EIGHTY miles, the folder said; but that was by the trail 

 of the iron horse, and man has built his way by straight 

 lines, for time brooks no devious circumnavigations. Man 

 is time's slave; hence the road of the steam cars is laid 

 straight. Mother Nature laughs at time and cares not for his 

 fretting, making her rivers wind through bluffs, hills and 

 meadows, to find their way as best they may to the sea. This 

 is the manner of the "Osk-ke-bug-e-sebe," or "The River of 

 New Leaves" of the Objiboways, shown on the maps of the 

 present day as the "Minnesota." 



There was a great crowd at the station at St. Paul, a great 

 crowd of happy holiday-makers in their best attire. They 

 stared at the four of us in our old clothes, our bundles of 

 sweaters and lazy-backs, and most of all at the packsack which 

 we took turns carrying. When they saw our paddles, the 

 mystery was solved. "Canoe trip," we heard someone remark. 



That was it, a canoe trip in two days or less over a new 

 stretch of our old friend, the Minnesota. We bought our 

 tickets for Mankato, to find the cars so crowded that the sign 

 "S. R. O." was hung out. Arriving at our destination, we ne- 

 gotiated lodging for ourselves and the canoe, shipped ahead 

 and waiting at the station. 



After a hearty meal, we laid in our provisions, and our conir 

 modore gave orders to prepare for sleep, as we would start 

 at four o'clock the next morning. Lights were soon out and 

 stillness reigned. One of the party, with watch and flashlight 

 handy, kept account of the flight of time between catnaps of 

 ten or fifteen minutes. At five minutes after three, he sounded 

 the call, and everyone was wide awake in an instant, ready to 

 start. Packing our belongings and the provisions, we de- 

 scended the stairs, settled our bill with the yawning clerk, 

 took our canoe out of the baggage room, and emerged into the 

 cool, starlit morning, with the East showing streaks of gray. 

 We found a convenient road to the water's edge and, after 



18 



