"Ah! here we are at the top of the lake," said Dallas, "and entering quite thick deep woods. How lovely the air is. I can smell the nice damp earth and the breath of the pines—and there is a meadow in the distance," he went on.
"That is Beaver Meadow," said Cassowary, "and that lazy little river poking through it as if looking for the shortest way to the lake is Fawn River."
"What pretty little islands those are at the river mouth," said Dallas.
"That's the Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe—you've heard of her?"
"Oh! yes, quite often."
"Well! there she is on that biggest island which is shaped like a green shoe. See her head sticking up from behind that high rock."
"Do you mean the silver birch broken off short?" asked Dallas; "that one with the queer bunch on its head?"
"Yes, that's her bonnet," said Cassowary. "One day we paddled over and nailed a big coalscuttle bonnet on her. See those birds on that tiniest island of all. What are they?"
"You're a born school-teacher," said Dallas admiringly. Then he added, "They are gulls—herring gulls, I think."