“A broad interpretation is bad enough,” I said. “About how broad should it be?” I asked her. “Silly,” she said. “If you want to get away from the lake——” “How about the fish-balls?” Pee-wee piped up. “If you want to get away from the lake,” she said, “all you have to do is to pull the boat up on shore and get the water out of it. As you stand looking out on the lake the outlet is up there to the north. _It’s to your left._ All you have to do is to row along the shore to your left till you reach the outlet and then row through the outlet till you see a path that leads out of it to your left. That goes to Shade Valley. How many times have you been marching around this lake for goodness’ sake?” Warde said, “We wouldn’t even have reached the shore if it hadn’t been for our dog who deserted us and went home to dinner.” “Well, he’s the only one of the party who has any sense,” Marjorie Eaton said. Then they both began laughing. “It’s good you came down to the shore,” the other girl said, “because now you see you can use the boat and get somewhere without actually breaking your rule.” “We just have to kind of bend it a little,” I said. “I never knew anything so stupid in my life as boys,” Stella Wingate said. “Especially boys who have been around so much,” Brent said. I said, “Girls, you have saved us from being a merry-go-round; you have shown us a way out. The outlet lets us out the same as it let Pee-wee in. He was in that very outlet, and he never knew its possibilities. “Possibilities!” Marjorie Eaton began laughing. “Oh, I think he’s just _im_possible.” They were awful nice, those girls were. They said they thought it would be all right for us to go up to their camp and have dinner with them and then start for the outlet in the boat. They said they thought that would be turning to the left and that it was the only way for us to get out of our rut. They said our resolution was all right but that sometimes a rule has to be construed freely. They reminded me of school when they talked. They said our only hope of escape was by the lake. Marjorie Eaton said that otherwise we would be the victims of an eternal circle. Gee whiz, they were smart. “You mean an infernal circle,” I said. Pee-wee said, “Don’t ever talk to me again about anything round; if it’s round I have no use for it.” “Oh, we’re so sorry,” Stella Wingate said. “Then you won’t eat any fish-balls.” “Eats don’t count,” the kid said. “That’s the first time I ever heard you say that,” I told him. So then we all went up to their camp which was about a couple of hundred feet from the shore. And, oh, boy, those were some fish-balls. They counted with Pee-wee all right, but I lost count of them. Those girls said they had just decided to take a trip into the woods for a lark. “You can’t catch any larks around here,” our young hero said, “but there are wild pigeons. I can tell you all about birds, I know all about stalking.”