"Where's Fanny Jane?" asked Ethan, when Mr. Sherwood had gone to the wheel-house to put up the motto. "She is going to keep house for us while we are gone," replied Miss Fanny mischievously. "You were so unsocial to-day she would not come with us." "I had to look out for the engine," pleaded Ethan. "That was not the reason, Ethan," interposed Mrs. Sherwood. "You behaved splendidly." "If you were twenty, instead of sixteen, Ethan, I should say you were in love with Fanny Jane," laughed Miss Fanny. "Oh, nonsense!" exclaimed Ethan, blushing beneath his smutty face. "I like her, and after what we went through out West, I don't think it is very strange I should." "You are right, Ethan. She is a good girl, and I hope you will like her more, rather than less." "The saloon is ready for you, ladies," said Lawry, interrupting this pleasant conversation--very pleasant to Ethan, for without entering into an analysis of the young engineer's feelings, it is quite certain he thought a great deal of the companion of his wanderings in Minnesota; but fortunately he is not the hero of this book, and this interesting suggestion need not be followed out any further. The little captain conducted the ladies to the saloon, and then hastened to the wheel-house, where Mr. Sherwood, by the light of a lantern in the hands of one of the boys, had screwed up the sign. "Haul in the plank!" shouted Lawry, "Cast off the bow-line." The _Woodville_ backed till she was dear of the wharf, and then went ahead. Lawry knew the lake by night as well as by day, and he was perfectly at home at the wheel, not withstanding the darkness that lay in the steamer's path. One of the deck-hands was a boy of sixteen, who had served in a similar capacity on board the lake steamers, and was a good wheelman, though he knew nothing of the navigation of the lake, and steered only by the directions given him from time to time. Captain Lawry called this hand, and gave him the wheel, with orders to run for a certain headland several miles distant. The young captain went below with Mr. Sherwood, to make his arrangements for the night. The second fireman had already been installed in the fire-room by Ethan, and the first had gone forward. A portion of the forehold of the steamer had been fitted up for the accommodation of the crew. It contained four berths, and was well ventilated by a skylight in the forecastle. In building the boat, Mr. Sherwood had insisted upon having everything put into her that was to be found in larger craft; and these quarters for the hands were now very convenient, if not indispensable.