Everything being at length in readiness, the tents were struck and
carried around the Portage, and my husband, the Judge, and I followed at
our leisure.

The woods were brilliant with wild flowers, although it was so late in
the season that the glory of the summer was well-nigh past. But the
lupin, the moss-pink, and the yellow wallflower, with all the varieties
of the helianthus, the aster, and the solidago, spread their gay charms
around. The gentlemen gathered clusters of the bittersweet (celastrus
scandens) from the overhanging boughs to make a wreath for my hat, as we
trod the tangled pathway, which, like that of Christabel, was

"Now in glimmer and now in gloom,"

through the alternations of open glade and shady thicket. Soon, like the
same lovely heroine,

"We reached the place--right glad we were,"

and, without further delay, we were again on board our little boat and
skimming over the now placid waters.




CHAPTER V.

WINNEBAGO LAKE--MISS FOUR-LEGS.