"
CHAPTER XXIII.
A Moonlight Trip on the Lake--The Legend of the
Orphan Boy--His Appeal to the Man in the Moon--How
He Conquered His Enemies.
Moonlight nights in the Northland are often very beautiful. There in the
summer time the gloaming continues until nearly midnight. Then nothing can
be more glorious than to glide along amid the beautiful fir-clad rocky
islands in a birch canoe over the still transparent waters. So large and
luminous are the full moons of July and August that, with the west aglow
and with the wondrous aurora flashing and blazing in the north, there is
practically little night and no darkness at all.
Nothing gave the children greater pleasure than to have permission to go
with Mary and Kennedy in a large roomy birch canoe for a moonlight
excursion during one of those warm, brilliant nights. With plenty of rugs
or cushions, to make the coziest of seats in the center of the canoe, they
fairly reveled in the beauties of the romantic surroundings while they
floated on the moonlit lake. Often in some place of more than ordinary
beauty Kennedy would cease paddling, and then their very quietness added
to the charms of those happy outings.
[Illustration: With Mary and Kennedy in the birch canoe.]
"Say, Mary," said Sagastao, "I was reading in one of my books about the
'man in the moon.' Do you know anything about him?"
"He is looking at us very kindly to-night," said Minnehaha. "I really
believe I saw him laughing, he is so pleased we have come out to see him
this lovely night.
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