“How was that?” he asked.
“You’ve heard of treacherous midwives and nurses and murderous baby-farmers being subsidized to strangle an unwelcome cherub as soon as it is ushered into the world?”
“Yes, was it a case of that sort?”
“This infant was born healthy and vigorous after what might be called a rather protracted period of gestation—some thirty months. It had no less than twenty-one nurses in the shape of directors, which number was four times as great as it should have been and one over.
“When there is such a mob of officials, the management usually devolves on a few of the more active and interested. That active minority in this case somehow either had from the first, or acquired, a greater interest in killing this enterprise to please its rivals than in carrying it out in good faith.”
“How did the line run west of here?” he asked.
“It passed northwesterly along the foot of the bluff yonder, on the top of which you see Smith’s stone house, then along the shore just in front of the “hermitage”, and a quarter of a mile beyond that it turned toward the west and cutting through the ridge of the peninsula that separates the upper lake from Halsteds Bay, it skirted the south shore of that bay, and thence bore in a generally westerly and northwesterly direction, through Minnetrista township to St. Boniface and thence to Watertown.
“Halsteds bay itself is so secluded as to form practically a separate lake and a beautiful one too.”
“Suppose we sail up along this shore,” said Ocheltree, “I am quite interested in the place.”
We turned the nose of Sally Ann toward the northwest and sailed slowly before the very light wind. We passed Crane Island lying upon the right—a sort of lying-in hospital and nursery strictly sacred to the use of Cranes only, whose occupancy dates back of the earliest settlement of the country, and whose title has been secured to them by an act of the legislature, against the claims of all featherless bipeds. Further on, upon the mainland, is the hermitage and just in front of it the grave of Halsted, who many years ago, lost his life in the lake so sadly and mysteriously. A short distance beyond the hermitage, I pointed out the place where the survey left the shore of the main lake and cut across to Halsteds bay. We concluded to go on to the strait leading into that bay and sail around to its south shore. To reach the strait involved sailing north a mile and then over half a mile west. As the wind was still favorable this was soon accomplished. But when we reached the strait, we could no longer use the sail, and were obliged to have recourse to the oars. Inside the bay there was but little wind, and that was against us, as our route now lay due south. A little over a mile of rowing brought us to the south shore of the bay. Here the bluff covered with timber and underbrush slopes down to the water’s edge. Along the foot of this slope, I pointed out to Ocheltree the position of the narrow gauge survey. “It is a wonderfully romantic place for a pleasure road,” said he.