A ROMANCE OF "OUR LAKE" 161 



ment to Kasota's suit, at the same time ordering her to 

 take a canoe and go to the great spring at the far end 

 of Mud Lake and catch enough trout for use during 

 the day Anita always supplied the table with trout, 

 for she was indeed an expert angler. The maiden, in 

 order to confuse Kasota, should he observe her de- 

 parture, paddled across Nictau Lake to the opposite 

 shore, pushing her canoe along slowly under the 

 shadows of the trees to a bunch of great sycamores 

 and willows that grew close to the water's edge. As 

 soon as she thought herself out of observation, her 

 paddle was plied with all the strength she had, so 

 as to reach the trysting place without being dis- 

 covered. On arriving there, the canoe was slipped 

 deftly into the mouth of the little stream, and jumping 

 out on the sloping banks, she lifted it from the water 

 and dragged it into the underbrush. This done, Anita 

 sat down to rest and to think. But a few minutes 

 elapsed when she heard the call of a kingfisher from 

 far away, and this being the signal agreed upon be- 

 tween her lover and herself, she softly answered with 

 the long, drawn-out note of the white-throated spar- 

 row " ah-tette-tette-te " which she repeated at inter- 

 vals. Soon the bushes parted and Frank Talmunt 

 stood before her, radiant with joy at again meeting his 

 heart's delight. Anita informed him of the arrival of 

 the three canoes, of Kasota's ardent attachment, and of 

 the risk they ran of discovery, as he might be even 



