Mr.  “Bobbie.”

Inside was this note, written in a small, firm hand: 

“Lord Dunbridge presents his compliments to Mr.  ‘Bobbie,’ and thanks him for the enjoyable fish dinner tendered him last evening.  And would Mr. Bobbie kindly do him an additional favor?  Would he come at six o’clock to-morrow morning to assist a poor fisherman who has had no luck to-day?”

That night Bob was a regular hero around the camp fire.  The boys sang, “He’s a jolly good fellow,” and a dozen other gay choruses, while Bob looked to his tackle and bait, and gathered all the courage he could muster to meet the great man in the morning.  He need not have trembled—­it was no ordeal—­for as he paddled up to the big camp a quiet-looking gentleman with an iron gray moustache and kindly, genial eyes, stepped down to the landing and held out his hand, and said, “Good-morning, Bobbie.  I hope we shall be friends.  I have been most unlucky; not a fish yesterday.  We’ll have to do better than that, won’t we?”

“Yes, sir—­Yes, Your Excellency,” said Bob, slowly trying to get his nerves steady.

“I’m afraid my guides are very little good,” said Lord Dunbridge, as he carefully settled himself in the canoe.  “They both profess to know these waters, but they don’t seem to be able to find any good fishing pools.”

“I can do better than that,” ventured Bob.  “I have been around these lakes every summer that I can remember.  If, Your Excellency, you don’t mind, we’ll paddle across to the outletting river.  It’s full of rapids, and below them we’ll find fish.”

“Then we’ll go there,” replied His Excellency.

For one whole hour the great man and the great fisherman had sport that a king might envy.  Side by side they sat, or stood, baiting or reeling in the heavy, gleaming bass, chatting, boasting, and eager for game.  It was a great morning’s catch.  A dozen noble fish testified to their skill, when the pair, overcome with hunger, were compelled to put up their rods and make for the camp and breakfast.

“We have had a glorious morning, haven’t we, Bob?” said the Governor.  “I feel like a boy again, a boy playing truant, a boy who has ran away from his big school of politicians at Ottawa, just to get a few days’ fishing and—­and—­oh, well, get away from it all.”

There was a brief silence, then Lord Dunbridge continued, “Bob, you’re a boy; so was I once, but I think you’ll understand.  You Canadian boys do seem to grasp things, some way or other.  My boyhood was not quite as jolly as yours is—­not so independent.  You see, we always had tutors and things to look after us and keep us shut in, as it were, and I never knew, as I dare say you do, the pleasure of getting about by myself, and—­” His voice trailed off as if he were thinking of something else.  Suddenly he seemed to awaken, and, removing his cap, let the keen morning air blow across his long, fine hair—­dark hair touched about the temples with gray.  Then he smiled down at the sunburnt boy at his side, and said, as if he feared to be overheard, “Bob, I’d give five dollars to be a boy like you to-day, and be able to run those rapids in a canoe.  Would it be safe?”