r if Clyde pulled hard he pulled harder.
Arthur Raybold was not satisfied.

"I thought you were a better oarsman," he said to the other; "but now I
suppose we shall not come near them until we land."

But the Archibald party did not land. Under the guidance of Matlack they
swept slowly around the lower end of the lake; they looked over the big
untenanted camp-ground there; they stopped for a moment to gaze into the
rift in the forest through which ran the stream which connected this lake
with another beyond it, and then they rowed homeward, keeping close to the
farther shore, so as to avoid the strength of the current.

Clyde, who had not reached the end of the lake, now turned and determined
to follow the tactics of the other boat and keep close to the shore, but
on the side nearest to the camp. This exasperated Raybold.

"What are you trying to do?" he said. "If you keep in the middle we may
get near them, and why should we be on one side of the lake and they on
the other?"

"I want to get back as soon as they do," said Clyde, "and I don't want to
pull against the current."

"Stop!" said Raybold. "If you are tired, let me have the oars."

Harrison Clyde looked for a minute at his companion, and then deliberately
changed the course of the boat and rowed straight towards the shore,
paying no attention whatever to the excited remonstrances of Raybold. He
beached the boat at a rather poor landing-place among some bushes, and
then, jumping out, he made her fast.

"What do you mean?" cried Raybold, as he scrambled on shore. "Is she
leaking more than she did? What is the matter?"

"She is not leaking more than usual," said the other, "but I am not going
to pull against that current with you growling in the stern. I am going to
walk back to camp."

In consequence of this resolution the two young men reached Camp Rob about
the same time that the Archibald boat touched shore, and at least an hour
before they would have arrived had they remained in their boat.

The party was met by Mrs. Perkenpine, bearing letters and newspapers. A
man had arrived from Sadler's in their absence, and he had brought the
mail. Nearly every one had letters; there was even something for Martin.
Standing where they had landed, seated on bits of rock, on the grass, or
on camp-chairs, all read their letters.

While thus engaged a gentleman approached the party from the direction of
Camp Roy. He was tall, well built, handsomely dressed in a