nybody ever measures it off, but there it is; and Mr. Clyde and Mr.
Raybold have taken Camp Roy, which hasn't any house on it. They started
before daybreak this morning, and brought a tent along with them, which
they have pitched just back of that little peninsula; and they haven't any
guide, because they want to attend to their own cooking and everything,
and the man who brought the tent and other things has gone back. They are
going to live there just like real backwoodsmen, and they have a boat of
their own, which is to be brought up from the bottom of the lake
somewhere--I mean from the lower end of the lake. And, Aunt Harriet, may I
speak to you a moment?"

With this the young woman drew Mrs. Archibald aside, and in a low voice
asked if she thought it would be out of the way to invite the two young
men to take breakfast with them, as it was not likely they had all their
cooking things in order so early.

Five people sat down to breakfast under the great oak-tree, and it was a
lively meal. Mr. Archibald's mental disquiet, in which were now apparent
some elements of resentment, had not subsided, but the state of his mind
did not show itself in his demeanor, and he could not help feeling pleased
to see that his wife was in better spirits. He had always known that she
liked company.

After breakfast he took Matlack aside. "I don't understand this business,"
said he. "When I hired this camp I supposed we were to have it to
ourselves; but if there are other camps jammed close against it we may be
in the midst of a great public picnic before a week is out."

"Oh, that camp over there isn't much of a camp," replied the guide. "The
fact is, it is only the tail end of a camp, and I don't suppose Peter
Sadler thought anybody would be likely to take it just now, and so didn't
think it worth while to speak of it. Of course it's jammed up against this
one, as you say; but then the people in one camp haven't the right to
cross the line into another camp if the people in the other camp don't
want them to."

"Line!" said Mr. Archibald. "It is absurd to think of lines in a place
like this. And I have no intention of making myself disagreeable by
ordering people off my premises. But I would like to know if there is
another camp three hundred feet on this side of our cabin, or three
hundred feet back of it."

"No, sir," said Matlack, speaking promptly; "there isn't another camp
between this and the lower end of the lake. There's