talking and
advising. And the only topic of conversation for weeks, in the town,
was the Holy Land, and the question which greeted a new-comer
invariably was, "Did you hear that Lawyer Ed and J. P. have really
decided to go?"

All this bustle of preparation and expectation did not deceive J. P.
into a false position of security. He was by no means confident, and
he kept a strict eye on Lawyer Ed to see that he did not launch some
new scheme that would demand his personal attention till Christmas.
For well he knew that until his friend was on board the steamer and
beyond swimming distance from the land, he was not safe. Any day
something might arise to make it seem quite impossible to go.

So he was thrown into quite a state of nervousness when, early in June,
Algonquin began to prepare for a unique celebration. The first of July
had been chosen as "Old Boys' Day," and all Algonquin's exiled sons had
been invited to come back to the old home on that day and be made happy.

"Old Boys' Day" was an entirely new institution in Algonquin. Indeed
she did not have many sons beyond middle age, but other Ontario towns
were having these reunions, and Algonquin was never known to be behind
her contemporaries, in the matter of having anything new, even though
the newest thing was Old Boys.

So no wonder J. P. Thornton was anxious. For such a celebration was
just the sort of thing in which Lawyer Ed gloried. Fortunately it was
set a month before they were to sail, but J. P. knew that Ed would need
all that time to recover from the perfect riot of friendship into which
he would be sure to plunge on Old Boys' Day.

As the first of July approached, the whole town gave itself up to
extravagant preparations and, as J. P. expected, Lawyer Ed, turned over
his office to Roderick, put away railway time-tables and guide books
and headed every committee. There was a committee of ladies from all
the churches to serve dinner to the Old Boys on their arrival. There
was a decorating committee with instructions to cover the town with
flags and bunting and banners, no matter what the cost. There was a
committee for sports, on both land and water and, most important of
all, a reception committee, half to go down to Barbay with Captain
Jimmie and the town band to bring the Old Boys home by water, the only
proper way to approach Algonquin, and the other half to meet them at
the dock.

Of course all this upheaval and bustle did not take