er, Darsie could see the weeds rising
from the bed of the stream, sometimes so high that they caught in the
paddle as it worked and greatly impeded its force; still she was
steadily moving along, and, fired with ambition, her eyes fell on a
willow-tree standing out from the bank some hundred yards ahead, and she
determined to persevere until the point should be reached. To declare
she had paddled "some way"--"quite a long way"--would probably be
discounted to mean but a few yards by the Percival sisters, but "to the
willow and back" was a definite feat which could not be gainsaid. So
Darsie worked and strained till her arms ached and her cheeks flamed,
till the punt, moving heavily through the weeds, ran at last beneath the
willow branches and found a natural anchorage.

Well, it was good to lie back against the cushions and rest one's weary
arms and back! Darsie peeped at her watch, saw with relief that she had
still a good quarter of an hour to spare, and abandoned herself to a
lazy enjoyment of the situation.

And then the inevitable happened, for the soothing influence of the
shaded light lulled the tired senses into deeper and deeper
unconsciousness, until at last the fringed eyelids ceased to flicker,
and remained peacefully closed, and, like a happy, tired child, Darsie
rested her cheek on her hand and slept.

Subsequent comparisons proved that her doze might have lasted for half
an hour or more, before a sudden movement of the punt roused her with a
start. She sat up, blinked sleepily around, and discovered to her
surprise that the punt had moved from its anchorage and drifted into the
centre of the stream. It had appeared so safely moored against the tree
that she was puzzled to understand how this had come about, but as the
movement had roused her from sleep she was glad that it had occurred,
and, seating herself steadily, lifted her paddle to work her way back to
the jetty.

As she settled herself, however, Darsie's attention was arrested by the
manner in which the banks seemed to be slipping past; she turned her
head over her shoulder, and discovered that in the minute which had
elapsed since she had awakened from sleep the willow-tree had been left
several yards behind. Some mysterious change seemed to have passed over
the surface of the still, almost stagnant, waters; they were flowing as
with a tide, the rippling movement stirring the weedy banks. Darsie
used her paddle automatically, but its p