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+Project Gutenberg's Lost in the Backwoods, by Catherine Parr Traill
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Lost in the Backwoods
+
+Author: Catherine Parr Traill
+
+Posting Date: April 10, 2013 [EBook #6813]
+Release Date: November, 2004
+First Posted: January 27, 2003
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LOST IN THE BACKWOODS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Avinash Kothare, Tom Allen, Juliet Sutherland,
+Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading
+Team This file was produced from images generously made
+available by the Canadian Institute for Historical
+Microreproductions.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+LOST IN THE BACKWOODS.
+
+A TALE OF THE CANADIAN FOREST.
+
+
+
+
+BY MRS. TRAILL
+
+
+
+
+
+Preface
+
+
+The interesting tale contained in this volume of romantic adventure in
+the forests of Canada, was much appreciated and enjoyed by a large circle
+of young readers when first published, under the title of "The Canadian
+Crusoes." After being many years out of print, it will now, we hope and
+believe, with a new and more descriptive title, prove equally attractive
+to our young friends of the present time.
+
+EDINBURGH, 1882.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+  "The morning had shot her bright streamers on high,
+   O'er Canada, opening all pale to the sky,
+   Still dazzling and white was the robe that she wore,
+   Except where the ocean wave lashed on the shore"
+
+  _Jacobite Song_
+
+
+There lies, between the Rice Lake and the Ontario, a deep and fertile
+valley, surrounded by lofty wood-crowned hills, clothed chiefly with
+groves of oak and pine, the sides of the hills and the alluvial
+bottoms display a variety of noble timber trees of various kinds, as
+the useful and beautiful maple, beech, and hemlock. This beautiful and
+highly picturesque valley is watered by many clear streams, whence it
+derives its appropriate appellation of "Cold Springs."
+
+At the period my little history commences, this now highly cultivated
+spot was an unbroken wilderness,--all but two clearings, where dwelt
+the only occupiers of the soil,--which previously owned no other
+possessors than the wandering hunting tribes of wild Indians, to whom
+the right of the hunting grounds north of Rice Lake appertained,
+according to their forest laws.
+
+I speak of the time when the neat and flourishing town of Cobourg, now
+an important port on Lake Ontario, was but a village in embryo,--if it
+contained even a log-house or a block-house, it was all that it
+did,--and the wild and picturesque ground upon which the fast
+increasing village of Port Hope is situated had not yielded one forest
+tree to the axe of the settler. No gallant vessel spread her sails to
+waft the abundant produce of grain and Canadian stores along the
+waters of that noble sheet of water; no steamer had then furrowed its
+bosom with her iron paddles, bearing the stream of emigration towards
+the wilds of our northern and western forests, there to render a
+lonely trackless desert a fruitful garden. What will not time and the
+industry of man, assisted by the blessing of a merciful God, effect?
+To him be the glory and honour; for we are taught that "unless the
+Lord build the house, their labour is but lost that build it: without
+the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain."
+
+But to my tale. And first it will be necessary to introduce to the
+acquaintance of my young readers the founders of our little settlement
+at Cold Springs.
+
+Duncan Maxwell was a young Highland soldier, a youth of eighteen, at
+the famous battle of Quebec, where, though only a private, he received
+the praise of his colonel for his brave conduct. At the close of the
+battle Duncan was wounded; and as the hospital was full at the time,
+he was billeted in the house of a poor French Canadian widow in the
+Quebec suburb. Here, though a foreigner and an enemy, he received much
+kind attention from his excellent hostess and her family, consisting
+of a young man about his own age, and a pretty black-eyed lass not
+more than sixteen. The widow Perron was so much occupied with other
+lodgers--for she kept a sort of boarding-house--that she had not much
+time to give to Duncan, so that he was left a great deal to her son
+Pierre, and a little to Catharine, her daughter.
+
+Duncan Maxwell was a fine, open-tempered, frank lad, and he soon won
+the regard of Pierre and his sister. In spite of the prejudices of
+country, and the difference of language and national customs, a steady
+and increasing friendship grew up between the young Highlander and the
+children of his hostess; therefore it was not without feelings of deep
+regret that they heard the news that the regiment to which Duncan
+belonged was ordered for embarkation to England, and Duncan was so far
+convalescent as to be pronounced quite well enough to join it. Alas
+for poor Catharine! she now found that parting with her patient was a
+source of the deepest sorrow to her young and guileless heart; nor was
+Duncan less moved at the separation from his gentle nurse. It might be
+for years, and it might be for ever, he could not tell; but he could
+not tear himself away without telling the object of his affections how
+dear she was to him, and to whisper a hope that he might yet return
+one day to claim her as his bride; and Catharine, weeping and
+blushing, promised to wait for that happy day, or to remain single for
+his sake.
+
+They say the course of true love never did run smooth; but with the
+exception of this great sorrow, the sorrow of separation, the love of
+our young Highland soldier and his betrothed knew no other
+interruption, for absence served only to strengthen the affection
+which was founded on gratitude and esteem.
+
+Two long years passed, however, and the prospect of reunion was yet
+distant, when an accident, which disabled Duncan from serving his
+country, enabled him to retire with the usual little pension, and
+return to Quebec to seek his affianced. Some changes had taken place
+during that short period: the widow Perron was dead; Pierre, the gay,
+lively-hearted Pierre, was married to a daughter of a lumberer; and
+Catharine, who had no relatives in Quebec, had gone up the country
+with her brother and his wife, and was living in some little
+settlement above Montreal with them.
+
+Thither Duncan followed, and shortly afterwards was married to his
+faithful Catharine. On one point they had never differed, both being
+of the same religion.
+
+Pierre had seen a good deal of the fine country on the shores of Lake
+Ontario; he had been hunting with some friendly Indians between the
+great waters and the Rice Lake; and he now thought if Duncan and
+himself could make up their minds to a quiet life in the woods, there
+was not a better spot than the hill pass between the plains and the
+big lake to fix themselves upon. Duncan was of the same opinion when
+he saw the spot. It was not rugged and bare like his own Highlands,
+but softer in character, yet his heart yearned for the hill country.
+In those days there was no obstacle to taking possession of any tract
+of land in the unsurveyed forests; therefore Duncan agreed with his
+brother-in-law to pioneer the way with him, get a dwelling put up, and
+some ground prepared and "seeded down," and then to return for their
+wives, and settle as farmers. Others had succeeded, had formed little
+colonies, and become the heads of villages in due time; why should not
+they? And now behold our two backwoodsmen fairly commencing their
+arduous life: it was nothing, after all, to Pierre, by previous
+occupation a hardy lumberer, or the Scottish soldier, accustomed to
+brave all sorts of hardships in a wild country, himself a mountaineer,
+inured to a stormy climate and scanty fare from his earliest youth.
+But it is not my intention to dwell upon the trials and difficulties
+courageously met and battled with by our settlers and their young
+wives.
+
+There was in those days a spirit of resistance among the first
+settlers on the soil, a spirit to do and bear, that is less commonly
+met with now. The spirit of civilization is now so widely diffused,
+that her comforts are felt even in the depths of the forest, so that
+the newly come emigrant feels comparatively few of the physical evils
+that were endured by the earlier inhabitants.
+
+The first seed-wheat that was cast into the ground by Duncan and
+Pierre was brought with infinite trouble a distance of fifty miles in
+a little skiff, navigated along the shores of Lake Ontario by the
+adventurous Pierre, and from the nearest landing-place transported on
+the shoulders of himself and Duncan to their homestead. A day of great
+labour but great joy it was when they deposited their precious freight
+in safety on the shanty floor. They were obliged to make two journeys
+for the contents of the little craft. What toil, what privation they
+endured for the first two years! and now the fruits of it began to
+appear.
+
+No two creatures could be more unlike than Pierre and Duncan. The
+Highlander, stern, steady, persevering, cautious, always giving ample
+reasons for his doing or his not doing. The Canadian, hopeful, lively,
+fertile in expedients, and gay as a lark; if one scheme failed,
+another was sure to present itself. Pierre and Duncan were admirably
+suited to be friends and neighbours. The steady perseverance of the
+Scot helped to temper the volatile temperament of the Frenchman. They
+generally contrived to compass the same end by different means, as two
+streams descending from opposite hills will meet in one broad river in
+the same valley.
+
+Years passed on: the farm, carefully cultivated, began to yield its
+increase; food and warm clothing were not wanting in the homestead.
+Catharine had become, in course of time, the happy mother of four
+healthy children; her sister-in-law had exceeded her in these welcome
+contributions to the population of a new colony.
+
+Between the children of Pierre and Catharine the most charming harmony
+prevailed; they grew up as one family, a pattern of affection and
+early friendship. Though different in tempers and dispositions, Hector
+Maxwell, the eldest son of the Scottish soldier, and his cousin, young
+Louis Perron, were greatly attached: they, with the young Catharine
+and Mathilde, formed a little coterie of inseparables; their
+amusements, tastes, pursuits, occupations, all blended and harmonized
+delightfully; there were none of those little envyings and bickerings
+among them that pave the way to strife and disunion in after-life.
+
+Catharine Maxwell and her cousin Louis were more like brother and
+sister than Hector and Catharine; but Mathilde was gentle and
+dove-like, and formed a contrast to the gravity of Hector and the
+vivacity of Louis and Catharine.
+
+Hector and Louis were fourteen--strong, vigorous, industrious, and
+hardy, both in constitution and habits. The girls were turned of
+twelve. It is not with Mathilde that our story is connected, but with
+the two lads and Catharine. With the gaiety and _naivete_ of the
+Frenchwoman, Catharine possessed, when occasion called it into action,
+a thoughtful and well-regulated mind, abilities which would well have
+repaid the care of mental cultivation; but of book-learning she knew
+nothing beyond a little reading, and that but imperfectly, acquired
+from her father's teaching. It was an accomplishment which he had
+gained when in the army, having been taught by his colonel's son, a
+lad of twelve years of age, who had taken a great fancy to him, and
+had at parting given him a few of his school-books, among which was a
+Testament without cover or title-page. At parting, the young gentleman
+recommended its daily perusal to Duncan. Had the gift been a Bible,
+perhaps the soldier's obedience to his priest might have rendered it a
+dead letter to him; but as it fortunately happened, he was unconscious
+of any prohibition to deter him from becoming acquainted with the
+truths of the gospel. He communicated the power of perusing his books
+to his children Hector and Catharine, Duncan and Kenneth, in
+succession, with a feeling of intense reverence; even the labour of
+teaching was regarded as a holy duty in itself, and was not undertaken
+without deeply impressing the obligation he was conferring upon them
+whenever they were brought to the task. It was indeed a precious boon,
+and the children learned to consider it as a pearl beyond all price in
+the trials that awaited them in their eventful career. To her
+knowledge of religious truths young Catharine added an intimate
+acquaintance with the songs and legends of her father's romantic
+country; often would her plaintive ballads and old tales, related in
+the hut or the wigwam to her attentive auditors, wile away heavy
+thoughts.
+
+It was a lovely sunny day in the flowery month of June. Canada had not
+only doffed that "dazzling white robe" mentioned in the songs of her
+Jacobite emigrants, but had assumed the beauties of her loveliest
+season; the last week in May and the first three of June being
+parallel to the English May, full of buds and flowers and fair promise
+of ripening fruits.
+
+The high sloping hills surrounding the fertile vale of Cold Springs
+were clothed with the blossoms of the gorgeous scarlet castilegia
+coccinea, or painted-cup; the large, pure, white blossoms of the
+lily-like trillium grandiflorum; the delicate and fragile lilac
+geranium, whose graceful flowers woo the hand of the flower-gatherer
+only to fade almost within his grasp: the golden cypripedium or
+moccasin flower, so singular, so lovely in its colour and formation,
+waved heavily its yellow blossoms as the breeze shook the stems; and
+there, mingling with a thousand various floral beauties, the azure
+lupine claimed its place, shedding almost a heavenly tint upon the
+earth. Thousands of roses were blooming on the more level ground,
+sending forth their rich fragrance, mixed with the delicate scent of
+the feathery ceanothus (New Jersey tea). The vivid greenness of the
+young leaves of the forest, the tender tint of the springing corn, was
+contrasted with the deep dark fringe of waving pines on the hills, and
+the yet darker shade of the spruce and balsams on the borders of the
+creeks, for so our Canadian forest rills are universally termed. The
+bright glancing wings of the summer red-bird, the crimson-headed
+woodpecker, the gay blue-bird, and noisy but splendid plumed jay might
+be seen among the branches; the air was filled with beauteous sights
+and soft murmuring sounds.
+
+Under the shade of the luxuriant hop-vines that covered the rustic
+porch in front of the little dwelling, the light step of Catharine
+Maxwell might be heard mixed with the drowsy whirring of the big
+wheel, as she passed to and fro guiding the thread of yarn in its
+course. And now she sang snatches of old mountain songs, such as she
+had learned from her father; and now, with livelier air, hummed some
+gay French tune to the household melody of her spinning-wheel, as she
+advanced and retreated with her thread, unconscious of the laughing
+black eyes that were watching her movements from among the embowering
+foliage that shielded her from the morning sun.
+
+"Come, ma belle cousine," for so Louis delighted to call her. "Hector
+and I are waiting for you to go with us to the 'Beaver Meadow.' The
+cattle have strayed, and we think we shall find them there. The day is
+delicious, the very flowers look as if they wanted to be admired and
+plucked, and we shall find early strawberries on the old Indian
+clearing."
+
+Catharine cast a longing look abroad, but said, "I fear I cannot go
+to-day; for see, I have all these rolls of wool to spin up, and my
+yarn to wind off the reel and twist; and then, my mother is away."
+
+"Yes, I left her with mamma," replied Louis, "and she said she would
+be home shortly, so her absence need not stay you. She said you could
+take a basket and try and bring home some berries for sick Louise.
+Hector is sure he knows a spot where we shall get some fine ones, ripe
+and red." As he spoke Louis whisked away the big wheel to one end of
+the porch, gathered up the hanks of yarn and tossed them into the open
+wicker basket, and the next minute the large, coarse, flapped straw
+hat, that hung upon the peg in the porch, was stuck not very
+gracefully on Catharine's head and tied beneath her chin, with a merry
+rattling laugh, which drowned effectually the small lecture that
+Catharine began to utter by way of reproving the light-hearted boy.
+
+"But where is Mathilde?"
+
+"Sitting like a dear good girl, as she is, with sick Louise's head in
+her lap, and would not disturb her for all the fruit and flowers in
+Canada. Marie cried sadly to go with us, but I promised her and Louise
+lots of flowers and berries if we get them, and the dear children were
+as happy as queens when I left."
+
+"But stay, cousin, you are sure my mother gave her consent to my
+going? We shall be away chief part of the day. You know it is a long
+walk to the Beaver Meadow and back again," said Catharine, hesitating
+as Louis took her hand to lead her out from the porch.
+
+"Yes, yes, ma belle," said the giddy boy quickly; "so come along, for
+Hector is waiting at the barn. But stay, we shall be hungry before we
+return, so let us have some cakes and butter, and do not forget a tin
+cup for water."
+
+Nothing doubting, Catharine, with buoyant spirits, set about her
+little preparations, which were soon completed; but just as she was
+leaving the little garden enclosure, she ran back to kiss Kenneth and
+Duncan, her young brothers. In the farm-yard she found Hector with his
+axe on his shoulder. "What are you taking the axe for, Hector? you
+will find it heavy to carry," said his sister.
+
+"In the first place, I have to cut a stick of blue beech to make a
+broom for sweeping the house, sister of mine, and that is for your
+use, Miss Kate, and in the next place, I have to find, if possible, a
+piece of rock elm or hickory for axe handles: so now you have the
+reason why I take the axe with me."
+
+The children left the clearing and struck into one of the deep defiles
+that lay between the hills, and cheerfully they laughed and sung and
+chattered, as they sped on their pleasant path, nor were they loath to
+exchange the glowing sunshine for the sober gloom of the forest shade.
+What handfuls of flowers of all hues, red, blue, yellow, and white,
+were gathered, only to be gazed at, carried for a while, then cast
+aside for others fresher and fairer. And now they came to cool rills
+that flowed, softly murmuring, among mossy limestone, or blocks of red
+or gray granite, wending their way beneath twisted roots and fallen
+trees; and often Catharine lingered to watch the eddying dimples of
+the clear water, to note the tiny bright fragments of quartz or
+crystallized limestone that formed a shining pavement below the
+stream. And often she paused to watch the angry movements of the red
+squirrel, as, with feathery tail erect, and sharp scolding note, he
+crossed their woodland path, and swiftly darting up the rugged bark of
+some neighbouring pine or hemlock, bade the intruders on his quiet
+haunts defiance; yet so bold in his indignation, he scarcely
+condescended to ascend beyond their reach. The long-continued, hollow
+tapping of the large red-headed woodpecker, or the singular
+subterranean sound caused by the drumming of the partridge striking
+his wings upon his breast to woo his gentle mate, and the soft
+whispering note of the little tree-creeper, as it flitted from one
+hemlock to another, collecting its food between the fissures of the
+bark, were among the few sounds that broke the noontide stillness of
+the woods; but to such sights and sounds the lively Catharine and her
+cousin were not indifferent. And often they wondered that Hector
+gravely pursued his onward way, and seldom lingered as they did to
+mark the bright colours of the flowers, or the sparkling of the forest
+rill, or the hurrying to and fro of the turkeys among the luxuriant
+grass.
