"I don't want to sleep in a place where the bottom may drop out any minute." Her father laughed at her fears, and the Major assured her that they would not take her to a hotel near the water's edge.
"We are going to the other side of the town, to an inn that stands close against the mountainside.

The inn-keeper is an old friend of mine, who has lived here all his life." In spite of all they said to quiet her fears, the Little Colonel was far from feeling comfortable, and took small pleasure at first in going to see the sights of the quaint little town.

She was glad when they pushed away from the pier next morning, in the steamboat that was to take them across the lake to the William Tell chapel.

She dreaded to return, but a handful of letters from Lloydsboro Valley, and one apiece from Betty and Eugenia that she found awaiting her at the inn, made her forget the shifting sands below her.

She read and re-read some of them, answered several, and then began to look for the Major and Hero.