeper. It was that this
particular man should prove so unwilling to do her bidding.

"It is quite a long way to the lake, and the trail is very rough," she
said.

"It is," admitted Weston, who was glad to find a point on which he
could agree with her. "In fact it's a particularly wretched trail.
Still, you have managed it several times, and we have generally left
the canoe here."

"This time," said Ida, "we will take it down to the lake. I may want
it to-morrow. You will have a difficult portage unless you go down the
fall."

Weston recognized that this was correct enough, for the river was shut
in by low crags for the next half-mile at least, and he remembered the
trouble he had had dragging the canoe when he brought it up. He had
also had Grenfell with him then.

"Well," he said, "if you would rather not walk back, it must be
managed."

"I told you I wanted the canoe on the lake tomorrow," said the girl.

Weston was quite aware that there was another canoe which would serve
any reasonable purpose already on the beach, but he merely made a
little sign of comprehension and waited for her to go. Somewhat to his
annoyance, however, she stood still, and he proceeded to drag out the
canoe. The craft was not particularly heavy, but it was long, and he
had trouble when he endeavored to get