+
+"What makes Hec so grave?" said Catharine to her companion, as they
+seated themselves upon a mossy trunk to await his coming up; for they
+had giddily chased each other till they had far outrun him.
+
+"Hector, sweet coz, is thinking perhaps of how many bushels of corn or
+wheat this land would grow if cleared, or he may be examining the soil
+or the trees, or is looking for his stick of blue beech for your
+broom, or the hickory for his axe handles, and never heeding such
+nonsense as woodpeckers, and squirrels, and lilies, and moss, and
+ferns; for Hector is not a giddy thing like his cousin Louis, or--"
+
+"His sister Kate," interrupted Catharine merrily. "But when shall we
+come to the Beaver Meadow?"
+
+"Patience, ma belle, all in good time. Hark! was not that the ox-bell?
+No; Hector whistling." And soon they heard the heavy stroke of his axe
+ringing among the trees; for he had found the blue beech, and was
+cutting it to leave on the path, that he might take it home on their
+return: he had also marked some hickory of a nice size for his axe
+handles, to bring home at some future time.
+
+The children had walked several miles, and were not sorry to sit down
+and rest till Hector joined them.
+
+He was well pleased with his success, and declared he felt no fatigue.
+"As soon as we reach the old Indian clearing, we shall find
+strawberries," he said, "and a fresh cold spring, and then we will
+have our dinner."
+
+"Come, Hector,--come, Louis," said Catharine, jumping up, "I long to
+be gathering the strawberries; and see, my flowers are faded, so I
+will throw them away, and the basket shall be filled with fresh fruit
+instead, and we must not forget petite Marie and sick Louise, or dear
+Mathilde. Ah, how I wish she were here at this minute! But there is
+the opening to the Beaver Meadow."
+
+And the sunlight was seen streaming through the opening trees as they
+approached the cleared space, which some called the "Indian clearing,"
+but is now more generally known as the little Beaver Meadow. It was a
+pleasant spot, green, and surrounded with light bowery trees and
+flowering shrubs, of a different growth from those that belong to the
+dense forest. Here the children found, on the hilly ground above, fine
+ripe strawberries, the earliest they had seen that year, and soon all
+weariness was forgotten while pursuing the delightful occupation of
+gathering the tempting fruit; and when they had refreshed themselves,
+and filled the basket with leaves and fruit, they slaked their thirst
+at the stream which wound its way among the bushes. Catharine
+neglected not to reach down flowery bunches of the fragrant
+whitethorn, and the high-bush cranberry, then radiant with nodding
+umbels of snowy blossoms, or to wreathe the handle of the little
+basket with the graceful trailing runners of the lovely twin-flowered
+plant, the Linnaea borealis, which she always said reminded her of the
+twins Louise and Marie, her little cousins. And now the day began to
+wear away, for they had lingered long in the little clearing; they had
+wandered from the path by which they entered it, and had neglected, in
+their eagerness to look for the strawberries, to notice any particular
+mark by which they might regain it. Just when they began to think of
+returning, Louis noticed a beaten path, where there seemed recent
+prints of cattle hoofs on a soft spongy soil beyond the creek.
+
+"Come, Hector," said he gaily, "this is lucky; we are on the
+cattle-path; no fear but it will lead us directly home, and that by a
+nearer track."
+
+Hector was undecided about following it; he fancied it bent too much
+towards the setting sun; but his cousin overruled his objection. "And
+is not this our own creek?" he said. "I have often heard my father say
+it had its rise somewhere about this old clearing."
+
+Hector now thought Louis might be right, and they boldly followed the
+path among the poplars, thorns, and bushes that clothed its banks,
+surprised to see how open the ground became, and how swift and clear
+the stream swept onward.
+
+"Oh, this dear creek," cried the delighted Catharine, "how pretty it
+is! I shall often follow its course after this; no doubt it has its
+source from our own Cold Springs."
+
+And so they cheerfully pursued their way, till the sun, sinking behind
+the range of westerly hills, soon left them in gloom; but they
+anxiously hurried forward when the stream wound its noisy way among
+steep stony banks, clothed scantily with pines and a few scattered
+silver-barked poplars. And now they became bewildered by two paths
+leading in opposite directions; one upward among the rocky hills, the
+other through the opening gorge of a deep ravine.
+
+Here, overcome with fatigue, Catharine seated herself on a large block
+of granite, near a great bushy pine that grew beside the path by the
+ravine, unable to proceed; and Hector, with a grave and troubled
+countenance, stood beside her, looking round with an air of great
+perplexity. Louis, seating himself at Catharine's feet, surveyed the
+deep gloomy valley before them, and sighed heavily. The conviction
+forcibly struck him that they had mistaken the path altogether. The
+very aspect of the country was different; the growth of the trees, the
+flow of the stream, all indicated a change of soil and scene. Darkness
+was fast drawing its impenetrable veil around them; a few stars were
+stealing out, and gleaming down as if with pitying glance upon the
+young wanderers, but they could not light up their pathway or point
+their homeward track. The only sounds, save the lulling murmur of the
+rippling stream below, were the plaintive note of the whip-poor-will,
+from a gnarled oak that grew near them, and the harsh grating scream
+of the night hawk, darting about in the higher regions of the air,
+pursuing its noisy congeners, or swooping down with that peculiar
+hollow rushing sound, as of a person blowing into some empty vessel,
+when it seizes with wide-extended bill its insect prey.
+
+Hector was the first to break the silence. "Cousin Louis, we were
+wrong in following the course of the stream; I fear we shall never
+find our way back tonight."
+
+Louis made no reply; his sad and subdued air failed not to attract the
+attention of his cousins.
+
+"Why, Louis, how is this? you are not used to be cast down by
+difficulties," said Hector, as he marked something like tears
+glistening in the dark eyes of his cousin.
+
+Louis's heart was full; he did not reply, but cast a troubled glance
+upon the weary Catharine, who leaned heavily against the tree beneath
+which she sat.
+
+"It is not," resumed Hector, "that I mind passing a summer's night
+under such a sky as this, and with such a dry grassy bed below me; but
+I do not think it is good for Catharine to sleep on the bare ground in
+the night dews,--and then they will be so anxious at home about our
+absence."
+
+Louis burst into tears, and sobbed out,--"And it is all my doing that
+she came out with us; I deceived her, and my aunt will be angry and
+much alarmed, for she did not know of her going at all. Dear
+Catharine, good cousin Hector, pray forgive me!"
+
+But Catharine was weeping too much to reply to his passionate
+entreaties; and Hector, who never swerved from the truth, for which he
+had almost a stern reverence, hardly repressed his indignation at what
+appeared to him a most culpable act of deceit on the part of Louis.
+
+The sight of her cousin's grief and self-abasement touched the tender
+heart of Catharine; for she was kind and dove-like in her disposition,
+and loved Louis, with all his faults. Had it not been for the painful
+consciousness of the grief their unusual absence would occasion at
+home, Catharine would have thought nothing of their present adventure;
+but she could not endure the idea of her high-principled father taxing
+her with deceiving her kind indulgent mother and him. It was this
+humiliating thought which wounded the proud heart of Hector, causing
+him to upbraid his cousin in somewhat harsh terms for his want of
+truthfulness, and steeled him against the bitter grief that wrung the
+heart of the penitent Louis, who, leaning his wet cheek on the
+shoulder of Catharine, sobbed as if his heart would break, heedless of
+her soothing words and affectionate endeavours to console him.
+
+"Dear Hector," she said, turning her soft pleading eyes on the stern
+face of her brother, "you must not be so very angry with poor Louis.
+Remember it was to please me, and give me the enjoyment of a day of
+liberty with you and himself in the woods, among the flowers and trees
+and birds, that he committed this fault."
+
+"Catharine, Louis told an untruth, and acted deceitfully. And look at
+the consequences: we shall have forfeited our parents' confidence, and
+may have some days of painful privation to endure before we regain our
+home, if we ever do find our way back to Cold Springs," replied
+Hector.
+
+"It is the grief and anxiety our dear parents will endure this night,"
+answered Catharine, "that distresses my mind; but," she added, in more
+cheerful tones, "let us not despair, no doubt to-morrow we shall be
+able to retrace our steps."
+
+With the young there is ever a magical spell in that little word
+_to-morrow_,--it is a point which they pursue as fast as it recedes
+from them; sad indeed is the young heart that does not look forward
+with hope to the future!
+
+The cloud still hung on Hector's brow, till Catharine gaily exclaimed,
+"Come, Hector! come Louis! we must not stand idling thus; we must
+think of providing some shelter for the night: it is not good to rest
+upon the bare ground exposed to the night dews.--See, here is a nice
+hut, half made," pointing to a large upturned root which some fierce
+whirlwind had hurled from the lofty bank into the gorge of the dark
+glen.
+
+"Now you must make haste, and lop off a few pine boughs, and stick
+them into the ground, or even lean them against the roots of this old
+oak, and there, you see, will be a capital house to shelter us. To
+work, to work, you idle boys, or poor wee Katty must turn squaw and
+build her own wigwam," she playfully added, taking up the axe which
+rested against the feathery pine beneath which Hector was leaning.
+Now, Catharine cared as little as her brother and cousin about passing
+a warm summer's night under the shade of the forest trees, for she was
+both hardy and healthy; but her woman's heart taught her that the
+surest means of reconciling the cousins would be by mutually
+interesting them in the same object,--and she was right. In
+endeavouring to provide for the comfort of their dear companion, all
+angry feelings were forgotten by Hector, while active employment
+chased away Louis's melancholy.
+
+Unlike the tall, straight, naked trunks of the pines of the forest,
+those of the plains are adorned with branches often to the very
+ground, varying in form and height, and often presenting most
+picturesque groups, or rising singly among scattered groves of the
+silver-barked poplar or graceful birch trees; the dark mossy greenness
+of the stately pine contrasting finely with the light waving foliage
+of its slender, graceful companions.
+
+Hector, with his axe, soon lopped boughs from one of the adjacent
+pines, which Louis sharpened with his knife and, with Catharine's
+assistance, drove into the ground, arranging them in such a way as to
+make the upturned oak, with its roots and the earth which adhered to
+them, form the back part of the hut, which when completed formed by no
+means a contemptible shelter. Catharine then cut fern and deer grass
+with Louis's _couteau de chasse_, which he always carried in a sheath
+at his girdle, and spread two beds,--one, parted off by dry boughs and
+bark, for herself, in the interior of the wigwam; and one for her
+brother and cousin, nearer the entrance. When all was finished to her
+satisfaction she called the two boys, and, according to the custom of
+her parents, joined them in the lifting up of their hands as an
+evening sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving. Nor were these
+simple-hearted children backward in imploring help and protection from
+the Most High. They earnestly prayed that no dangerous creature might
+come near to molest them during the hours of darkness and
+helplessness, no evil spirit visit them, no unholy or wicked thoughts
+intrude into their minds; but that holy angels and heavenly thoughts
+might hover over them, and fill their hearts with the peace of God
+which passeth all understanding. And the prayer of the poor wanderers
+was heard; they slept in peace, unharmed, in the vast solitude. So
+passed their first night on the Plains.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+"Fear not: ye are of more value than many sparrows."--_St. Luke_.
+
+
+The sun had risen in all the splendour of a Canadian summer morning
+when the sleepers arose from their leafy beds. In spite of the novelty
+of their situation, they had slept as soundly and tranquilly as if
+they had been under the protecting care of their beloved parents, on
+their little palliasses of corn straw; but they had been cared for by
+Him who neither slumbereth nor sleepeth, and they waked full of
+youthful hope, and in fulness of faith in His mercy into whose hands
+they had commended their souls and bodies before they retired to rest.
+
+While the children slept in peace and safety, what terrors had filled
+the minds of their distracted parents! what a night of anguish and
+sorrow had they passed!
+
+When night had closed in without bringing back the absent children,
+the two fathers, lighting torches of fat pine, went forth in search of
+the wanderers. How often did they raise their voices in hopes their
+loud halloos might reach the hearing of the lost ones! How often did
+they check their hurried steps to listen for some replying call! But
+the sighing breeze in the pine tops, or sudden rustling of the leaves
+caused by the flight of the birds startled by the unusual glare of the
+torches, and the echoes of their own voices, were the only sounds that
+met their anxious ears. At daybreak they returned, sad and dispirited,
+to their homes, to snatch a morsel of food, endeavour to cheer the
+drooping hearts of the weeping mothers, and hurry off, taking
+different directions. But, unfortunately, they had little clue to the
+route which Hector and Louis had taken, there being many cattle-paths
+through the woods. Louis's want of truthfulness had caused this
+uncertainty, as he had left no intimation of the path he purposed
+taking when he quitted his mother's house. He had merely said he was
+going with Hector in search of the cattle, giving no hint of his
+intention of asking Catharine to accompany them; he had but told his
+sick sister that he would bring home strawberries and flowers, and
+that he would soon return. Alas! poor, thoughtless Louis! how little
+did you think of the web of woe you were then weaving for yourself,
+and all those to whom you and your companions were so dear! Children,
+think twice ere ye deceive once.
+
+Catharine's absence would have been quite unaccountable but for the
+testimony of Duncan and Kenneth, who had received her sisterly
+caresses before she joined Hector at the barn; and much her mother
+marvelled what could have induced her good, dutiful Catharine to have
+left her work and forsaken her household duties to go rambling away
+with the boys, for she never left the house when her mother was absent
+from it without her express permission. And now she was gone,--lost to
+them perhaps for ever. There stood the wheel she had been turning;
+there hung the untwisted hanks of yarn, her morning task; and there
+they remained week after week, and month after month, untouched,--a
+melancholy memorial to the hearts of the bereaved parents of their
+beloved.
+
+It were indeed a fruitless task to follow the agonized fathers in
+their vain search for their children, or to paint the bitter anguish
+that filled their hearts as day passed after day, and still no tidings
+of the lost ones. As hope faded, a deep and settled gloom stole over
+the sorrowing parents, and reigned throughout the once cheerful and
+gladsome homes. At the end of a week the only idea that remained was,
+that one of these three casualties had befallen the lost
+children,--death, a lingering death by famine; death, cruel and
+horrible, by wolves or bears; or, yet more terrible, with tortures by
+the hands of the dreaded Indians, who occasionally held their councils
+and hunting-parties on the hills about the Rice Lake, which was known
+only by the elder Perron as the scene of many bloody encounters
+between the rival tribes of the Mohawks and Chippewas. Its localities
+were scarcely ever visited by the settlers, lest haply they should
+fall into the hands of the bloody Mohawks, whose merciless disposition
+made them in those days a by-word even to the less cruel Chippewas and
+other Indian nations.
+
+It was not in the direction of the Rice Lake that Maxwell and his
+brother-in-law sought their lost children; and even if they had done
+so, among the deep glens and hill passes of what is now commonly
+called the Plains, they would have stood little chance of discovering
+the poor wanderers. After many days of fatigue of body and distress of
+mind, the sorrowing parents sadly relinquished the search as utterly
+hopeless, and mourned in bitterness of spirit over the disastrous fate
+of their first-born and beloved children. "There was a voice of woe,
+and lamentation, and great mourning; Rachel weeping for her children,
+and refusing to be comforted, because they were not."
+
+The miserable uncertainty that involved the fate of the lost ones was
+an aggravation to the sufferings of the mourners. Could they but have
+been certified of the manner of their deaths, they fancied they should
+be more contented; but, alas! this fearful satisfaction was withheld
+
+  "Oh, were their tale of sorrow known,
+    'Twere something to the breaking heart;
+   The pangs of doubt would then be gone,
+     And fancy's endless dreams depart."
+
+But let us quit the now mournful settlement of Cold Springs, and see
+how it really fared with the young wanderers.
+
+When they awoke, the valley was filled with a white creamy mist, that
+arose from the bed of the stream (now known as Cold Creek), and gave
+an indistinctness to the whole landscape, investing it with an
+appearance perfectly different to that which it had worn by the
+bright, clear light of the moon. No trace of their footsteps remained
+to guide them in retracing their path, so hard and dry was the stony
+ground that it left no impression on its surface. It was with some
+difficulty they found the creek, which was concealed from sight by a
+lofty screen of gigantic hawthorns, high-bush cranberries, poplars,
+and birch trees. The hawthorn was in blossom, and gave out a sweet
+perfume, not less fragrant than the "May," which makes the lanes and
+hedgerows of "merrie old England" so sweet and fair in May and June.
