t fall over in
the night.) In his fright he had cried out, and that was what had
aroused the camp. He was very sorry, but he had never come upon an
Indian in the woods at night, even a wooden cigar store one, and thought
he might be pardoned for being frightened.

His exclamation when Eeny-Meeny was explained to him was just like that
of his friend: "Well, really!" And there was that same shade of doubt in
his voice as to the sanity of people who carried such a thing along with
them on a canoe trip.

"Oh--I say," he called back, when Uncle Teddy had given him a small
flask of brandy and pointed out the nearest route back, "if you should
happen to run into my friend anywhere while you are in these woods would
you be so kind as not to mention this--er--mistake of mine? He is
something of a joker, and I am afraid if this story came to his ears he
would repeat it where it would cause me some embarrassment."

And he departed as solemnly as the other had done, leaving the campers
limp with merriment.

The next day they ascended the river as far as they could go, with
nothing more exciting than the dropping overboard of Katherine's poncho.
On the return trip the punctured canoe began to leak, so her crew and
supplies were transferred to Eeny-Meeny's canoe and she was towed along
in the leaky one, with frequent stops to bail out the water when she
seemed in danger of being swamped. They spent the second night in the
same place where they had spent the first, and this time there was no
disturbance. They mended the leaky canoe again and Eeny-Meeny finished
her trip in comparative dryness.

"Oh, dear," said Katherine, when they were back at Ellen's Isle once
more, and had finished telling Mr. and Mrs. Evans their adventures,
"what was there in life worth living for anyway, before we had
Eeny-Meeny?"

CHAPTER VII

A FAST AND A SILENCE

Being Chief that week it was Katherine's duty to blow the rising horn in
the morning. The day after the return from the canoe trip was the
morning for war canoe practice. The crew practised three mornings a week
before breakfast. Katherine, who had gone to sleep with the idea firmly
fixed in her mind that she must wake by a quarter to seven so that she
could rouse the others, awoke with a start, dreaming that she had
overslept and the others had tied her in her bed and gone off without
her. The world was dull and grey and covered with a chilly mist. There
was nothing to inspire a d