IT was early morning in northern Minnesota, and the Lake of the Woods was just stirring back into life at the beginning of a new day. It mirrored out from the Orlis dock like a pane of glass, unbroken except for the rippling wake of a lone mallard duck swimming silently past. From across the muskeg a loon called to his mate, and from somewhere deep in the forest, behind the Orlis cabin, came the weirdly human cry of a lynx.
Danny Orlis slipped quietly out of the house, without waking his folks, and walked slowly down to the dock. It wouldn't be long until the forests would become a blaze of color and then drop their splendor to huddle nakedly in the snow.
Danny looked over the scene he loved so well, drinking in the quiet beauty, enjoying once more the morning hush on the northwest Angle. He dropped to one knee beside his faithful dog and ran his fingers through Laddie's soft hair.
"You see, fella," he explained, "we don't have school up here any higher than the eighth grade and...and you wouldn't want me to grow up to be a...a dummy, would you?"
It wouldn't be so bad, he told himself, if he could go some place where he knew someone, where he wouldn't have to be alone. But the Warroad School was so crowded there wasn't a chance of getting in there, and Iron Mountain, Colorado, where his aunt and uncle lived, was so far away that his folks didn't want him to go that far alone. He sighed deeply. That left only the boarding school down at Redlands where he was enrolled. It was small wonder that he felt weak and sick inside.
He straightened quickly and threw a stick out into the placid water. With a yelp of excitement Laddie plunged into the creek and swam determinedly toward it.
Just then Mrs. Orlis came to the cabin door and called, "Danny, come to breakfast!"
From his perch just outside the back door Danny's talking crow, Blackie, called, "Breakfast! Danny! Breakfast! Breakfast!"
The young woodsman grinned. "Come on, Laddie," he called, turning toward the cabin.
Carl Orlis, Danny's dad, who was usually laughing and joking, was strangely quiet during breakfast. When they finished eating, he reached for the big family Bible that lay on the desk just behind him, and opening it to the regular place, began to read.
They were just finishing their devotions when there was a knock at the back door, and Jimmy Baxter, who lived in the cabin just behind the Orlises, came in. He was a tall, thin lad with a scattering of freckles across his nose and a shock of sandy hair that was almost red.
"Hi," Danny said, pushing back from the table.
"Hi," his friend grunted, shifting from one foot to another nervously. He too was strangely solemn. "Thought maybe you'd like to go fishing this morning."
"Sure thing," Danny answered, "just as soon as I get my work done."
For a while, out fishing along Little McCoy Island, Danny forgot about having to leave the lake country to go away to school. The walleyes were biting, and he and Jimmy had located a big school.
"Boy, look at that string!" Jimmy cried excitedly. "I'll bet you won't be able to catch fish like this down at Redlands."
The smile fled from Danny's face.
"I...I'm sorry," his friend replied.
"That's all right," the young woodsman answered. "To tell you the truth, I was thinking the same thing myself."
Danny laid aside his rod and reel and looked out over the quiet, shimmering lake as though he could never get enough of looking at it.
"You know, Jimmy," he said at last, "I've never told anyone else about this, but whenever I think of going to school at Redlands, I get weak and cold all over."
At that moment the low, monotonous hum of a plane interrupted them. Danny turned, shielding his eyes with his hands, as he tried to spot it. There were a good many planes in the Lake of the Woods country, especially small ones, but he always stopped whatever he was doing to watch them.
"He's probably going to Kenora," Jimmy said. "Acts more like he's headed this way."
For a couple of minutes they watched the sleek aluminum craft. Then Danny noticed something wrong.
"Look!" he cried.
One landing float was securely in place, but the other dangled uselessly from the landing gear.
"Look!" he cried again. "He can never land with that float the way it is!"
Jimmy's eyes bugged wide.
"We've got to signal him!" Danny exclaimed.
With a prayer on his lips he tore off his shirt, stood in the boat, and began to wave it frantically.
Hurriedly Jimmy did the same. "But he can't land anyway, Danny!" he exclaimed. "When the plane hits the water, he'll be drowned."
Danny did not answer. His heart was a lump of ice, and his breath was coming in short, quick gasps.
"O God," he prayed, "help us to save that man in the plane!"