+
+At length their path began to grow more difficult. A tangled mass of
+cedars, balsams, birch, black ash, alders, and _tamarack_ (Indian
+name for the larch), with a dense thicket of bushes and shrubs, such
+as love the cool, damp soil of marshy ground, warned our travellers
+that they must quit the banks of the friendly stream, or they might
+become entangled in a trackless swamp. Having taken copious and
+refreshing draughts from the bright waters, and bathed their hands and
+faces, they ascended the grassy bank, and, again descending, found
+themselves in one of those long valleys, enclosed between lofty
+sloping banks, clothed with shrubs and oaks, with here and there a
+stately pine. Through this second valley they pursued their way, till,
+emerging into a wider space, they came among those singularly
+picturesque groups of rounded gravel-hills, where the Cold Creek once
+more met their view, winding its way towards a grove of evergreens,
+where it was again lost to the eye.
+
+This lovely spot was known as Sackville's Mill-dike. The hand of man
+had curbed the free course of the wild forest stream, and made it
+subservient to his will, but could not destroy the natural beauties of
+the scene.
+
+Fearing to entangle themselves in the swamp, they kept the hilly
+ground, winding their way up to the summit of the lofty ridge of the
+oak hills, the highest ground they had yet attained; and here it was
+that the silver waters of the Rice Lake in all its beauty burst upon
+the eyes of the wondering and delighted travellers. There it lay, a
+sheet of liquid silver, just emerging from the blue veil of mist that
+hung upon its surface and concealed its wooded shores on either side.
+All feeling of dread, and doubt, and danger was lost for the time in
+one rapturous glow of admiration at the scene so unexpected and so
+beautiful as that which they now gazed upon from the elevation they
+had gained. From this ridge they looked down the lake, and the eye
+could take in an extent of many miles, with its verdant wooded
+islands, which stole into view one by one as the rays of the morning
+sun drew up the moving curtain of mist that enveloped them; and soon
+both northern and southern shores became distinctly visible, with all
+their bays, and capes, and swelling oak and pine crowned hills.
+
+And now arose the question, "Where are we? What lake is this? Can it
+be the Ontario, or is it the Rice Lake? Can yonder shores be those of
+the Americans, or are they the hunting-grounds of the dreaded
+Indians?" Hector remembered having often heard his father say that the
+Ontario was like an inland sea, and the opposite shores not visible
+unless in some remarkable state of the atmosphere, when they had been
+occasionally discerned by the naked eye; while here they could
+distinctly see objects on the other side, the peculiar growth of the
+trees, and even flights of wild fowl winging their way among the rice
+and low bushes on its margin. The breadth of the lake from shore to
+shore could not, they thought, exceed three or four miles; while its
+length, in an easterly direction, seemed far greater,--beyond what
+the eye could take in. [Footnote: The length of the Rice Lake, from
+its head-waters near Black's Landing to the mouth of the Trent, is
+said to be twenty-five miles; its breadth, from north to south, varies
+from three to six.]
+
+They now quitted the lofty ridge, and bent their steps towards the
+lake. Wearied with their walk, they seated themselves beneath the
+shade of a beautiful feathery pine, on a high promontory that
+commanded a magnificent view down the lake.
+
+"How pleasant it would be to have a house on this delightful bank,
+overlooking the lake!" said Louis. "Only think of the fish we could
+take, and the ducks and wild fowl we could shoot; and it would be no
+very hard matter to hollow out a log canoe, such a one as I have heard
+my father say he has rowed in across many a lake and broad river
+below, when he was lumbering."
+
+"Yes, it would, indeed, be a pleasant spot to live upon," said Hector,
+"though I am not quite sure that the land is as good just here as it
+is at Cold Springs; but all those flats and rich valleys would make
+fine pastures, and produce plenty of grain, too, if cultivated."
+
+"You always look to the main chance, Hec," said Louis, laughing;
+"well, it was worth a few hours' walking this morning to look upon so
+lovely a sheet of water as this. I would spend two nights in a
+wigwam,--would not you, ma belle?--to enjoy such a sight."
+
+"Yes, Louis," replied his cousin, hesitating as she spoke; "it is very
+pretty, and I did not mind sleeping in the little hut; but then I
+cannot enjoy myself as much as I should have done had my father and
+mother been aware of my intention of accompanying you. Ah, my dear,
+dear parents!" she added, as the thought of the anguish the absence of
+her companions and herself would cause at home came over her. "How I
+wish I had remained at home! Selfish Catharine! foolish, idle girl!"
+
+Poor Louis was overwhelmed with grief at the sight of his cousin's
+tears; and as the kind-hearted but thoughtless boy bent over her to
+soothe and console her, his own tears fell upon the fair locks of the
+weeping girl, and dropped on the hand he held between his own.
+
+"If you cry thus, cousin," he whispered, "you will break poor Louis's
+heart, already sore enough with thinking of his foolish conduct."
+
+"Be not cast down, Catharine," said her brother cheeringly; "we may
+not be so far from home as you think. As soon as you are rested, we
+will set out again, and we may find something to eat; there must be
+strawberries on these sunny banks."
+
+Catharine soon yielded to the voice of her brother, and drying her
+eyes, proceeded to descend the sides of the steep valley that lay to
+one side of the high ground where they had been sitting.
+
+Suddenly darting down the bank, she exclaimed, "Come, Hector! come,
+Louis! here indeed is provision to keep us from starving;" for her eye
+had caught the bright red strawberries among the flowers and herbage
+on the slope--large ripe strawberries, the very finest she had ever
+seen.
+
+"There is, indeed, ma belle," said Louis, stooping as he spoke to
+gather up, not the fruit, but a dozen fresh partridge's eggs from the
+inner shade of a thick tuft of grass and herbs that grew beside a
+fallen tree. Catharine's voice and sudden movements had startled the
+ruffed grouse [Footnote: The Canadian partridge is a species of
+grouse, larger than the English or French partridge. We refer our
+young readers to the finely arranged specimens in the British Museum
+(open to the public), where they may discover "Louis's partridge."]
+from her nest, and the eggs were soon transferred to Louis's straw
+hat, while a stone flung by the steady hand of Hector stunned the
+parent bird. The boys laughed exultingly as they displayed their
+prizes to the astonished Catharine, who, in spite of hunger, could not
+help regretting the death of the mother bird. Girls and women rarely
+sympathize with men and boys in their field sports, and Hector laughed
+at his sister's doleful looks as he handed over the bird to her.
+
+"It was a lucky chance," said he, "and the stone was well aimed, but
+it is not the first partridge that I have killed in this way. They are
+so stupid you may even run them down at times; I hope to get another
+before the day is over.
+
+"Well, there is no fear of starving to-day, at all events," he added,
+as he inspected the contents of his cousin's hat; "twelve nice fresh
+eggs, a bird, and plenty of fruit."
+
+"But how shall we cook the bird and the eggs? We have no means of
+getting a fire made," said Catharine.
+
+"As to the eggs," said Louis, "we can eat them raw; it is not for
+hungry wanderers like us to be over-nice about our food."
+
+"They would satisfy us much better were they boiled, or roasted in the
+ashes," observed Hector.
+
+"True. Well, a fire, I think, can be got with a little trouble."
+
+"But how?" asked Hector.
+
+"Oh, there are many ways, but the readiest would be a flint with the
+help of my knife."
+
+"A flint?"
+
+"Yes, if we could get one: but I see nothing but granite, which
+crumbles and shivers when struck--we could not get a spark. However, I
+think it's very likely that one of the round pebbles I see on the
+beach yonder may be found hard enough for the purpose."
+
+To the shore they bent their steps as soon as the little basket had
+been well filled with strawberries; and descending the precipitous
+bank, fringed with young saplings; birch, ash, and poplars, they
+quickly found themselves beside the bright waters of the lake. A flint
+was soon found among the water-worn stones that lay thickly strewn
+upon the shore, and a handful of dry sedge, almost as inflammable as
+tinder, was collected without trouble: though Louis, with the
+recklessness of his nature, had coolly proposed to tear a strip from
+his cousin's apron as a substitute for tinder,--a proposal that
+somewhat raised the indignation of the tidy Catharine, whose ideas of
+economy and neatness were greatly outraged, especially as she had no
+sewing implements to assist in mending the rent. Louis thought nothing
+of that; it was a part of his character to think only of the present,
+little of the past, and to let the future provide for itself. Such was
+Louis's great failing, which had proved a fruitful source of trouble
+both to himself and others. In this respect he bore a striking
+contrast to his more cautious companion, who possessed much of the
+gravity of his father. Hector was as heedful and steady in his
+decisions as Louis was rash and impetuous.
+
+After many futile attempts, and some skin knocked off their knuckles
+through awkward handling of the knife and flint, a good fire was at
+last kindled, as there was no lack of dry wood on the shore. Catharine
+then triumphantly produced her tin pot, and the eggs were boiled,
+greatly to the satisfaction of all parties, who were by this time
+sufficiently hungry, having eaten nothing since the previous evening
+more substantial than the strawberries they had taken during the time
+they were gathering them in the morning.
+
+Catharine had selected a pretty, cool, shady recess, a natural bower,
+under the overhanging growth of [Illustration: THE FIRST BREAKFAST.]
+cedars, poplars, and birch, which were wreathed together by the
+flexible branches of the wild grape vine and bitter-sweet, which
+climbed to a height of fifteen feet [Footnote: _Celastrus
+scandens_,--bitter-sweet or woody nightshade. This plant, like the
+red-berried bryony of England, is highly ornamental. It possesses
+powerful properties as a medicine, and is in high reputation among the
+Indians.] among the branches of the trees, which it covered as with a
+mantle. A pure spring of cold, delicious water welled out from beneath
+the twisted roots of an old hoary-barked cedar, and found its way
+among the shingle on the beach to the lake, a humble but constant
+tributary to its waters. Some large blocks of water-worn stone formed
+convenient seats and a natural table, on which the little maiden
+arranged the forest fare; and never was a meal made with greater
+appetite or taken with more thankfulness than that which our wanderers
+ate that morning. The eggs (part of which they reserved for another
+time) were declared to be better than those that were daily produced
+from the little hen-house at Cold Springs. The strawberries, set out
+in little pottles made with the shining leaves of the oak, ingeniously
+pinned together by Catharine with the long spurs of the hawthorn, were
+voted delicious, and the pure water most refreshing, that they drank,
+for lack of better cups, from a large mussel-shell which Catharine had
+picked up among the weeds and pebbles on the beach.
+
+Many children would have wandered about weeping and disconsolate,
+lamenting their sad fate, or have imbittered the time by useless
+repining, or, perhaps, by venting their uneasiness in reviling the
+principal author of their calamity--poor, thoughtless Louis; but such
+were not the dispositions of our young Canadians. Early accustomed to
+the hardships incidental to the lives of the settlers in the bush,
+these young people had learned to bear with patience and cheerfulness
+privations that would have crushed the spirits of children more
+delicately nurtured. They had known every degree of hunger and
+nakedness: during the first few years of their lives they had often
+been compelled to subsist for days and weeks upon roots and herbs,
+wild fruits, and game which their fathers had learned to entrap, to
+decoy, and to shoot. Thus Louis and Hector had early been initiated
+into the mysteries of the chase. They could make dead-falls, and pits,
+and traps, and snares; they were as expert as Indians in the use of
+the bow; they could pitch a stone or fling a wooden dart at partridge,
+hare, and squirrel with almost unerring aim; and were as swift of foot
+as young fawns. Now it was that they learned to value in its fullest
+extent this useful and practical knowledge, which enabled them to face
+with fortitude the privations of a life so precarious as that to which
+they were now exposed.
+
+It was one of the elder Maxwell's maxims,--Never, let difficulties
+overcome you, but rather strive to conquer them; let the head direct
+the hand, and the hand, like a well-disciplined soldier, obey the head
+as chief. When his children expressed any doubts of not being able to
+accomplish any work they had begun, he would say, "Have you not hands,
+have you not a head, have you not eyes to see, and reason to guide
+you? As for impossibilities, they do not belong to the trade of a
+soldier,--he dare not see them." Thus were energy and perseverance
+early instilled into the minds of his children. They were now called
+upon to give practical proofs of the precepts that had been taught
+them in childhood. Hector trusted to his axe, and Louis to his
+_couteau de chasse_ and pocket-knife,--the latter was a present from
+an old forest friend of his father's, who had visited them the
+previous winter, and which, by good luck, Louis had in his pocket,--a
+capacious pouch, in which were stored many precious things, such as
+coils of twine and string, strips of leather, with odds and ends of
+various kinds--nails, bits of iron, leather, and such miscellaneous
+articles as find their way most mysteriously into boys' pockets in
+general, and Louis Perron's in particular, who was a wonderful
+collector of such small matters.
+
+The children were not easily daunted by the prospect of passing a few
+days abroad on so charming a spot, and at such a lovely season, where
+fruits were so abundant; and when they had finished their morning
+meal, so providentially placed within their reach, they gratefully
+acknowledged the mercy of God in this thing.
+
+Having refreshed themselves by bathing their hands and faces in the
+lake, they cheerfully renewed their wanderings, though something loath
+to leave the cool shade and the spring for an untrodden path among the
+hills and deep ravines that furrow the shores of the Rice Lake in so
+remarkable a manner; and often did our weary wanderers pause to look
+upon the wild glens and precipitous hills, where the fawn and the shy
+deer found safe retreats, unharmed by the rifle of the hunter, where
+the osprey and white-headed eagle built their nests, unheeded and
+unharmed. Twice that day, misled by following the track of the deer,
+had they returned to the samespot,--a deep and lovely glen, which had
+once been a watercourse, but was now a green and shady valley. This
+they named the Valley of the Rock, from a remarkable block of red
+granite that occupied a central position in the narrow defile; and
+here they prepared to pass their second night on the Plains. A few
+boughs cut down and interlaced with the shrubs round a small space
+cleared with Hector's axe, formed shelter, and leaves and grass,
+strewed on the ground, formed a bed--though not so smooth, perhaps, as
+the bark and cedar boughs that the Indians spread within their summer
+wigwams for carpets and couches, or the fresh heather that the
+Highlanders gather on the wild Scottish hills.
+
+While Hector and Louis were preparing the sleeping chamber, Catharine
+busied herself in preparing the partridge for their supper. Having
+collected some thin peelings from the rugged bark of a birch tree that
+grew on the side of the steep bank to which she gave the appropriate
+name of the "Birken Shaw," she dried it in her bosom, and then beat it
+fine upon a big stone, till it resembled the finest white paper. This
+proved excellent tinder, the aromatic oil contained in the bark of the
+birch being highly inflammable. Hector had prudently retained the
+flint that they had used in the morning, and a fire was now lighted in
+front of the rocky stone, and a forked stick, stuck in the ground, and
+bent over the coals, served as a spit, on which, gipsy-fashion, the
+partridge was suspended,--a scanty meal, but thankfully partaken of,
+though they knew not how they should breakfast next morning. The
+children felt they were pensioners on God's providence not less than
+the wild denizens of the wilderness around them.
+
+When Hector--who by nature was less sanguine than his sister or
+cousin--expressed some anxiety for their provisions for the morrow,
+Catharine, who had early listened with trusting piety of heart to the
+teaching of her father, when he read portions from the holy Word of
+God, gently laid her hand upon her brother's head, which rested on her
+knees, as he sat upon the grass beside her, and said, in a low and
+earnest tone, "'Consider the fowls of the air: they sow not, neither
+do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth
+them. Are ye not much better than they?' Surely, my brother, God
+careth for us as much as for the wild creatures that have no sense to
+praise and glorify his holy name. God cares for the creatures he has
+made, and supplies them with knowledge where they shall find food when
+they hunger and thirst. So I have heard my father say; and surely our
+father knows, for is he not a wise man, Hector?"
+
+"I remember," said Louis thoughtfully, "hearing my mother repeat the
+words of a good old man she knew when she lived in Quebec. 'When you
+are in trouble, Mathilde,' he used to say to her, 'kneel down and ask
+God's help, nothing doubting but that he has the power as well as the
+will to serve you, if it be for your good; for he is able to bring all
+things to pass. It is our own want of faith that prevents our prayers
+from being heard.' And, truly, I think the wise old man was right," he
+added.
