plane. Landscape? More like a waterscape. Endless streams, rivers, ponds, lakes. Water everywhere. In fact, from the air, what little land there was seemed to be dividing one body of water from another. No habitations anywhere. No roads. Just endless and untracked wilderness. Senna found herself entranced by the beauty of it,and searched the open spaces and eskers for signs of wolves.
She cast a covert glance at Jack, wondering at his solitary ways. He seemed like a good enough person, and there was no denying his physical attributes, yet he remained curiously unattached. Heâd made reference to a woman who would let him sleep at her house, so no doubt he had alliances with the opposite sex, but his life for the most part seemed almost monastic. Was fishing enough of an addiction that a man could forsake all the comforts of life and not even miss them?
Another half hour droned by. No conversation was possible over the throaty roar of the engine. Every once in a while Jack would point down at something and shout to make himself heard, but though she stared where he pointed and struggled to make sense of his words, she failed to see or hear anything. Finally the plane began to descend. She peered anxiously downward, trying to keep from anticipating something so grand that sheâd only be disappointed. A broad dark river twisted through the black spruce, bigger than any of the others theyâd flown over. The plane banked around, dropping more swiftly. Still she saw nothing. Was the lodge so small it couldnât be seen from the air?
Her hands clenched together in her lap and she realized she was tense with anticipation as Jack side-slipped the plane, dropped altitude quickly, lined up on a long straight section of river, and touched down so smoothly she barely felt the transition. Rather than stop the plane and cut the motor, he taxied it up the river heading for the bend.
Rounding the corner the river widened out, and on the left-hand shore Senna spied a long dock with a rampascending to a porch-like structure above. Above and beyond, perched on the very edge of a promontory overlooking the river, was the lodge, much larger than she had dared to hope. It was V-shaped, each wing at least sixty feet long and paralleling the river. The front of the lodge was the somewhat rounded point of the V, and was floor-to-ceiling glass. The lodge was constructed of honey-colored cedar logs that hadnât yet begun to age and silver. The roof was metal, dark green, and evidently hard to see from the air. A massive stone chimney reared up dead center of the V and a covered porch ran along each wing facing the river, with yet another ramp descending to the lower porch above the dock. There were several matching log outbuildings, one right at the waterâs edge that she assumed was a boat house, two up behind the lodge itself, and another off the far side.
Jack taxied the plane up to the dock and Charlie jumped out, dog at heel, to tether it to the big posts. The engine cut out and the prop feathered to a stop. Senna sat for a moment, taken aback by the unexpected grandeur of the log structure and the way it so gracefully blended into the landscape. âItâs much bigger than I imagined it would be,â she said, staring out the planeâs bug-spattered windscreen. âAnd much better-looking.â
âThe admiral designed it,â Jack said. âHe picked the place out, too. He spotted this knoll from the air, signaled for me to put down, and said, âThere sheâll set, right up there on that point of land with a river view outside every window. Weâll call her the Wolf River Lodge.â
âSituated on that high point of land with the river on three sides, thereâs a steady breeze that keeps the bugs away 24/7,â Jack said. âPriceless, that spot. There isnâtanother like it along the whole stretch of river. You can sit on that great long porch without wearing any insect
She cast a covert glance at Jack, wondering at his solitary ways. He seemed like a good enough person, and there was no denying his physical attributes, yet he remained curiously unattached. Heâd made reference to a woman who would let him sleep at her house, so no doubt he had alliances with the opposite sex, but his life for the most part seemed almost monastic. Was fishing enough of an addiction that a man could forsake all the comforts of life and not even miss them?
Another half hour droned by. No conversation was possible over the throaty roar of the engine. Every once in a while Jack would point down at something and shout to make himself heard, but though she stared where he pointed and struggled to make sense of his words, she failed to see or hear anything. Finally the plane began to descend. She peered anxiously downward, trying to keep from anticipating something so grand that sheâd only be disappointed. A broad dark river twisted through the black spruce, bigger than any of the others theyâd flown over. The plane banked around, dropping more swiftly. Still she saw nothing. Was the lodge so small it couldnât be seen from the air?
Her hands clenched together in her lap and she realized she was tense with anticipation as Jack side-slipped the plane, dropped altitude quickly, lined up on a long straight section of river, and touched down so smoothly she barely felt the transition. Rather than stop the plane and cut the motor, he taxied it up the river heading for the bend.
Rounding the corner the river widened out, and on the left-hand shore Senna spied a long dock with a rampascending to a porch-like structure above. Above and beyond, perched on the very edge of a promontory overlooking the river, was the lodge, much larger than she had dared to hope. It was V-shaped, each wing at least sixty feet long and paralleling the river. The front of the lodge was the somewhat rounded point of the V, and was floor-to-ceiling glass. The lodge was constructed of honey-colored cedar logs that hadnât yet begun to age and silver. The roof was metal, dark green, and evidently hard to see from the air. A massive stone chimney reared up dead center of the V and a covered porch ran along each wing facing the river, with yet another ramp descending to the lower porch above the dock. There were several matching log outbuildings, one right at the waterâs edge that she assumed was a boat house, two up behind the lodge itself, and another off the far side.
Jack taxied the plane up to the dock and Charlie jumped out, dog at heel, to tether it to the big posts. The engine cut out and the prop feathered to a stop. Senna sat for a moment, taken aback by the unexpected grandeur of the log structure and the way it so gracefully blended into the landscape. âItâs much bigger than I imagined it would be,â she said, staring out the planeâs bug-spattered windscreen. âAnd much better-looking.â
âThe admiral designed it,â Jack said. âHe picked the place out, too. He spotted this knoll from the air, signaled for me to put down, and said, âThere sheâll set, right up there on that point of land with a river view outside every window. Weâll call her the Wolf River Lodge.â
âSituated on that high point of land with the river on three sides, thereâs a steady breeze that keeps the bugs away 24/7,â Jack said. âPriceless, that spot. There isnâtanother like it along the whole stretch of river. You can sit on that great long porch without wearing any insect
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