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15.

While chatting with the professor, the rain which had been falling in small quantities for some time, now came in full force. A careful look at the sky showed that we were in for a good long rain and so, wishing to cover as much ground as possible, we bid our host farewell.

Now we were paddling along the lake in a blinding rainstorm. The quiet surface of the lake was now broken by the beating of countless drops of rain, little riplets rolling away from the point of contact only to be in turn broken by other drops of water. What a pleasant sensation it is! - to hear the rain splashing upon the water, to feel it beating upon your face or dripping off an old hat, and perchance to see flashes of lightning brighten up the darkened clouds and listen to the thunder reechoing back and forth from mountain to mountain. What matters it if you do get soaking wet? You can only get just so wet and then you become impervious to the water. And why mind water, why mind getting wet? Water is only water and wet is only wet. Why object more to rain beating on your face than snow? and we all enjoy a good snowstorm. Nor are wet clothes uncomfortable to a person walking or paddling. Of course if you stand still and shiver and think how wretchedly you feel, you make yourself miserable. But take it philosophically.a Shrug your shoulders and say, "I should worry" and ignore the rain absolutely. Similarly, be completely indifferent to things of a like nature. Think no more of walking through a swamp than of walking on dry land; of wading through a creek than of scrambling over rocks; of jumping over a stream and missing the other bank than of vaulting a fence and landing on dry ground.

After a very short paddle in the rain, we entered the bay in