+
+It was strange to hear grave words like these from the lips of the
+giddy Louis. Possibly they had the greater weight on that account. And
+Hector, looking up with a serious air, replied, "Your mother's friend
+was a good man, Louis. Our want of trust in God's power must displease
+him. And when we think of all the great and glorious things he has
+made,--that blue sky, those sparkling stars, the beautiful moon that
+is now shining down upon us, and the hills and waters, the mighty
+forest, and little creeping plants and flowers that grow at our
+feet,--it must, indeed, seem foolish in his eyes that we should doubt
+his power to help us, who not only made all these things but ourselves
+also."
+
+"True," said Catharine; "but then, Hector, we are not as God made us;
+for the wicked one cast bad seed in the field where God had sown the
+good."
+
+"Let us, however, consider what we shall do for food; for you know God
+helps those that help themselves," said Louis. "Let us consider a
+little. There must be plenty of fish in the lake, both small and
+great."
+
+"But how are we to get them out of it?" rejoined Catharine. "I doubt
+the fish will swim at their ease there, while we go hungry."
+
+"Do not interrupt me, ma chere. Then, we see the track of deer, and
+the holes of the wood-chuck; we hear the cry of squirrels and
+chitmunks, and there are plenty of partridges, and ducks, and quails,
+and snipes;--of course, we have to contrive some way to kill them.
+Fruits there are in abundance, and plenty of nuts of different kinds.
+At present we have plenty of fine strawberries, and huckleberries will
+be ripe soon in profusion, and bilberries too, and you know how
+pleasant they are; as for raspberries, I see none; but by-and-by there
+will be May-apples (_Podophyllum peltatum_)--I see great quantities
+of them in the low grounds; grapes, high-bush cranberries, haws as
+large as cherries, and sweet too, squaw-berries, wild-plums,
+choke-cherries, and bird-cherries. As to sweet acorns, there will be
+bushels and bushels of them for the roasting, as good as chestnuts, to
+my taste, and butter-nuts, and hickory-nuts with many other good
+things." And here Louis stopped for want of breath to continue his
+catalogue of forest dainties.
+
+"Yes, and there are bears, and wolves, and raccoons too, that will eat
+us for want of better food," interrupted Hector slyly. "Nay, Katty, do
+not shudder, as if you were already in the clutches of a big bear.
+Neither bear nor wolf shall make mincemeat of thee, my girl, while
+Louis and thy brother are near to wield an axe or a knife in thy
+defence."
+
+"Nor catamount spring upon thee, ma belle cousine," added Louis
+gallantly, "while thy bold cousin Louis can scare him away."
+
+"Well, now that we know our resources, the next thing is to consider
+how we are to obtain them, my dears," said Catharine. "For fishing,
+you know, we must have a hook and line, a rod, or a net. Now, where
+are these to be met with?"
+
+Louis nodded his head sagaciously. "The line I think I can provide;
+the hook is more difficult, but I do not despair even of that. As to
+the rod, it can be cut from any slender sapling on the shore. A net,
+ma chere, I could make with very little trouble, if I had but a piece
+of cloth to sew over a hoop."
+
+Catharine laughed. "You are very ingenious, no doubt, Monsieur Louis;
+but where are you to get the cloth and the hoop, and the means of
+sewing it on?"
+
+Louis took up the corner of his cousin's apron with a provoking look.
+
+"My apron, sir, is not to be appropriated for any such purpose. You
+seem to covet it for everything."
+
+"Indeed, ma petite, I think it very unbecoming and very ugly, and
+never could see any good reason why you, and mamma, and Mathilde
+should wear such frightful things."
+
+"It is to keep our gowns clean, Louis, when we are milking, and
+scrubbing, and doing all sorts of household duties," said Catharine.
+
+"Well, ma belle, you have neither cows to milk nor house to clean,"
+replied the annoying boy; "so there can be little want of the apron. I
+could turn it to fifty useful purposes."
+
+"Pooh, nonsense," said Hector impatiently; "let the child alone, and
+do not tease her about her apron."
+
+"Well, then, there is another good thing I did not think of
+before--water mussels. I have heard my father and old Jacob the
+lumberer say that, roasted in their shells in the ashes, with a
+seasoning of salt and pepper, they are good eating when nothing better
+is to be got."
+
+"No doubt, if the seasoning can be procured," said Hector; "but, alas
+for the salt and the pepper!"
+
+"Well, we can eat them with the best of all sauces--hunger. And then,
+no doubt, there are crayfish in the gravel under the stones; but we
+must not mind a pinch to our fingers in taking them."
+
+"To-morrow, then, let us breakfast on fish," said Hector. "You and I
+will try our luck, while Kate gathers strawberries; and if our line
+should break, we can easily cut those long locks from Catharine's head
+and twist them into lines." And Hector laid his hands upon the long
+fair hair that hung in shining curls about his sister's neck.
+
+"Cut my curls! This is even worse than cousin Louis's proposal of
+making tinder and fishing-nets of my apron," said Catharine, shaking
+back the bright tresses which, escaping from the snood that bound
+them, fell in golden waves over her shoulders.
+
+"In truth, Hec, it were a sin and a shame to cut her pretty curls,
+that become her so well," said Louis. "But we have no scissors, ma
+belle, so you need fear no injury to your precious locks."
+
+"For the matter of that, Louis, we could cut them with your _couteau
+de chaise_. I could tell you a story that my father told me, not long
+since, of Charles Stuart, the second king of that name in England. You
+know he was the granduncle of the young chevalier, Charles Edward,
+that my father talks of, and loves so much."
+
+"I know all about him," said Catharine, nodding sagaciously; "let us
+hear the story of his granduncle. But I should like to know what my
+hair and Louis's knife can have to do with King Charles."
+
+"Wait a bit, Kate, and you shall hear--that is, if you have patience,"
+said her brother. "Well then, you must know, that after some great
+battle, the name of which I forget, [Footnote: Battle of Worcester] in
+which the king and his handful of brave soldiers were defeated by the
+forces of the Parliament (the Roundheads, as they were called), the
+poor young king was hunted like a partridge upon the mountains, a
+large price was set on his head, to be given to any traitor who should
+slay him or bring him prisoner to Oliver Cromwell. He was obliged to
+dress himself in all sorts of queer clothes, and hide in all manner of
+strange, out-of-the-way places, and keep company with rude and humble
+men, the better to hide his real rank from the cruel enemies that
+sought his life. Once he hid along with a gallant gentleman,
+[Footnote: Colonel Careless.] one of his own brave officers, in the
+branches of a great oak. Once he was hid in a mill; and another time
+he was in the house of one Pendril, a woodman. The soldiers of the
+Parliament, who were always prowling about, and popping in unawares
+wherever they suspected the poor king to be hidden, were at one time
+in the very room where he was standing beside the fire."
+
+"Oh!" exclaimed Catharine, "that was frightful. And did they take him
+prisoner?"
+
+"No; for the wise woodman and his brothers, fearing lest the soldiers
+should discover that he was a cavalier and a gentleman, by the long
+curls that the king's men all wore in those days, and called
+_lovelocks_, begged of his majesty to let his hair be cropped close to
+his head."
+
+"That was very hard, to lose his nice curls."
+
+"I dare say the young king thought so too; but it was better to lose
+his hair than his head. So, I suppose, the men told him; for he
+suffered them to cut it all close to his head, laying down his head on
+a rough deal table, or a chopping-block, while his faithful friends
+with a large knife trimmed off the curls."
+
+"I wonder if the young king thought at that minute of his poor father,
+who, you know, was forced by wicked men to lay down his head upon a
+block to have it cut from his shoulders, because Cromwell, and others
+as hard-hearted as himself, willed that he should die."
+
+"Poor king!" said Catharine, sighing; "I see that it is better to be
+poor children, wandering on these plains under God's own care, than to
+be kings and princes at the mercy of bad and sinful men."
+
+"Who told your father all these things, Hec?" said Louis.
+
+"It was the son of his brave colonel, who knew a great deal about the
+history of the Stuart kings, for our colonel had been with Prince
+Charles, the young chevalier, and fought by his side when he was in
+Scotland. He loved him dearly, and after the battle of Culloden, where
+the prince lost all, and was driven from place to place, and had not
+where to lay his head, he went abroad in hopes of better times. But
+those times did not come for the poor prince; and our colonel, after a
+while, through the friendship of General Wolfe, got a commission in
+the army that was embarking for Quebec, and at last commanded the
+regiment to which my father belonged. He was a kind man, and my father
+loved both him and his son, and grieved not a little when he parted
+from him."
+
+"Well," said-Catharine, "as you have told me such a nice story, Mister
+Hec, I shall forgive the affront about my curls."
+
+"Well, then, to-morrow we are to try our luck at fishing, and if we
+fail, we will make us bows and arrows to kill deer or small game; I
+fancy we shall not be over-particular as to its quality. Why should
+not we be able to find subsistence as well as the wild Indians?"
+
+"True," said Hector; "the wild men of the wilderness, and the animals
+and birds, all are fed by the things that He provideth; then wherefore
+should His white children fear?"
+
+"I have often heard my father tell of the privations of the lumberers,
+when they have fallen short of provisions, and of the contrivances of
+himself and old Jacob Morelle when they were lost for several days,
+nay, weeks I believe it was. Like the Indians, they made themselves
+bows and arrows, using the sinews of the deer, or fresh thongs of
+leather, for bow-strings; and when they could not get game to eat,
+they boiled the inner bark of the slippery elm to jelly, or birch
+bark, and drank the sap of the sugar maple when they could get no
+water but melted snow only, which is unwholesome: at last they even
+boiled their own moccasins."
+
+"Indeed, Louis, that must have been a very unsavoury dish," said
+Catharine.
+
+"That old buck-skin vest would have made a famous pot of soup of
+itself," added Hector, "or the deer-skin hunting shirt."
+
+"They might have been reduced even to that," said Louis, laughing,
+"but for the good fortune that befell them in the way of a
+half-roasted bear."
+
+"Nonsense, Cousin Louis; bears do not run about ready roasted in the
+forest, like the lambs in the old nursery tale."
+
+"Kate, this was a fact; at least it was told as one by old Jacob, and
+my father did not deny it. Shall I tell you about it? After passing
+several hungry days, with no better food to keep them alive than the
+scrapings of the inner bark of the poplars and elms, which was not
+very substantial for hearty men, they encamped one night in a thick
+dark swamp,--not the sort of place they would have chosen, but they
+could not help themselves, having been enticed into it by the tracks
+of a deer or a moose,--and night came upon them unawares, so they set
+to work to kindle a fire with spunk, and a flint and knife; rifle they
+had none, or maybe they would have had game to eat.
+
+"Old Jacob fixed upon a huge hollow pine that lay across their path,
+against which he soon piled a glorious heap of boughs and arms of
+trees, and whatever wood he could collect, and lighted up a fine fire.
+The wood was dry pine and cedar and birch, and it blazed away, and
+crackled and burned like a pine-torch. By-and-by they heard a most
+awful growling close to them. 'That's a big bear, as I live,' said old
+Jacob, looking all about, thinking to see one come out from the thick
+bush. But Bruin was nearer to him than he thought; for presently a
+great black bear burst out from the butt-end of the great burning log,
+and made towards Jacob. Just then the wind blew the flame outward, and
+it caught the bear's thick coat, and he was all in a blaze in a
+moment. No doubt the heat of the fire had penetrated to the hollow of
+the log, where he had lain himself snugly up for the winter, and
+wakened him. Jacob seeing the huge black brute all in a flame of fire,
+roared with fright; the bear roared with pain and rage; and my father
+roared with laughing to see Jacob's terror. But he did not let the
+bear laugh at him, for he seized a thick pole that he had used for
+closing in the brands and logs, and soon demolished the bear, who was
+so blinded with the fire and smoke that he made no fight; and they
+feasted on roast bear's flesh for many days, and got a capital skin to
+cover them beside."
+
+"What, Louis! after the fur was all singed?" said Catharine.
+
+"Kate, you are too particular," said Louis; "a story never loses, you
+know."
+
+Hector laughed heartily at the adventure, and enjoyed the dilemma of
+the bear in his winter quarters; but Catharine was somewhat shocked at
+the levity displayed by her cousin and brother when recounting the
+terror of old Jacob and the sufferings of the poor bear.
+
+"You boys are always so unfeeling," she said gravely.
+
+"Indeed, Kate," said her brother, "the day may come when the sight of
+a good piece of roast bear's flesh will be no unwelcome sight. If we
+do not find our way back to Cold Springs before the winter sets in, we
+may be reduced to as bad a state as poor Jacob and my uncle were in
+the pine swamps on the banks of the St. John."
+
+"Ah!" said Catharine, trembling, "that would be too bad to happen."
+
+"Courage, ma belle; let us not despair for the morrow. Let us see what
+tomorrow will do for us; meantime, we will not neglect the blessings
+we still possess. See, our partridge is ready; let us eat our supper,
+and be thankful; and for grace let us say, 'Sufficient unto the day is
+the evil thereof.'"
+
+Long exposure to the air had sharpened their appetites. The hungry
+wanderers needed no further invitation. The scanty meal, equally
+divided, was soon despatched.
+
+It is a common saying, but excellent to be remembered by any wanderers
+in our forest wilds, that those who travel by the sun travel in a
+circle, and usually find themselves at night in the same place from
+whence they started in the morning; so it was with our wanderers. At
+sunset they found themselves once more in the ravine, beside the big
+stone, in which they had rested at noon. They had imagined themselves
+miles distant from it: they were grievously disappointed. They had
+encouraged each other with the confident hope that they were drawing
+near to the end of their bewildering journey: they were as far from
+their home as ever, without the slightest clue to guide them to the
+right path. Despair is not a feeling which takes deep root in the
+youthful breast. The young are always hopeful; so confident in their
+own wisdom and skill in averting or conquering danger; so trusting; so
+willing to believe that there is a peculiar Providence watching over
+them. Poor children! they had indeed need of such a belief to
+strengthen their minds and encourage them to fresh exertions, for new
+trials were at hand.
+
+The broad moon had already flooded the recesses of the glen with
+light, and all looked fresh and lovely in the dew which glittered on
+tree and leaf, on herb and flower. Catharine, who, though weary with
+her fatiguing wanderings, could not sleep, left the little hut of
+boughs her companions had put up near the granite rock in the valley
+for her accommodation, and ascended the western bank, where the last
+jutting spur of its steep side formed a lofty cliff-like promontory,
+at the extreme verge of which the roots of one tall spreading oak
+formed a most inviting seat, from whence the traveller looked down
+into a level tract, which stretched away to the edge of the lake.
+
+This flat had been the estuary of the mountain stream which had once
+rushed down between the hills, forming a narrow gorge; but now all was
+changed: the waters had ceased to flow, the granite bed was overgrown
+and carpeted with deer-grass and flowers of many hues, wild fruits and
+bushes, below, while majestic oaks and pines towered above. A sea of
+glittering foliage lay beneath Catharine's feet; in the distance the
+eye of the young girl rested on a belt of shining waters, which girt
+in the shores like a silver zone; beyond, yet more remote to the
+northward, stretched the illimitable forest.
+
+Never had Catharine looked upon a scene so still or so fair to the
+eye; a holy calm seemed to shed its influence over her young mind, and
+peaceful tears stole down her cheeks. Not a sound was there abroad,
+scarcely a leaf stirred; she could have stayed for hours there gazing
+on the calm beauty of nature, and communing with her own heart, when
+suddenly a stirring rustling sound caught her ear; it came from a
+hollow channel on one side of the promontory, which was thickly
+overgrown with the shrubby dogwood, wild roses, and bilberry bushes.
+Imagine the terror which seized the poor girl on perceiving the head
+of a black elk breaking through the covert of the bushes. With a
+scream and a bound, which the most deadly fear alone could have
+inspired, Catharine sprung from the supporting trunk of the oak, and
+dashed down the precipitous side of the ravine; now clinging to the
+bending sprays of the flexile dogwood, now to some fragile birch or
+poplar--now trusting to the yielding heads of the sweet-scented
+ceanothus, or filling her hands with sharp thorns from the roses that
+clothed the bank,--flowers, grass, all were alike clutched at in her
+rapid and fearful descent.
+
+A loose fragment of granite on which she had unwittingly placed her
+foot rolled from under her; unable to regain her balance she fell
+forwards, and was precipitated through the bushes into the ravine
+below, conscious only of unspeakable terror and an agonizing pain in
+one of her ankles which rendered her quite powerless. The noise of the
+stones she had dislodged in her fall, and her piteous cries, brought
+Louis and Hector to her side, and they bore her in their arms to the
+hut of boughs, and laid her down upon her bed of leaves and grass and
+young pine boughs. When Catharine was able to speak, she related to
+Louis and Hector the cause of her fright. She was sure it must have
+been a wolf by his sharp teeth, long jaws, and grizzly coat. The last
+glance she had had of him had filled her with terror; he was standing
+on a fallen tree, with his eyes fixed upon her. She could tell them no
+more that happened; she never felt the ground she was on, so great was
+her fright.
