However, if I had known how mistaken I was, and how truly
eventful that summer was to be, I should have astounded my
parents by an unseemly haste to get away, instead of the slowness
with which I actually prepared for my visit. Certain it is that I
should have been in a far more pleasant state of mind for the
hearty welcome I received from my relatives, had I but known
that but I am getting ahead of my story.
" Kenneth," said Uncle Henry as we arose from the breakfast
table, (war had not even been hinted at during the meal), " you
ought to go• to the lake and try your luck with the catties. They'll
bite like sharks today. Take your rod and go over to The
Point.' That's the best place for 'em. But you'd better borrow
some old clothes, for it's mighty brushy through the woods."
Seeing that there was nothing else to do, I togged myself out
in a pair of blue overalls, a brown jacket and a rather dilapidated
straw hat which Cousin Anne had resurrected for my use from the
darkness of the garret. And then, laden with my camera, my
tackle and a basket of lunch prepared by the ever-thoughtful Aunt
Clara, I tramped bravely off. The Point ' was a jagged promon
tory of rocks on the opposite shore of the lake, down through a
cleft in which rushed a brawling mountain stream, feeding the
lake and making a deep pool in which lurked the most voracious
catfish. It was an exceedingly picturesque formation, and I con
gratulated myself upon my forethought in bringing my camera
along, as I caught occasional glimpses of it through the woods.
Nor was this the only cause for congratulation, as events proved.
I had skirted the shore for a mile or more, and as yet had not
traversed half the distance to The Point,' when, as I came out
into a clearing I perceived a small boy trudging along with an
immense market basket on one arm. Evidently the load was a
weighty one, for at intervals he stopped to shift burden from
arm to arm. It was at one of these periodic pauses that I slipped
up behind him and unslung my camera. Then, as he picked up
the basket to move on, I gave a shout and pressed the button. The
result far exceeded my expectations. With a gasp that was almost
a sob lie turned, at the same instant dropping the basket, and I
heard an ominous breaking sound come from the latter. The boy,
frightened almost out of his wits, stood stock-still for a moment,
surveying first the basket, then myself, and then, in .a high, pip-
HER BROTHER'S SISTER