id="pgepubid00017">MR. CROYDEN KEEPS HIS PROMISE

When Theo awoke the next day the novelty of his surroundings drove every thought of Greek pottery from his mind. As he peeped out of his window he could see slanting rifts of early sunlight flecking with gold the trunks of the great pines. From the chimney of the cookhouse a spiral of blue smoke was ascending and as it rose it carried into the air with it a pleasant odor of burning wood and frying bacon.

Theo did not dally with his dressing, you may be sure; he was far too hungry, and too eager to attack the program for the day.

"Put on thick boots, son," called Dr. Swift from his room. "The weather is fine. It is an ideal morning to tramp across Owl's Nest Carry and fish in the lake beyond there."

"What time is it, Father?" inquired Theo. "I forgot to wind my watch last night."

"Six o'clock. We shall have a three mile walk, and plenty of time to get in some fishing before the sun is high. Then we can paddle up-stream to the camp at the farther end of Owl Lake and cook our lunch. How does that plan please you?"

"Hurrah!" cried Theo. "Is there a camp like this over there?"

"Oh, no. Just a lean-to which serves as a shelter, if people want to spend the night and be on hand for early morning fishing. Sometimes, too, I have gone over in the late afternoon and fished until dark, afterward turning in on the pine boughs for the night. It is only a crude little camp, but it is perfectly comfortable. You will like Owl Lake. It is smaller than this one, but it has a very pretty shore bordered with a stretch of white sandy beach. 

"It must be a great place for swimming."

"It is. Just now, however, the water is too cold. Later in the season when things get warmed up it is the finest bathing place imaginable. Are you ready for breakfast now?"

"Yes, sir."

"Then you'd better run along. I will join you in a few moments. I must go first and see Manuel about the lunch."

"All right, sir."

Through the crisp morning air Theo bounded across to the dining-cabin, where he found Mr. Croyden.

A bright fire burned on the hearth and the table with its heaping plates of hot johnny-cake looked most inviting.

"Hello, youngster!" called the older man, glancing up with a smile. "How do you find yourself to-day? All lamed up after your jolt over the carry?"

"Not a bit, Mr. Croyden," laughed Theo. "I'm not lame at all. I'm just hungry."

"A perfectly normal condition. So long as you   can eat I guess there is not much the matter with you."

"Oh, I can always eat," grinned Theo. "Mother says my appetite never goes back on me."

"Well, fall to. It looks as if Franz had prepared for the worst," chuckled Mr. Croyden. "What are you and your dad up to to-day?"

"We are going to Owl Lake to fish."

"That isn't a bad beginning. It is not a long tramp, and the fish are biting well over there. I have tried it several times and had excellent luck. You are wise to start in gradually and not attempt too long a jaunt at first. There is everything in getting into training, as your father well knows."

There was a bang of the door, and Dr. Swift entered.

"Good-morning, Doctor," said Mr. Croyden. "So you and your son are to try your skill at Owl to-day?"

"Yes. That seemed to be a good starter."

"An excellent one."

"Why don't you come along with us?"

"I? 

"Yes; that is, unless you have other plans. We should be glad to have you. The more the merrier."

"I wish you would come, Mr. Croyden," urged Theo.

"That is very kind of you," returned Mr. Croyden, hesitating a little. "I had not planned my day. Are you sure you want so many?"

"Three is not many. Come along, by all means," declared Dr. Swift. "Manuel says the lake has not yet been fished much and that the trout are biting well. Get Tony, your guide, to pack up your tackle and bring some lunch. I am afraid we have not enough for all hands."

Mr. Croyden sprang to his feet.

"I'll do that," he replied. "What time are you starting?"

"Just as soon as I have succeeded in getting Theo to take a little nourishment," returned the Doctor.

This task Dr. Swift evidently did not find difficult, for within a half hour the party were setting forth through the woods. 

The luncheon, tackle, and sweaters had been put into a canoe, which Tony and Manuel raised to their shoulders as if it were a feather.

"There is a punt over at Owl that we can use, so we shall need only one canoe," explained Manuel as he strode along.

The carry was not a rough one, but to Theo, accustomed to the smoothness of city pavements, it seemed very rough indeed. He was continually stepping into holes or climbing over fallen tree-trunks, and although a good walker, the pace the guides set made him pant. Even Dr. Swift was forced to confess that he was out of breath and was obliged now and then to stop and rest. Mr. Croyden, on the contrary, swung along the narrow trail with the ease of an Indian.

"You will get into trim in a few days," he observed encouragingly to Theo. "I myself am always stiff and slow until I get limbered up."

When, however, Owl Lake finally came into sight both Theo and his father instantly forgot their fatigue.

There stretched the tiny sheet of water, a gem of flashing blue whose calm surface mirrored the pines and delicate birches bordering its margin.

The punt and canoe were launched, the tackle unpacked, and amid a silence broken only by the dip of oar and paddle the fishermen drifted out into the stillness.

Ah, it was a day never to be forgotten! Certainly Theo would never forget it, for it was during the first half-hour of this Arabian Night's dream that he proudly landed a beautiful lake trout, the first one he had ever caught.

From the moment he felt the tug at his line until his catch was safely in the bottom of the boat his excitement was tremendous. How the little creature pulled! How it swept away with the bait into deep water! With Manuel, Dr. Swift, Tony, and Mr. Croyden all coaching him, and almost as frenzied as he, poor Theo hardly knew where he was. But he obeyed the insistent command of: "Play him! Play him!" and play him he did. Even with the captive's final leap into the air the trout did not succeed in freeing itself from the hook. Keeping his prize well away   from the boat that the line might not slacken Theo at last reeled in his victim.

He gasped when the feat was accomplished.

The second time he knew better what to do; and before the sun was high and the fish had ceased to bite he landed five beauties.

In the meantime both his father and Mr. Croyden had been so absorbed in watching his pleasure that they had almost forgotten their own lines, and it was not until a big land-loch struck that the Doctor remembered he, too, was fishing. When finally a lull in the sport came and the party pulled up-stream toward the lean-to, there were a dozen good-sized trout in Mr. Croyden's basket and as many more in the Doctor's.

Then came the disembarking at the upper end of the lake, and the building of the fire. Dry wood was taken from the shelter of the house, and in the clearing before the camp, on a foundation of large flat stones, the fire was kindled. It was a marvel to Theo to see how quickly Manuel and Tony made things ready. They produced a small frying-pan, greased it, and had the fish sizzling in it before you could say Jack Robinson. Then they unpacked the hampers and brought forth tin plates, knives, and forks.

How good the meal tasted!

The great slices of bread-and-butter, with layers of creamy cheese between them, seemed a royal feast to the ravenous sportsmen; and the steaming coffee and thin slices of crisp bacon food