+
+Hector was half disposed to scold his sister for rambling over the
+hills alone; but Louis was full of tender compassion for _la belle
+cousine_, and would not suffer her to be chidden. Fortunately, no
+bones had been fractured, though the sinews of her ankle were severely
+sprained; but the pain was intense, and after a sleepless night, the
+boys found, to their grief and dismay, that Catharine was unable to
+put her foot to the ground. This was an unlooked-for aggravation of
+their misfortunes; to pursue their wanderings was for the present
+impossible; rest was their only remedy, excepting the application of
+such cooling medicaments as circumstances would supply them with. Cold
+water constantly applied to the swollen joint, was the first thing
+that was suggested; but, simple as was the lotion, it was not easy to
+obtain it in sufficient quantities. They were full a quarter of a mile
+from the lake shore, and the cold springs near it were yet further
+off; and then the only vessel they had was the tin pot, which hardly
+contained a pint; at the same time the thirst of the fevered sufferer
+was intolerable, and had also to be provided for. Poor Catharine, what
+unexpected misery she now endured!
+
+The valley and its neighbouring hills abounded in strawberries; they
+were now ripening in abundance; the ground was scarlet in places with
+this delicious fruit: they proved a blessed relief to the poor
+sufferer's burning thirst. Hector and Louis were unwearied in
+supplying her with them.
+
+Louis, ever fertile in expedients, crushed the cooling fruit and
+applied them to the sprained foot; rendering the application still
+more grateful by spreading them upon the large smooth leaves of the
+sapling oak: these he bound on with strips of the leathery bark of the
+moose-wood, [Footnote: "_Dirca palustris_," moose-wood American
+mezereon, leather-wood. From the Greek, _dirka_, a fountain or wet
+place, its usual place of growth.] which he had found growing in great
+abundance near the entrance of the ravine. Hector, in the meantime,
+was not idle. After having collected a good supply of ripe
+strawberries, he climbed the hills in search of birds' eggs and small
+game. About noon he returned with the good news of having discovered a
+spring of fine water in an adjoining ravine, beneath a clump of
+bass-wood and black cherry trees; he had also been so fortunate as to
+kill a woodchuck, having met with many of their burrows in the
+gravelly sides of the hills. The woodchuck seems to be a link between
+the rabbit and badger; its colour is that of a leveret: it climbs like
+the raccoon, and burrows like the rabbit; its eyes are large, full,
+and dark, the lip cleft, the soles of the feet naked, claws sharp,
+ears short; it feeds on grasses, grain, fruit, and berries. The flesh
+is white, oily, and, in the summer, rank, but is eaten in autumn by
+the Indians and woodsmen; the skin is not much valued. They are easily
+killed by dogs, though, being expert climbers, they often baffle their
+enemies, clinging to the bark beyond their reach. A stone or stick
+well aimed soon kills them; but they sometimes bite sharply.
+
+The woodchuck proved a providential supply; and Hector cheered his
+companions with the assurance that they could not starve, as there
+were plenty of these creatures to be found. They had seen one or two
+about Cold Springs, but they are less common in the deep forest lands
+than on the drier, more open plains.
+
+"It is a great pity we have no larger vessel to bring our water from
+the spring," said Hector, looking at the tin pot; "one is so apt to
+stumble among stones and tangled underwood. If we had only one of our
+old bark dishes we could get a good supply at once."
+
+"There is a fallen birch not far from this," said Louis. "I have here
+my trusty knife; what is there to hinder us from constructing a vessel
+capable of holding water, a gallon if you like?"
+
+"How can you sew it together, cousin?" asked Catharine; "you have
+neither deer sinews nor war-tap." The Indian name for the flexible
+roots of the _tamarack_, or swamp larch, which they make use of in
+manufacturing their birch baskets and canoes.
+
+"I have a substitute at hand, ma belle;" and Louis pointed to the
+strips of leather-wood he had collected for binding the dressings on
+her foot.
+
+When an idea once struck Louis, he never rested till he worked it out
+in some way. In a few minutes he was busily employed, stripping sheets
+of the ever-useful birch-bark from the birch tree that had fallen at
+the foot of the "Wolf's Crag;" for so the children had named the
+memorable spot where poor Catharine's accident had occurred.
+
+The rough outside coatings of the bark, which are of silvery
+whiteness, but ragged from exposure to the action of the weather in
+the larger and older trees, he peeled off, and then cutting the bark
+so that the sides lapped well over and the corners were secured from
+cracks, he proceeded to pierce holes opposite to each other, and with
+some trouble managed to stitch them tightly together, by drawing
+strips of the moose or leather-wood through and through. The first
+attempt, of course, was but rude and ill-shaped, but it answered the
+purpose, and only leaked a little at the corners for want of a sort of
+flap, which he had forgotten to allow in cutting out the bark,--this
+flap in the Indian baskets and dishes turns up, and keeps all tight
+and close,--a defect he remedied in his subsequent attempts. In spite
+of its deficiencies, Louis's water-jar was looked upon with great
+admiration, and highly commended by Catharine, who almost forgot her
+sufferings while watching her cousin's proceedings.
+
+Louis was elated by his own successful ingenuity, and was for running
+off directly to the spring. "Catharine shall now have cold water to
+bathe her poor ankle with, and to quench her thirst," he said,
+joyfully springing to his feet, ready for a start up the steep bank;
+but Hector quietly restrained his lively cousin, by suggesting the
+possibility of his not finding the "fountain in the wilderness," as
+Louis termed the spring, or losing himself altogether.
+
+"Let us both go together then," cried Louis. Catharine cast on her
+cousin an imploring glance.
+
+"Do not leave me, dear Louis--Hector, do not let me be left alone."
+Her sorrowful appeal stayed the steps of the volatile Louis.
+
+"Go you, Hector, as you know the way.--I will not leave you, Kate,
+since I was the cause of all you have suffered; I will abide by you,
+in joy or in sorrow, till I see you once more safe in your own dear
+mother's arms."
+
+Comforted by this assurance, Catharine quickly dashed away the
+gathering tears from her cheeks, and chid her own foolish fears.
+
+"But you know, dear cousin," she said, "I am so helpless; and then the
+dread of that horrible wolf makes a coward of me."
+
+After some little time had elapsed, Hector returned. The bark vessel
+had done its duty to admiration; it only wanted a very little
+improvement to make it complete. The water was cold and pure. Hector
+had spent a little time in deepening the mouth of the spring, and
+placing some stones about it. He described the ravine as being much
+deeper and wider and more gloomy than the one they occupied. The sides
+and bottom were clothed with magnificent oaks. It was a grand sight,
+he said, to stand on the jutting spurs of this great ravine, and look
+down upon the tops of the trees that lay below, tossing their rounded
+heads like the waves of a big sea. There were many lovely
+flowers-vetches of several kinds, blue, white, and pencilled, twining
+among the grass; a beautiful white-belled flower, that was like the
+"morning glory" _(Convolvulus major),_ and scarlet cups [Footnote:
+_Erichroma,_ or painted cup.] in abundance, with roses in profusion.
+The bottom of this ravine was strewed in places with huge blocks of
+black granite, cushioned with thick green moss; it opened out into a
+wide flat, similar to the one at the mouth of the valley of the "Big
+Stone."
+
+Both Hector and his sister had insensibly imbibed a love of the grand
+and picturesque, by listening with untiring interest to their father's
+animated and enthusiastic descriptions of his Highland home, and the
+wild mountainous scenery that surrounded it. Though brought up in
+solitude and uneducated, there was nothing vulgar or rude in the minds
+or manners of these young people. Simple and untaught they were, but
+they were guileless, earnest, and unsophisticated; and if they lacked
+the knowledge that is learned from books, they possessed much that was
+useful and practical, which had been taught by experience and
+observation in the school of necessity.
+
+For several days the pain and fever arising from her sprain rendered
+any attempt at removing Catharine from the valley of the "Big Stone"
+impracticable. The ripe fruit began to grow less abundant in their
+immediate vicinity; neither woodchuck, partridge, nor squirrel had
+been killed; and our poor wanderers now endured the agonizing pains of
+hunger. Continual exposure to the air by night and by day contributed
+not a little to increase the desire for food. It is true, there was
+the yet untried lake, "bright, boundless, and free," gleaming in
+silvery splendour, but in practice they knew nothing of the fisher's
+craft, though, as a matter of report, they were well acquainted with
+its mysteries, and had often listened with delight to the feats
+performed by their respective fathers in the art of angling, spearing,
+and netting.
+
+"I have heard my father say that so bold and numerous were the fish in
+the lakes and rivers he used to fish in, that they could be taken by
+the hand with a crooked pin and coarse thread, or wooden spear; but
+that was in the Lower Province. And oh, what glorious tales I have
+heard him tell of spearing fish by torchlight!"
+
+"The fish may be wiser or not so numerous in this lake," said Hector,
+"however, if Kate can bear to be moved, we will go down to the shore
+and try our luck. But what can we do? we have neither hook nor line
+provided."
+
+Louis nodded his head, and sitting down on a projecting root of a
+scrub oak, produced from the depths of his capacious pocket a bit of
+tin, which he carefully selected from among a miscellaneous hoard of
+treasures. "Here," said he, holding it up to the view as he
+spoke,--"here is the slide of an old powder-flask, which I picked up
+from among some rubbish my sister had thrown out the other day."
+
+"I fear you will make nothing of that," said Hector; "a bit of bone
+would be better. If you had a file now, you might do something."
+
+"Stay a moment, Monsieur Hec; what do you call this?" and Louis
+triumphantly handed out of his pocket the very instrument in question,
+a few inches of a broken, rusty file; very rusty, indeed, it was, but
+still it might be made to answer in such ingenious hands as those of
+our young French Canadian.
+
+"I well remember, Katty, how you and Mathilde laughed at me for
+treasuring up this old thing months ago.--Ah, Louis, Louis, you little
+knew the use it was to be put to then," he added thoughtfully,
+apostrophizing himself; "how little do we know what is to befall us in
+our young days!"
+
+"God knows it all," said Hector gravely; "we are under his good
+guidance."
+
+"You are right, Hec; let us trust in his mercy, and he will take good
+care of us. Come, let us go to the lake," Catharine added, and she
+sprang to her feet, but as quickly sank down upon the grass, and
+regarded her companions with a piteous look, saying, "I cannot walk
+one step; alas, alas! what is to become of me? I am only a useless
+burden to you. If you leave me here I shall fall a prey to some savage
+beast; and you cannot carry me with you in your search for food."
+
+"Dry your tears, sweet cousin; you shall go with us. Do you think that
+Hector or Louis would abandon you in your helpless state, to die of
+hunger or thirst, or to be torn by wolves or bears? We will carry you
+by turns; the distance to the lake is nothing, and you are not so very
+heavy, ma belle cousine; see, I could dance with you in my arms, you
+are so light a burden,"--and Louis gaily caught the suffering girl up
+in his arms, and with rapid steps struck into the deer-path that wound
+through the ravine towards the lake. But when they reached a pretty,
+rounded knoll (where Wolf Tower now stands), Louis was fain to place
+his cousin on a flat stone beneath a big oak that grew beside the
+bank, and fling himself on the flowery ground at her feet, while he
+drew a long breath, and gathered the fruit that grew among the long
+grass to refresh himself after his fatigue. And then, while resting on
+the "Elfin Knowe," as Catharine called the hill, he employed himself
+with manufacturing a rude sort of a fish-hook, with the aid of his
+knife, the bit of tin, and the rusty file. A bit of twine was next
+produced: boys have always a bit of string in their pockets; and
+Louis, as I have before hinted, was a provident hoarder of such small
+matters. The string was soon attached to the hook, and Hector was not
+long in cutting a sapling that answered well the purpose of a
+fishing-rod; and thus equipped they proceeded to the lake shore,
+Hector and Louis carrying the crippled Catharine by turns. When there,
+they selected a sheltered spot beneath a grove of overhanging cedars
+and birches, festooned with wild vines, which, closely woven, formed a
+natural bower, quite impervious to the rays of the sun. A waterfall
+dashing from the upper part of the bank fell headlong in spray and
+foam, and quietly spread itself among the round shingly fragments that
+formed the beach of the lake. Beneath this pleasant bower Catharine
+could repose and watch her companions at their novel employment, or
+bathe her feet and infirm ankle in the cool streamlet that rippled in
+tiny wavelets over its stony bed.
+
+If the amusement of fishing prove pleasant and exciting when pursued
+for pastime only, it may readily be conceived that its interest must
+be greatly heightened when its object is satisfying a craving degree
+of hunger. Among the sunny spots on the shore, innumerable swarms of
+the flying grasshopper or field crickets were sporting, and one of
+these proved an attractive bait. The line was no sooner cast into the
+water than the hook was seized, and many were the brilliant specimens
+of sun-fish that our eager fishermen cast at Catharine's feet, all
+gleaming with gold and azure scales. Nor was there any lack of perch,
+or that delicate fish commonly known in these waters as the pink
+roach.
+
+Tired at last with their easy sport, the hungry boys next proceeded to
+the grateful task of scaling and dressing their fish. This they did
+very expeditiously, as soon as the more difficult part of kindling a
+fire on the beach had been accomplished with the help of the flint,
+knife, and dried rushes. The fish were then suspended, Indian fashion,
+on forked, sticks stuck in the ground and inclined at a suitable angle
+towards the glowing embers,--a few minutes sufficed to cook them.
+
+"Truly," said Catharine, when the plentiful repast was set before her,
+"God hath, indeed, spread a table for us here in the wilderness;" so
+miraculous did this ample supply of delicious food seem in the eyes of
+this simple child of nature.
+
+They had often heard tell of the facility with which the fish could be
+caught, but they had known nothing of it from their own experience, as
+the streams and creeks about Cold Springs afforded them but little
+opportunity for exercising their skill as anglers; so that, with the
+rude implements with which they were furnished, the result of their
+morning success seemed little short of divine interference in their
+behalf. Happy and contented in the belief that they were not forgotten
+by their heavenly Father, these poor "children in the wood" looked up
+with gratitude to that beneficent Being who suffereth not even a
+sparrow to fall unheeded.
+
+Upon Catharine, in particular, these things made a deep impression;
+and there, as she sat in the green shade, soothed by the lulling sound
+of the flowing waters, and the soft murmuring of the many-coloured
+insects that hovered among the fragrant leaves which thatched her
+sylvan bower, her young heart was raised in humble and holy
+aspirations to the great Creator of all things living. A peaceful calm
+diffused itself over her mind, as with hands meekly folded across her
+breast, the young girl prayed with the guileless fervour of a trusting
+and faithful heart.
+
+The sun was just sinking in a flood of glory behind the dark
+pine-woods at the head of the lake, when Hector and Louis, who had
+been carefully providing fish for the morrow (which was the Sabbath),
+came loaded with their finny prey carefully strung upon a willow-wand,
+and found Catharine sleeping in her bower. Louis was loath to break
+her tranquil slumbers, but her careful brother reminded him of the
+danger to which she was exposed, sleeping in the dew by the
+water-side. "Moreover," he added, "we have some distance to go, and we
+have left the precious axe and the birch-bark vessel in the valley."
+
+These things were too valuable to be lost, so they roused the sleeper,
+and slowly recommenced their toilsome way, following the same path
+that they had made in the morning. Fortunately, Hector had taken the
+precaution to bend down the flexile branches of the dogwood and break
+the tops of the young trees that they had passed between on their
+route to the lake; and by this clue they were enabled with tolerable
+certainty to retrace their way, nothing doubting of arriving in time
+at the wigwam of boughs by the rock in the valley.
+
+Their progress was, however, slow, burdened with the care of the lame
+girl, and laden with the fish. The purple shades of twilight soon
+clouded the scene, deepened by the heavy masses of foliage, which cast
+greater obscurity upon their narrow path; for they had now left the
+oak-flat and entered the gorge of the valley. The utter loneliness of
+the path, the grotesque shadows of the trees that stretched in long
+array across the steep banks on either side, taking now this, now that
+wild and fanciful shape, awakened strange feelings of dread in the
+mind of these poor forlorn wanderers; like most persons bred up in
+solitude, their imaginations were strongly tinctured with
+superstitious fears. Here, then, in the lonely wilderness, far from
+their beloved parents and social hearth, with no visible arm to
+protect them from danger, none to encourage or to cheer them, they
+started with terror-blanched cheeks at every fitful breeze that
+rustled the leaves or waved the branches above them.
