gion of his hopes,
content almost to fall asleep.

"Hi!" suddenly whispered Marc St. Ange. "_Voila! Le pere des
marionettes!_"

Bennie awoke with a start that almost upset the canoe. The blood rushed
to his face and sang in his ears.

"Where?" he cried. "Where?"

"_Au nord_," answered Marc. "_Mais il descend!_"

Professor Hooker stared in the direction of Marc's uplifted paddle. Was
he deceived? Was the wish father to the thought? Or did he really see at
an immeasurable distance upon the horizon a quickly dying trail of
orange-yellow light? He rubbed his eyes--his heart beating wildly under
his sportsman's suiting. But the north was black beyond the coming dawn.

Old Edouard grunted.

"_Vous etes fou!_" he muttered to his nephew, and drove his paddle deep
into the water.

Day broke with staccato emphasis. The sun swung up out of Europe and
burned down upon the canoe with a heat so equatorial in quality that
Bennie discarded both his mackintosh and his sporting jacket. All signs
of human life had disappeared from the distant banks of the river and
the bow of the canoe faced a gray-blue flood emerging from a wilderness
of scrubby trees. A few gulls flopped their way coast-ward, and at rare
intervals a salmon leaped and slashed the slow-moving surface into a
boiling circle; but for the rest their surroundings were as set, as
immobile, as the painted scenery of a stage, save where the current
swept the scattered promontories of the shore. But they moved steadily
north. So wearied was Bennie with the unaccustomed light and fresh air
that by ten o'clock he felt the day must be over, although the sun had
not yet reached the zenith. Unexpectedly Marc and Edouard turned the
canoe quietly into a shallow, and beached her on a spit of white sand.
In three minutes Edouard had a small fire snapping, and handed Bennie a
cup of tea. How wonderful it seemed--a genuine elixir! And then he felt
the stab of a mosquito, and putting up his hand found it blotched with
blood. And the black flies came also. Soon the professor was tramping up
and down, waving his handkerchief and clutching wildly at the air. Then
they pushed off again.

The sun dropped westward as they turned bend after bend, disclosing ever
the same view beyond. Shadows of rocks and trees began to jut across the
eddies. A great heron, as big as an ostrich, or so he seemed, arose
awkwardly and flapped off, trailing yards of legs behind him. Then
Bennie put on first h