very pleasing. Mrs. Sedley and Mary's voices were heard with the
others, and all were delighted.

"Here's the cove," said Frank, when the band ceased playing. "We were
going on a voyage of discovery this afternoon, to name the bays and
points of land. What shall we call this cove?"

"Weston Bay," suggested Fred.

"Agreed!" answered a dozen members.

"And that mud-bank over there, where we got aground this morning, we
will call Bunker's Shoal," continued Fred.

"I think not," said Mrs. Sedley. "That would be casting a reflection
upon those boys."

"What shall we call it?"

"Black Shoal," replied Tony. "The mud on it, I know from personal
experience, is very black."

"Black Shoal it is," replied Frank, directing the boat into the little
bay.

The invitation of Mrs. Sedley was quite sufficient to induce Mrs.
Weston to join the "exploring expedition;" and the committee that had
been deputed to wait upon her soon returned, escorting her to the boat.

"Dear me! won't it tip over?" exclaimed the poor woman, when she had
placed one foot in the boat.

"She is perfectly safe," replied Frank, assisting her to a seat.

The boat pushed off again, and joined the Sylph. The band commenced
playing a popular march; and all the party, with the exception of Mrs.
Weston, who had her suspicions as to the stability of the beautiful
Zephyr, were in the highest state of enjoyment.

Farther up the lake there was a projecting headland, at the end of
which, separated from the shore by a narrow passage of water, not more
than ten feet in width, was a small, rocky island. This island and its
vicinity were the next points of interest deserving the attention of
the voyagers, and thither Frank steered the boat.

"Boys, you all study geography, do you not?" asked Mrs. Sedley.

"All of us, mother," replied Frank.

"Did it ever occur to you that all the natural divisions of water, on a
small scale, could be seen in Wood Lake?"

"Can they?" asked Charles. "I would not have believed it."

"I never thought of it before," added Frank.

"Years ago, before I was married, I used to teach school," continued
Mrs. Sedley; "and my scholars always found it difficult to remember the
definitions of the natural divisions of the earth. What do you think
the reason was?"

"I suppose they did not half learn them," replied Fred.

"They did not understand them. When we spoke of a gulf, for example,
they thought of something a great way off--as fa