+
+The gay and lively Louis, blithe as any wild bird in the bright
+sunlight, was the most easily oppressed by this strange superstitious
+fear, when the shades of evening were closing round, and he would
+start with ill-disguised terror at every sound or shape that met his
+ear or eye, though the next minute he was the first to laugh at his
+own weakness. In Hector the feeling was of a graver, more solemn cast,
+recalling to his mind all the wild and wondrous tales with which his
+father was wont to entertain the children as they crouched round the
+huge log-fire of an evening. It is strange the charm these marvellous
+tales possess for the youthful mind: no matter how improbable or how
+often told, year after year they will be listened to with the same
+ardour, with an interest that appears to grow with repetition. And
+still, as they slowly wandered along, Hector would repeat to his
+breathless auditors those Highland legends that were as familiar to
+their ears as household words; and still they listened with fear and
+wonder, and deep awe, till at each pause he made the deep-drawn breath
+and half-repressed shudder might be heard. And now the little party
+paused irresolutely, fearing to proceed: they had omitted to notice
+some landmark in their progress; the moon had not long been up, and
+her light was as yet indistinct; so they sat them down on a little
+grassy spot on the bank, and rested till the moon should lighten their
+path.
+
+Louis was confident they were not far from the "Big Stone," but
+careful Hector had his doubts, and Catharine was weary. The children
+had already conceived a sort of home feeling for the valley and the
+mass of stone that had sheltered them for so many nights; and soon the
+dark mass came in sight, as the broad full light of the now risen moon
+fell upon its rugged sides: they were nearer to it than they had
+imagined.
+
+"Forward for the 'Big Stone' and the wigwam," cried Louis.
+
+"Hush!" said Catharine, "look there!" raising her hand with a warning
+gesture.
+
+"Where? what?"
+
+"The wolf! the wolf!" gasped out the terrified girl. There, indeed,
+upon the summit of the block, in the attitude of a sentinel or
+watcher, stood the gaunt-figured animal; and as she spoke, a long wild
+cry, the sound of which seemed as if it came midway between the earth
+and the tops of the tall pines on the lofty ridge above them, struck
+terror into their hearts, as with speechless horror they gazed upon
+the dark outline of the terrible beast. There it stood, with its head
+raised, its neck stretched outward, and ears erect, as if to catch the
+echo that gave back those dismal sounds; another minute and he was
+gone to join his companions, and the crashing of branches and the rush
+of many feet on the high bank above was followed by the prolonged cry
+of a poor fugitive animal,--a doe, or fawn, perhaps,--in the very
+climax of mortal agony; and then the lonely recesses of the forest
+took up that fearful death-cry, the far-off shores of the lake and the
+distant islands prolonged it, and the terrified children clung
+together in fear and trembling.
+
+A few minutes over, and all was still. The chase had turned across the
+hills to some distant ravine; the wolves were all gone--not even the
+watcher was left; and the little valley lay once more in silence, with
+all its dewy roses and sweet blossoms glittering in the moonlight. But
+though around them all was peace and loveliness, it was long ere
+confidence was restored to the hearts of the panic-stricken and
+trembling children. They beheld a savage enemy in every mass of leafy
+shade, and every rustling bough struck fresh terror into their excited
+minds. They might have exclaimed, with the patriarch Jacob, "How
+dreadful is this place!"
+
+With hand clasped in hand, they sat them down among the thick covert
+of the bushes; for now they feared to move forward, lest the wolves
+should return. Sleep was long a stranger to their watchful eyes, each
+fearing to be the only one left awake, and long and painful was their
+vigil. Yet nature, overtasked, at length gave way, and sleep came down
+upon their eyelids--deep, unbroken sleep, which lasted till the broad
+sunlight, breaking through the leafy curtains of their forest-bed, and
+the sound of waving boughs and twittering birds, once more awakened
+them to life and light, recalling them from happy dreams of home and
+friends to an aching sense of loneliness and desolation. This day they
+did not wander far from the valley, but took the precaution, as
+evening drew on, to light a large fire, the blaze of which they
+thought would keep away any beast of prey. They had no want of food,
+as the fish they had caught the day before proved an ample supply. The
+huckleberries were ripening too, and soon afforded them a
+never-failing source of food; there was also an abundance of
+bilberries, the sweet fruit of which proved a great treat, besides
+being very nourishing.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+  "Oh for a lodge in the vast wilderness,
+   The boundless contiguity of shade!"
+
+
+A fortnight had now passed, and Catharine still suffered so much from
+pain and fever that they were unable to continue their wanderings; all
+that Hector and his cousin could do was to carry her to the bower by
+the lake, where she reclined whilst they caught fish. The painful
+longing to regain their lost home had lost nothing of its intensity;
+and often would the poor sufferer start from her bed of leaves and
+boughs to wring her hands and weep, and call in piteous tones upon
+that dear father and mother who would have given worlds, had they been
+at their command, to have heard but one accent of her beloved voice,
+to have felt one loving pressure from that fevered hand. Hope, the
+consoler, hovered over the path of the young wanderers, long after she
+had ceased to whisper comfort to the desolate hearts of the mournful
+parents.
+
+Of all that suffered by this sad calamity, no one was more to be
+pitied than Louis Perron. Deeply did the poor boy lament the
+thoughtless folly which had involved his cousin Catharine in so
+terrible a misfortune. "If Kate had not been with me," he would say,
+"we should not have been lost; for Hector is so cautious and so
+careful, he would not have left the cattle-path. But we were so
+heedless, we thought only of flowers and insects, of birds and such
+trifles, and paid no heed to our way." Louis Perron, such is life. The
+young press gaily onward, gathering the flowers, and following the gay
+butterflies that attract them in the form of pleasure and amusement:
+they forget the grave counsels of the thoughtful, till they find the
+path they have followed is beset with briers and thorns; and a
+thousand painful difficulties that were unseen, unexpected, overwhelm
+and bring them to a sad sense of their own folly; and, perhaps, the
+punishment of their errors does not fall upon themselves alone, but
+upon the innocent, who have unknowingly been made participators in
+their fault.
+
+By the kindest and tenderest attention to all her comforts, Louis
+endeavoured to alleviate his cousin's sufferings, and soften her
+regrets; nay, he would often speak cheerfully and even gaily to her,
+when his own heart was heavy and his eyes ready to overflow with
+tears.
+
+"If it were not for our dear parents and the dear children at home,"
+he would say, "we might spend our time most happily upon these
+charming plains; it is much more delightful here than in the dark,
+thick woods; see how brightly the sunbeams come down and gladden the
+ground, and cover the earth with fruit and flowers. It is pleasant to
+be able to fish and hunt, and trap the game. Yes, if they were all
+here, we would build us a nice log-house, and clear up these bushes on
+the flat near the lake. This 'Elfin Knowe,' as you call it, Kate,
+would be a nice spot to build upon. See these glorious old oaks--not
+one should be cut down; and we would have a boat and a canoe, and
+voyage across to yonder islands. Would it not be charming, ma belle?"
+and Catharine, smiling at the picture drawn so eloquently, would enter
+into the spirit of the project, and say,--
+
+"Ah! Louis, that would be pleasant."
+
+"If we had but my father's rifle now," said Hector, "and old Wolfe."
+
+"Yes, and Fanchette, dear little Fanchette, that trees the partridges
+and black squirrels," said Louis.
+
+"I saw a doe and a half-grown fawn beside her this very morning, at
+break of day," said Hector. "The fawn was so little fearful, that if I
+had had a stick in my hand I could have killed it. I came within ten
+yards of the spot where it stood. I know it would be easy to catch one
+by making a dead-fall." A sort of trap in which game is taken in the
+woods, or on the banks of creeks.
+
+"If we had but a dear fawn to frolic about us, like Mignon, dear
+innocent Mignon," cried Catharine, "I should never feel lonely then."
+
+"And we should never want for meat, if we could catch a fine fawn from
+time to time, ma belle.--Hec, what are you thinking of?"
+
+"I was thinking, Louis, that if we were doomed to remain here all our
+lives, we must build a house for ourselves; we could not live in the
+open air without shelter as we have done. The summer will soon pass,
+and the rainy season will come, and the bitter frosts and snows of
+winter will have to be provided against."
+
+"But, Hector, do you really think there is no chance of finding our
+way back to Cold Springs? We know it must be behind this lake," said
+Lotus.
+
+"True, but whether east, west, or south, we cannot tell, and whichever
+way we take now is but a chance; and if once we leave the lake and get
+involved in the mazes of that dark forest, we should perish: for we
+know there is neither water nor fruit nor game to be had as there is
+here, and we might soon be starved to death. God was good who led us
+beside this fine lake, and upon these fruitful plains."
+
+"It is a good thing that I had my axe when we started from home," said
+Hector. "We should not have been so well off without it; we shall find
+the use of it if we have to build a house. We must look out for some
+spot where there is a spring of good water, and--"
+
+"No horrible wolves," interrupted Catharine. "Though I love this
+pretty ravine, and the banks and braes about us, I do not think I
+shall like to stay here. I heard the wolves only last night, when you
+and Louis were asleep."
+
+"We must not forget to keep watch-fires."
+
+"What shall we do for clothes?" said Catharine, glancing at her
+home-spun frock of wool and cotton plaid.
+
+"A weighty consideration indeed," sighed Hector; "clothes must be
+provided before ours are worn out and the winter comes on."
+
+"We must save all the skins of the woodchucks and squirrels,"
+suggested Louis; "and fawns when we catch them."
+
+"Yes, and fawns when we get them," added Hector; "but it is time
+enough to think of all these things; we must not give up all hope of
+home."
+
+"I give up all hope? I shall hope on while I have life," said
+Catharine. "My dear, dear father, he will never forget his lost
+children; he will try and find us, alive or dead; he will never give
+up the search."
+
+Poor child, how long did this hope burn like a living torch in thy
+guileless breast. How often, as they roamed those hills and valleys,
+were thine eyes sent into the gloomy recesses of the dark ravines and
+thick bushes, with the hope that they would meet the advancing form
+and outstretched arms of thy earthly parents: all in vain. Yet the
+arms of thy heavenly Father were extended over thee, to guide, to
+guard, and to sustain thee.
+
+How often were Catharine's hands filled with wild-flowers, to carry
+home, as she fondly said, to sick Louise or her mother. Poor
+Catharine, how often did your bouquets fade; how often did the sad
+exile water them with her tears,--for hers was the hope that keeps
+alive despair.
+
+When they roused them in the morning to recommence their fruitless
+wanderings, they would say to each other, "Perhaps we shall see our
+father, he may find us here to-day;" but evening came, and still he
+came not, and they were no nearer to their father's home than they had
+been the day previous.
+
+"If we could but find our way back to the 'Cold Creek,' we might, by
+following its course, return to Cold Springs," said Hector.
+
+"I doubt much the fact of the 'Cold Creek' having any connection with
+our Spring," said Louis; "I think it has its rise in the Beaver
+Meadow, and following its course would only entangle us among those
+wolfish balsam and cedar swamps, or lead us yet further astray into
+the thick recesses of the pine forest. For my part, I believe we are
+already fifty miles from Cold Springs."
+
+Persons who lose their way in the pathless woods have no idea of
+distance, or the points of the compass, unless they can see the sun
+rise and set, which it is not possible to do when surrounded by the
+dense growth of forest-trees; they rather measure distance by the time
+they have been wandering, than by any other token.
+
+The children knew that they had been a long time absent from home,
+wandering hither and thither and they fancied their journey had been
+as long as it had been weary. They had indeed the comfort of seeing
+the sun in its course from east to west, but they knew not in what
+direction the home they had lost lay; it was this that troubled them
+in their choice of the course they should take each day, and at last
+determined them to lose no more time so fruitlessly, where the peril
+was so great, but seek for some pleasant spot where they might pass
+their time in safety, and provide for their present and future wants.
+
+  "The world was all before them, where to choose
+   Their place of rest, and Providence their guide."
+
+Catharine declared her ankle was so much stronger than it had been
+since the accident, and her health so much amended, that the day after
+the conversation just recorded, the little party bade farewell to the
+valley of the "Big Stone," and ascending the steep sides of the hills,
+bent their steps eastward, keeping the lake to their left hand. Hector
+led the way, loaded with the axe, which he would trust to no one but
+himself, the tin-pot, and the birch basket. Louis had to assist his
+cousin up the steep banks, likewise some fish to carry, which had been
+caught early in the morning.
+
+The wanderers thought at first to explore the ground near the lake
+shore, but soon abandoned this resolution on finding the undergrowth
+of trees and bushes become so thick that they made little progress,
+and the fatigue of travelling was greatly increased by having
+continually to put aside the bushes or bend them down.
+
+Hector advised trying the higher ground; and after following a
+deer-path through a small ravine that crossed the hills, they found
+themselves on a fine extent of table-land, richly but not too densely
+wooded with white and black oaks (_Quercus alba_, and _Quercus
+nigra_), diversified with here and there a solitary pine, which
+reared its straight and pillar-like trunk in stately grandeur above
+its leafy companions; a meet eyrie for the bald eagle, that kept watch
+from its dark crest over the silent waters of the lake, spread below
+like a silver zone studded with emeralds.
+
+In their progress they passed the head of many small ravines, which
+divided the hilly shores of the lake into deep furrows: these furrows
+had once been channels by which the waters of some upper lake (the
+site of which is now dry land) had at a former period poured down into
+the valley, filling the basin of what now is called the Rice Lake.
+These waters, with resistless sweep, had ploughed their way between
+the hills, bearing in their course those blocks of granite and
+limestone which are so widely scattered both on the hill-tops and the
+plains, or form a rocky pavement at the bottom of the narrow defiles.
+What a sight of sublime desolation must that outpouring of the waters
+have presented, when those deep banks were riven by the sweeping
+torrents that were loosened from their former bounds! The pleased eye
+rests upon these tranquil shores, now covered with oaks and pines, or
+waving with a flood of golden grain, or varied by neat dwellings and
+fruitful gardens; and the gazer on that peaceful scene scarcely
+pictures to himself what it must have been when no living eye was
+there to mark the rushing floods when they scooped to themselves the
+deep bed in which they now repose.
+
+Those lovely islands that sit like stately crowns upon the waters were
+doubtless the wreck that remained of the valley; elevated spots, whose
+rocky bases withstood the force of the rushing waters, that carried
+away the lighter portions of the soil. The southern shore, seen from
+the lake, seems to lie in regular ridges running from south to north:
+some few are parallel with the lake shore, possibly where some
+insurmountable impediment turned the current of the subsiding waters;
+but they all find an outlet through their connection with ravines
+communicating with the lake.
+
+There is a beautiful level tract of land; with only here and there a
+solitary oak or a few stately pines growing upon it; it is commonly
+called the "Upper Race-course," on account of the smoothness of the
+surface. It forms a high table-land, nearly three hundred feet above
+the lake, and is surrounded by high hills. This spot, though now dry
+and covered with turf and flowers, and low bushes, has evidently once
+been a broad sheet of water. To the eastward lies a still more lovely
+and attractive spot, known as the "Lower Race-course." It lies on a
+lower level than the former one, and, like it, is embanked by a ridge
+of distant hills. Both have ravines leading down to the Rice Lake, and
+may have been the sources from whence its channel was filled. Some
+convulsion of nature at a remote period, by raising the waters above
+their natural level, might have caused a disruption of the banks, and
+drained their beds, as they now appear ready for the ploughshare or
+the spade. In the month of June these flats are brilliant with the
+splendid blossoms of the _Castilegia coccinea_, or painted-cup, the
+azure lupine (_Lupinus perennis_), and snowy _Trillium_; dwarf roses
+(_Rosa blanda_) scent the evening air, and grow as if planted by the
+hand of taste.
+
+A carpeting of the small downy saxifrage (_Saxifraga nivalis_), with
+its white silky leaves, covers the ground in early spring. In autumn
+it is red with the bright berries and dark box-shaped leaves of a
+species of creeping winter-green, that the Indians call spice-berry
+(_Gaultheria procumbens_); the leaves are highly aromatic, and it is
+medicinal as well as agreeable to the taste and smell. In the month of
+July a gorgeous assemblage of orange lilies (_Lilium Philadelphicum_)
+take the place of the lupine and trilliums: these splendid lilies vary
+from orange to the brightest scarlet. Various species of sunflowers
+and coreopsis next appear, and elegant white _pyrolas_ [Footnote:
+Indian bean, also called Indian potato (_Apios tuberosa_).] scent the
+air and charm the eye. The delicate lilac and white shrubby asters
+next appear; and these are followed by the large deep-blue gentian,
+and here and there by the elegant fringed gentian. [Footnote: Gentiana
+linearis, G. crenata.] These are the latest and loveliest of the
+flowers that adorn this tract of land. It is indeed a garden of
+nature's own planting, but the wild garden is being converted into
+fields of grain, and the wild flowers give place to a new race of
+vegetables, less ornamental, but more useful to man and the races of
+domestic animals that depend upon him for their support.
