Right at the rock dashed the canoe at full speed.

A moment more and her dainty nose would be battered out of all shape on the cruel rock, but a strong back stroke, a turn of the wrist, flip, and she lay floating quietly beside the rock.
"Splendid!" cried Kate.
"Well done, by Jove!" exclaimed the lieutenant, who was himself an expert with the paddle.
"I suppose you have no idea how fine you look," cried Kate.
"And I am quite sure," answered Harry, "you have no suspicion of what a beautiful picture you all make." And a beautiful picture it was: the great rocky cliff in the background, tricked out in its new spring green of moss and shrub and tree; the grassy plot at its foot where a little stream gurgled out from the rock; the blazing camp-fire with the little group about it; and in front the sunlit river.

How happy they all were! And how ready to please and to be pleased.

Even little Mr.Sims had his charm.

And at the making of the tea, which Kate had taken in charge with Ranald superintending, what fun there was with burning of fingers and upsetting of kettles! And then, the talk and the laughter at the lieutenant's brilliant jokes, and the chaffing of the "lumbermen" over their voracious appetites! It was an hour of never-to-be-forgotten pleasure.