+
+Our travellers, after wandering over this lovely plain, found
+themselves, at the close of the day, at the head of a fine ravine,
+[Footnote: Kilvert's Ravine, above Pine-tree Point.] where they had
+the good fortune to perceive a spring of pure water oozing beneath
+some large moss-covered blocks of black waterworn granite. The ground
+was thickly covered with moss about the edges of the spring, and many
+varieties of flowering shrubs and fruits were scattered along the
+valley and up the steep sides of the surrounding hills. There were
+whortleberries, or huckleberries, as they are more usually called, in
+abundance; bilberries dead ripe, and falling from the bushes at a
+touch. The vines that wreathed the low bushes and climbed the trees
+were loaded with clusters of grapes; but these were yet hard and
+green. Dwarf filberts grew on the dry gravelly sides of the hills, yet
+the rough prickly calyx that enclosed the nut filled their fingers
+with minute thorns that irritated the skin like the stings of the
+nettle; but as the kernel, when ripe, was sweet and good, they did not
+mind the consequences. The moist part of the valley was occupied by a
+large bed of May-apples, [Footnote: _Podophyllum peltatum_,--mandrake,
+or May-apple.] the fruit of which was of unusual size, but they were
+not ripe, August being the month when they ripen; there were also wild
+plums still green, and wild cherries and blackberries ripening. There
+were great numbers of the woodchucks' burrows on the hills; wild
+partridges and quails were seen under the thick covert of the
+blue-berried dog-wood, [Footnote: _Cornus sericea_. The blue berries
+of this shrub are eaten by the partridge and wild ducks; also by the
+pigeons, and other birds. There are several species of this shrub
+common to the Rice Lake.] that here grew in abundance at the mouth of
+the ravine where it opened to the lake. As this spot offered many
+advantages, our travellers halted for the night, and resolved to make
+it their headquarters for a season, till they should meet with an
+eligible situation for building a winter shelter.
+
+Here, then, at the head of the valley, sheltered by one of the rounded
+hills that formed its sides, our young people erected a summer hut,
+somewhat after the fashion of an Indian wigwam, which was all the
+shelter that was requisite while the weather remained so warm. Through
+the opening at the gorge of this ravine they enjoyed a peep at the
+distant waters of the lake, which terminated the vista, while they
+were quite removed from its unwholesome vapours.
+
+The temperature of the air for some days had been hot and sultry,
+scarcely modified by the cool, delicious breeze that usually sets in
+about nine o'clock and blows most refreshingly till four or five in
+the afternoon. Hector and Louis had gone down to fish for supper,
+while Catharine busied herself in collecting leaves and dried
+deer-grass, moss and fern, of which there was abundance near the
+spring. The boys had promised to cut some fresh cedar boughs near the
+lake shore, and bring them up to form a foundation for their beds, and
+also to strew Indian-fashion over the floor of the hut by way of a
+carpet.
+
+The fragrant carpet of cedar or hemlock-spruce sprigs strewn lightly
+over the earthen floor, was to them a luxury as great as if it had
+been taken from the looms of Persia or Turkey, so happy and contented
+were they in their ignorance. Their beds of freshly gathered grass and
+leaves, raised from the earth by a heap of branches carefully
+arranged, were to them as pleasant as beds of down, and the rude hut
+of bark and poles as curtains of damask or silk.
+
+Having collected as much of these materials as she deemed sufficient
+for the purpose, Catharine next gathered up the dry oak branches, to
+make a watch-fire for the night. This done, weary and warm, she sat
+down on a little hillock, beneath the cooling shade of a grove of
+young aspens that grew near the hut. Pleased with the dancing of the
+leaves, which fluttered above her head, and fanned her warm cheek with
+their incessant motion, she thought, like her cousin Louise, that the
+aspen was the merriest tree in the forest, for it was always dancing,
+dancing, dancing.
+
+She watched the gathering of the distant thunderclouds, which cast a
+deeper, more sombre shade upon the pines that girded the northern
+shores of the lake as with an ebon frame. Insensibly her thoughts
+wandered far away from the lonely spot whereon she sat, to the stoup
+[Footnote: The Dutch word for veranda, which is still in common use
+among the Canadians.] in front of her father's house, and in memory's
+eye she beheld it all exactly as she had left it. There stood the big
+spinning-wheel, just as she had set it aside; the hanks of dyed yarn
+suspended from the rafters, the basket filled with the carded wool
+ready for her work. She saw in fancy her father, with his fine
+athletic upright figure, his sunburnt cheeks and clustering sable
+hair, his clear energetic hazel eyes ever beaming upon her, his
+favourite child, with looks of love and kindness as she moved to and
+fro at her wheel. [Footnote: Such is the method of working at the
+large wool-wheel, unknown or obsolete in England.] There, too, was her
+mother, with her light step and sweet cheerful voice, singing as she
+pursued her daily avocations; and Donald and Kenneth driving up the
+cows to be milked, or chopping firewood. And as these images, like the
+figures of the magic-lantern, passed in all their living colours
+before her mental vision, her head drooped heavier and lower till it
+sank upon her arm; and then she started, looked round, and slept
+again, her face deeply buried in her young bosom, and long and
+peacefully the young girl slumbered.
+
+A sound of hurrying feet approaches, a wild cry is heard and panting
+breath, and the sleeper, with a startling scream, springs to her feet:
+she dreamed that she was struggling in the fangs of a wolf--its grisly
+paws were clasped about her throat; the feeling was agony and
+suffocation: her languid eyes open. Can it be?--what is it that she
+sees? Yes, it is Wolfe; not the fierce creature of her dreams by night
+and her fears by day, but her father's own brave, devoted dog. What
+joy, what hope rushed to her heart! She threw herself upon the shaggy
+neck of the faithful beast, and wept from fulness of heart.
+
+"Yes," she joyfully cried, "I knew that I should see him again. My own
+dear, dear, loving father! Father! father! dear, dear father, here are
+your children! Come, come quickly!" and she hurried to the head of the
+valley, raising her voice, that the beloved parent, who she now
+confidently believed was approaching, might be guided to the spot by
+the well-known sound of her voice.
+
+Poor child! the echoes of thy eager voice, prolonged by every
+projecting headland of the valley, replied in mocking tones, "Come
+quickly!"
+
+Bewildered she paused, listened breathlessly, and again she called,
+"Father, come quickly, come!" and again the deceitful sounds were
+repeated, "Quickly come!"
+
+The faithful dog, who had succeeded in tracking the steps of his lost
+mistress, raised his head and erected his ears as she called on her
+father's name; but he gave no joyful bark of recognition as he was
+wont to do when he heard his master's step approaching. Still
+Catharine could not but think that Wolfe had only hurried on before,
+and that her father must be very near.
+
+The sound of her voice had been heard by her brother and cousin, who,
+fearing some evil beast had made its way to the wigwam, hastily wound
+up their line and left the fishing-ground to hurry to her assistance.
+They could hardly believe their eyes when they saw Wolfe, faithful old
+Wolfe, their earliest friend and playfellow, named by their father
+after the gallant hero of Quebec. And they too, like Catharine,
+thought that their friends were not far distant; joyfully they climbed
+the hills and shouted aloud, and Wolfe was coaxed and caressed and
+besought to follow them to point out the way they should take. But all
+their entreaties were in vain. Worn out with fatigue and long fasting,
+the poor old dog refused to quit the embers of the fire, before which
+he stretched himself, and the boys now noticed his gaunt frame and
+wasted flesh--he looked almost starved. The fact now became evident
+that he was in a state of great exhaustion. Catharine thought he eyed
+the spring with wishful looks, and she soon supplied him with water in
+the bark dish to his great relief.
+
+Wolfe had been out for several days with his master, who would repeat,
+in tones of sad earnestness, to the faithful creature, "Lost, lost,
+lost!" It was his custom to do so when the cattle strayed, and Wolfe
+would travel in all directions till he found them, nor ceased his
+search till he discovered the objects he was ordered to bring home.
+The last night of the father's wanderings, when, sick and hopeless, he
+came back to his melancholy home, as he sat sleeplessly rocking
+himself to and fro, he involuntarily exclaimed, wringing his hands,
+"Lost, lost, lost!" Wolfe heard what to him was an imperative command;
+he rose, and stood at the door, and whined. Mechanically his master
+rose, lifted the latch, and again exclaimed in passionate tones those
+magic words, that sent the faithful messenger forth into the dark
+forest path. Once on the trail he never left it, but with an instinct
+incomprehensible as it was powerful, he continued to track the woods,
+lingering long on spots where the wanderers had left any signs of
+their sojourn; he had for some time been baffled at the Beaver Meadow,
+and again where they had crossed Cold Creek, but had regained the
+scent and traced them to the valley of the "Big Stone," and then, with
+the sagacity of the bloodhound and the affection of the terrier he
+had, at last, discovered the objects of his unwearied though often
+baffled search.
+
+What a state of excitement did the unexpected arrival of old Wolfe
+create! How many questions were put to the poor beast, as he lay with
+his head pillowed on the knees of his loving mistress! Catharine knew
+it was foolish, but she could not help talking to the dumb animal, as
+if he had been conversant with her own language. Ah, old Wolfe, if
+your homesick nurse could but have interpreted those expressive looks,
+those eloquent waggings of your bushy tail, as it flapped upon the
+grass, or waved from side to side; those gentle lickings of the hand,
+and mute sorrowful glances, as though he would have said, "Dear
+mistress, I know all your troubles; I know all you say; but I cannot
+answer you!" There is something touching in the silent sympathy of the
+dog, to which only the hard-hearted and depraved can be quite
+insensible. I remember once hearing of a felon who had shown the
+greatest obstinacy and callous indifference to the appeals of his
+relations and the clergyman who attended him in prison, but was
+softened by the sight of a little dog that had been his companion in
+his days of comparative innocence, forcing its way through the crowd,
+till it gained the foot of the gallows; its mute look of anguish and
+affection unlocked the fount of human feeling, and the condemned man
+wept--perhaps the first tears he had shed since childhood's happy
+days.
+
+The night closed in with a tempest of almost tropical violence. The
+inky darkness of the sky was relieved, at intervals, by sheets of
+lurid flame, which revealed every object far off or near. The distant
+lake, just seen amid the screen of leaves through the gorge of the
+valley, gleamed like a sea of molten sulphur; the deep narrow defile,
+shut in by the steep and wooded hills, looked deeper, more wild and
+gloomy, when revealed by that vivid glare of light.
+
+There was no stir among the trees, the heavy rounded masses of foliage
+remained unmoved; the very aspen, that tremulous sensitive tree,
+scarcely stirred: it seemed as if the very pulses of nature were at
+rest. The solemn murmur that preceded the thunder-peals might have
+been likened to the moaning of the dying. The children felt the
+loneliness of the spot. Seated at the entrance of their sylvan hut, in
+front of which their evening fire burned brightly, they looked out
+upon the storm in silence and in awe. Screened by the sheltering
+shrubs that grew near them, they felt comparatively safe from the
+dangers of the storm, which now burst in terrific violence above the
+valley. Cloud answered to cloud, and the echoes of the hills prolonged
+the sound, while shattered trunks and brittle branches filled the air,
+and shrieked and groaned in that wild war of elements.
+
+Between the pauses of the tempest the long howl of the wolves, from
+their covert in some distant cedar swamp at the edge of the lake,
+might be heard from time to time,--a sound that always thrilled their
+hearts with fear. To the mighty thunder-peals that burst above their
+heads they listened with awe and wonder. It seemed, indeed, to them as
+if it were the voice of Him who "sendeth out his voice, yea, and that
+a mighty voice." And they bowed and adored his majesty; but they
+shrank with curdled blood from the cry of the _felon wolf_.
+
+And now the storm was at its climax, and the hail and rain came down
+in a whitening flood upon that ocean of forest leaves; the old gray
+branches were lifted up and down, and the stout trunks rent, for they
+would not bow down before the fury of the whirlwind, and were
+scattered all abroad like chaff before the wind.
+
+The children thought not of danger for themselves, but they feared for
+the safety of their fathers, whom they believed to be not far off from
+them. And often amid the raging of the elements they fancied they
+could distinguish familiar voices calling upon their names.
+
+"Ah, if our fathers should have perished in this fearful storm," said
+Catharine, weeping, "or have been starved to death while seeking for
+us!" She covered her face and wept more bitterly.
+
+But Louis would not listen to such melancholy forebodings. Their
+fathers were both brave, hardy men, accustomed to every sort of danger
+and privation; they were able to take care of themselves. Yes, he was
+sure they were not far off; it was this unlucky storm coming on that
+had prevented them from meeting.
+
+"To-morrow, ma chere, will be a glorious day after the storm. It will
+be a joyful one too; we shall go out with Wolfe, and he will find his
+master, and then--oh, yes! I dare say my dear father will be with
+yours. They will have taken good heed to the track, and we shall soon
+see our dear mothers and chere petite Louise."
+
+The storm lasted till past midnight, when it gradually subsided, and
+the poor wanderers were glad to see the murky clouds roll off, and the
+stars peep forth among their broken masses; but they were reduced to a
+pitiful state, the hurricane having beaten down their little hut, and
+their garments were drenched with rain. However, the boys made a good
+fire with some bark and boughs they had in store: there were a few
+sparks in their back log unextinguished; these they gladly fanned up
+into a blaze, at which they dried their wet clothes, and warmed
+themselves. The air was now cool almost to chilliness; for some days
+the weather remained unsettled, and the sky overcast with clouds,
+while the lake presented a leaden hue, crested with white mimic waves.
+
+They soon set to work to make another hut, and found close to the head
+of the ravine a great pine uprooted, affording them large pieces of
+bark, which proved very serviceable in thatching the sides of the hut.
+The boys employed themselves in this work, while Catharine cooked the
+fish they had caught the day before, with a share of which old Wolfe
+seemed to be mightily well pleased. After they had breakfasted, they
+all went up towards the high table-land above the ravine, with Wolfe,
+to look round in hope of getting sight of their friends from Cold
+Springs; but though they kept an anxious look-out in every direction,
+they returned towards evening tired and hopeless. Hector had killed a
+red squirrel, and a partridge which Wolfe "treed,"--that is, stood
+barking at the foot of the tree in which it had perched,--and the
+supply of meat was a seasonable change. They also noticed and marked
+with the axe, several trees where there were bee-hives, intending to
+come in the cold weather and cut them down. Louis's father was a great
+and successful bee-hunter; and Louis rather prided himself on having
+learned something of his father's skill in that line. Here, where
+flowers were so abundant and water plentiful; the wild bees seemed to
+be abundant also; besides, the open space between the trees, admitting
+the warm sunbeams freely, was favourable both for the bees and the
+flowers on which they fed, and Louis talked joyfully of the fine
+stores of honey they should collect in autumn. He had taught little
+Fanchon, a small French spaniel of his father's, to find out the trees
+where the bees hived, and also the nests of the ground-bees, and she
+would bark at the foot of the tree, or scratch with her feet on the
+ground, as the other dogs barked at the squirrels or the woodchucks;
+but Fanchon was far away, and Wolfe was old and would learn no new
+tricks, so Louis knew he had nothing but his own observation and the
+axe to depend upon for procuring honey.
+
+The boys had been unsuccessful for some days past, in fishing; neither
+perch nor sunfish, pink roach nor mud-pouts [Footnote: All these fish
+are indigenous to the fresh waters of Canada.] were to be caught.
+However, they found water-mussels by groping in the sand, and
+cray-fish among the gravel at the edge of the water only; the latter
+pinched their fingers very spitefully. The mussels were not very
+palatable, for want of salt; but hungry folks must not be dainty, and
+Louis declared them very good when well roasted, covered up with hot
+embers. "The fish-hawks," said he, "set us a good example, for they
+eat them, and so do the eagles and herons. I watched one the other day
+with a mussel in his bill: he flew to a high tree, let his prey fall,
+and immediately darted down to secure it. But I drove him off; and, to
+my great amusement, perceived the wise fellow had just let it fall on
+a stone, which had cracked the shell for him just in the right place.
+I often see shells lying at the foot of trees, far up the hills, where
+these birds must have left them. There is one large thick-shelled
+mussel that I have found several times with a round hole drilled
+through the shell, just as if it had been done with a small
+auger,--doubtless the work of some bird with a strong beak."
+
+"Do you remember," said Catharine, "the fine pink mussel-shell that
+Hec picked up in the little corn-field last year? It had a hole in one
+of the shells too, [Footnote: This ingenious mode of cracking the
+shells of mussels is common to many birds. The crow (_Corvus corone_)
+has been long known by American naturalists to break the thick shells
+of the river mussels, by letting them fall from a height on to rocks
+and stones.] and when my uncle saw it, he said it must have been
+dropped by some large bird, a fish-hawk possibly, or a heron, and
+brought from the great lake, as it had been taken out of some deep
+water; the mussels in our creeks being quite thin-shelled and white."
+
+"Do you remember what a quantity of large fish bones we found in the
+eagle's nest on the top of our hill, Louis?" said Hector.
+
+"I do. Those fish must have been larger than our perch and sunfish;
+they were brought from this very lake, I dare say."
+
+"If we had a good canoe now, or a boat, and a strong hook and line, we
+might become great fishermen."
+
+"Louis," said Catharine, "is always thinking about canoes, and boats,
+and skiffs; he ought to have been a sailor."
+
+Louis was confident that if they had a canoe he could soon learn to
+manage her; he was an excellent sailor already in theory. Louis never
+saw difficulties; he was always hopeful, and had a very good opinion
+of his own cleverness; he was quicker in most things, his ideas flowed
+faster than Hector's. But Hector was more prudent, and possessed one
+valuable quality--steady perseverance: he was slow in adopting an
+opinion, but when once convinced, he pushed on steadily till he
+mastered the subject or overcame the obstacle.
+
+"Catharine," said Louis one day, "the huckleberries are now very
+plentiful, and I think it would be a wise thing to gather a good store
+of them and dry them for the winter. See, ma chere, wherever we turn
+our eyes or place our feet they are to be found; the hill-sides are
+purple with them. We may for aught we know, be obliged to pass the
+rest of our lives here; it will be well to prepare for the winter,
+when no berries are to be found."
+
+"It will be well, mon ami. But we must not dry them in the sun; for
+let me tell you, Mr. Louis, that they will be quite tasteless--mere
+dry husks."
+
+"Why so, ma belle?"
+
+"I do not know the reason, but I only know the fact; for when our
+mothers dried the currants and raspberries in the sun, such was the
+case; but when they dried them on the oven floor, or on the hearth,
+they were quite nice."
+
+"Well, Cath, I think I know of a flat thin stone that will make a good
+hearthstone; and we can get sheets of birch bark and sew into flat
+bags to keep the dried fruit in."
+
+They now turned all their attention to drying huckleberries (or
+whortleberries). [Footnote: From the abundance of this fruit, the
+Indians have given the name of Whortleberry Plain to the lands on the
+south shore. During the month of July and the early part of August,
+large parties come to the Rice Lake Plains to gather huckleberries,
+which they preserve by drying, for winter use. These berries make a
+delicious tart or pudding, mixed with bilberries and red currants,
+requiring little sugar.] Catharine and Louis (who fancied nothing
+could be contrived without his help) attended to the preparing and
+making of the bags of birch bark; but Hector was soon tired of girl's
+work, as he termed it, and after gathering some berries, would wander
+away over the hills in search of game and to explore the neighbouring
+hills and valleys, and sometimes it was sunset before he made his
+appearance. Hector had made an excellent strong bow, like the Indian
+bow, out of a tough piece of hickory wood, which he found in one of
+his rambles, and he made arrows with wood that he seasoned in the
+smoke, sharpening the heads with great care with his knife, and
+hardening them by exposure to strong heat, at a certain distance from
+the fire. The entrails of the woodchuck, stretched, and scraped, and
+dried, and rendered pliable by rubbing and drawing through the hands,
+answered for a bow-string; but afterwards, when they got the sinews
+and hide of the deer, they used them, properly dressed for the
+purpose.
+
+Hector also made a cross-bow, which he used with great effect, being a
+true and steady marksman. Louis and he would often amuse themselves
+with shooting at a mark, which they would chip on the bark of a tree,
+even Catharine was a tolerable archeress with the long-bow, and the
+hut was now seldom without game of one kind or other. Hector seldom
+returned from his rambles without partridges, quails, or young
+pigeons, which are plentiful at this season of the year; many of the
+old ones that pass over in their migratory flight in the spring stay
+to breed, or return thither for the acorns and berries that are to be
+found in great abundance. Squirrels, too, are very plentiful at this
+season. Hector and Louis remarked that the red and black squirrels
+never were to be found very near each other. It is a common belief
+that the red squirrels make common cause with the gray, and beat the
+larger enemy off the ground. The black squirrel, for a succession of
+years, was very rarely to be met with on the Plains, while there were
+plenty of the red and gray in the "oak openings." [Footnote: Within
+the last few years, however, the black squirrels have been very
+numerous, and the red are less frequently to be seen. The flesh of the
+black squirrel is tender, white, and delicate, like that of a young
+rabbit.] Deer, at the time our young Crusoes were living on the Rice
+Lake Plains, were plentiful, and, of course, so were those beasts that
+prey upon them,--wolves, bears, and wolverines, besides the Canadian
+lynx, or catamount, as it is here commonly called, a species of wild
+cat or panther. These wild animals are now no longer to be seen: it is
+a rare thing to hear of bears or wolves, and the wolverine and lynx
+are known only as matters of history in this part of the country.
+These animals disappear as civilization advances, while some others
+increase and follow man, especially many species of birds, which seem
+to pick up the crumbs that fall from the rich man's board, and
+multiply about his dwelling; some adopt new habits and modes of
+building and feeding, according to the alteration and improvement in
+their circumstances.
+
+While our young people seldom wanted for meat, they felt the privation
+of the bread to which they had been accustomed very sensibly. One day,
+while Hector and Louis were busily engaged with their assistant,
+Wolfe, in unearthing a woodchuck, that had taken refuge in his burrow,
+on one of the gravelly hills above the lake, Catharine amused herself
+by looking for flowers. She had filled her lap with ripe May-apples,
+[Footnote: The fruit of the May-apple, in rich, moist soil, will
+attain to the size of the magnum bonum, or egg-plum, which it
+resembles in colour and shape. It makes a delicious preserve, if
+seasoned with cloves or ginger. When eaten uncooked, the outer rind,
+which is thick and fleshy and has a rank taste, should be thrown
+aside; the fine seed pulp in which the seeds are embedded alone should
+be eaten. The root of the podophyllum is used as a cathartic by the
+Indians. The root of this plant is reticulated, and when a large body
+of them are uncovered, they present a singular appearance, interlacing
+each other in large meshes like an extensive net-work. These roots are
+white, as thick as a man's little finger, and fragrant, and spread
+horizontally along the surface. The blossom is like a small white
+rose.] but finding them cumbersome in climbing the steep wooded hills,
+she deposited them at the foot of a tree near the boys, and pursued
+her search; and it was not long before she perceived some pretty
+grassy-looking plants, with heads of bright lilac flowers, and on
+plucking one pulled up the root also. The root was about the size and
+shape of a large crocus: and on biting it, she found it far from
+disagreeable--sweet, and slightly astringent. It seemed to be a
+favourite root with the woodchucks, for she noticed that it grew about
+their burrows on dry, gravelly soil, and many of the stems were bitten
+and the roots eaten--a warrant, in full, of wholesomeness. Therefore,
+carrying home a parcel of the largest of the roots, she roasted them
+in the embers; and they proved almost as good as chestnuts, and more
+satisfying than the acorns of the white oak, which they had often
+roasted in the fire when they were out working on the fallow at the
+log heaps. Hector and Louis ate heartily of the roots, and commended
+Catharine for the discovery. Not many days afterwards, Louis
+accidentally found a much larger and more valuable root near the lake
+shore. He saw a fine climbing shrub, with close bunches of dark,
+reddish-purple, pea-shaped flowers, which scented the air with a
+delicious perfume. The plant climbed to a great height over the young
+trees, with a profusion of dark-green leaves and tendrils. Pleased
+with the bowery appearance of the plant, he tried to pull one up, that
+he might show it to his cousin, when the root displayed a number of
+large tubers, as big as good-sized potatoes, regular oval-shaped; the
+inside was quite white, tasting somewhat like a potato, only
+pleasanter, when in its raw state, than an uncooked potato. Louis
+gathered his pockets full, and hastened home with his prize; and on
+being roasted, these new roots were decided to be little inferior to
+potatoes--at all events, they were a valuable addition to their
+slender stores; and they procured as many as they could find,
+carefully storing them in a hole which they dug for that purpose in a
+corner of their hut. [Footnote: This plant appears to me to be a
+species of the _Psoralea esculenta_, or Indian bread-root, which it
+resembles in description, excepting that the root of the above is
+tuberous, oval, and connected by long filaments. The largest tubers
+are farthest from the stem of the plant.] Hector suggested that these
+roots would be far better late in autumn or early in the spring than
+during the time that the plant was in bloom; for he knew from
+observation and experience that at the flowering season the greater
+part of the nourishment derived from the soil goes to perfect the
+flower and the seeds. Upon scraping the cut tuber, there was a white,
+floury powder produced, resembling the starchy substance of the
+potato.
+
+"This flour," said Catharine, "would make good porridge with milk."
+
+"Excellent, no doubt, my wise little cook and housekeeper," said Louis
+laughing; "but, ma belle cousine, where is the milk and where is the
+porridge-pot to come from?"
+
+"Indeed," said Catharine, "I fear, Louis, we must wait long for both."
+
+One fine day Louis returned home from the lake shore in great haste
+for the bows and arrows, with the interesting news that a herd of five
+deer were in the water, and making for Long Island.
+
+"But, Louis, they will be gone out of sight and beyond the reach of
+the arrows," said Catharine, as she handed him down the bows and a
+sheaf of arrows, which she quickly slung round his shoulders by the
+belt of skin which the young hunter had made for himself.
+
+"No fear, ma chere; they will stop to feed on the beds of rice and
+lilies. We must have Wolfe. Here, Wolfe, Wolfe, Wolfe! here, boy,
+here!"
+
+Catharine caught a portion of the excitement that danced in the bright
+eyes of her cousin, and declaring that she too would go and witness
+the hunt, ran down the ravine by his side; while Wolfe, who evidently
+understood that they had some sport in view, trotted along by his
+mistress, wagging his great bushy tail, and looking in high
+good-humour.
+
+Hector was impatiently waiting the arrival of the bows and Wolfe. The
+herd of deer, consisting of a noble buck, two full-grown females, and
+two young half-grown males, were quietly feeding among the beds of
+rice and rushes not more than fifteen or twenty yards from the shore,
+apparently quite unconcerned at the presence of Hector, who stood on a
+fallen trunk, eagerly eying their motions. But the hurried steps of
+Louis and Catharine, with the deep, sonorous baying of Wolfe, soon
+roused the timid creatures to a sense of danger; and the stag, raising
+his head and making, as the children thought, a signal for retreat,
+now struck boldly out for the nearest point of Long Island.
+
+"We shall lose them," cried Louis despairingly, eying the long bright
+track that cut the silvery waters as the deer swam gallantly out.
+
+"Hist, hist, Louis," said Hector; "all depends upon Wolfe--Turn them,
+Wolfe! hey, hey, seek them, boy!"
+
+Wolfe dashed bravely into the lake.
+
+"Head them! head them!" shouted Hector. Wolfe knew what was meant.
+With the sagacity of a long-trained hunter, he made a desperate effort
+to gain the advantage by a circuitous route. Twice the stag turned
+irresolute, as if to face his foe, and Wolfe, taking the time, swam
+ahead, and then the race began. As soon as the boys saw the herd had
+turned, and that Wolfe was between them and the island, they
+separated, Louis making good his ambush to the right among the cedars,
+and Hector at the spring to the west, while Catharine was stationed at
+the solitary pine-tree, at the point which commanded the entrance of
+the ravine.
+
+"Now, Cathy," said her brother, "when you see the herd making for the
+ravine, shout and clap your hands, and they will turn either to the
+right or to the left. Do not let them land, or we shall lose them. We
+must trust to Wolfe for their not escaping to the island. Wolfe is
+well trained; he knows what he is about."
+
+Catharine proved a dutiful ally. She did as she was bid. She waited
+till the deer were within a few yards of the shore, then she shouted
+and clapped her hands. Frightened at the noise and clamour, the
+terrified creatures coasted along for some way, till within a little
+distance of the thicket where Hector lay concealed--the very spot from
+which they had emerged when they first took to the water; to this
+place they boldly steered. Louis, who had watched the direction the
+herd had taken with breathless interest, now noiselessly hurried to
+Hector's assistance, taking an advantageous post for aim, in case
+Hector's arrow missed, or only slightly wounded one of the deer.
+
+Hector, crouched beneath the trees, waited cautiously till one of the
+does was within reach of his arrow, and so good and true was his aim,
+that it hit the animal in the throat a little above the chest, The
+stag now turned again, but Wolfe was behind and pressed him forward,
+and again the noble animal strained every nerve for the shore. Louis
+now shot his arrow, but it swerved from the mark. He was too eager;
+the arrow glanced harmlessly along the water. But the cool,
+unimpassioned hand of Hector sent another arrow between the eyes of
+the doe, stunning her with its force; and then another from Louis laid
+her on her side, dying, and staining the water with her blood.
+
+The herd, abandoning their dying companion, dashed frantically to the
+shore; and the young hunters, elated by their success, suffered them
+to make good their landing without further molestation. Wolfe, at a
+signal from his master, ran in the quarry, and Louis declared
+exultingly that as his last arrow had given the _coup de grace_,
+he was entitled to the honour of cutting the throat of the doe; but
+this the stern Highlander protested against, and Louis, with a
+careless laugh, yielded the point, contenting himself with saying, "Ah
+well, I will get the first steak of the venison when it is roasted,
+and that is far more to my taste." Moreover, he privately recounted to
+Catharine the important share he had had in the exploit, giving her,
+at the same time, full credit for the worthy service she had performed
+in withstanding the landing of the herd. Wolfe, too, came in for a
+large share of the honour and glory of the chase.
+
+The boys were soon hard at work skinning the animal and cutting it up.
+This was the most valuable acquisition they had yet effected, for many
+uses were to be made of the deer besides eating the flesh. It was a
+store of wealth in their eyes.
+
+During the many years that their fathers had sojourned in the country,
+there had been occasional intercourse with the fur-traders and
+trappers, and sometimes with friendly-disposed Indians who had called
+at the lodges of their white brothers for food and tobacco.
+
+From all these men, rude as they were, some practical knowledge had
+been acquired; and their visits, though few and far between, had left
+good fruit behind them--something to think about and talk about and
+turn to future advantage.
+
+The boys had learned from the Indians how precious were the tough
+sinews of the deer for sewing. They knew how to prepare the skins of
+the deer for moccasins, which they could cut out and make as neatly as
+the squaws themselves. They could fashion arrow-heads, and knew how
+best to season the wood for making both the long and cross bow. They
+had seen the fish-hooks these people manufactured from bone and hard
+wood. They knew that strips of fresh-cut skins would make bowstrings,
+or the entrails of animals dried and rendered pliable. They had
+watched the squaws making baskets of the inner bark of the oak, elm,
+and bass-wood, and mats of the inner bark of the cedar, with many
+other ingenious works that they now found would prove useful to them,
+after a little practice had perfected their inexperienced attempts.
+They also knew how to dry venison as the Indians and trappers prepare
+it, by cutting the thick fleshy portions of the meat into strips from
+four to six inches in breadth and two or more in thickness. These
+strips they strung upon poles supported on forked sticks, and exposed
+them to the drying action of the sun and wind. Fish they split open,
+and removed the back and head bones, and smoked them slightly, or
+dried them in the sun.
+
+Their success in killing the doe greatly raised their spirits; in
+their joy they embraced each other, and bestowed the most affectionate
+caresses on Wolfe for his good conduct.
+
+"But for this dear, wise old fellow, we should have had no venison for
+dinner to-day," said Louis; "and so, Wolfe, you shall have a choice
+piece for your own share."
+
+Every part of the deer seemed valuable in the eyes of the young
+hunters. The skin they carefully stretched out upon sticks to dry
+gradually, and the entrails they also preserved for bow-strings. The
+sinews of the legs and back they drew out and laid carefully aside for
+future use.
+
+"We shall be glad enough of these strings by-and-by," said careful
+Hector; "for the summer will soon be at an end, and then we must turn
+our attention to making ourselves winter clothes and moccasins."
+
+"Yes, Hec, and a good warm shanty. These huts of bark and boughs will
+not do when once the cold weather sets in."
+
+"A shanty could soon be put up," said Hector; "for even Kate, wee bit
+lassie as she is, could give us some help in trimming up the logs."
+
+"That I could, indeed," replied Catharine; "for you may remember, Hec,
+that the last journey my father made to the Bay, [Footnote: Bay of
+Quinte.] with the pack of furs, that you and I called a _Bee_
+[Footnote: A Bee is a practical instance of duty to a neighbour. We
+fear it is peculiar to Canada, although deserving of imitation in all
+Christian colonies. When any work which requires many hands is in the
+course of performance, as the building of log houses, barns, or
+shanties, all the neighbours are summoned, and give their best
+assistance in the construction. Of course the assisted party is liable
+to be called upon by the community in turn, to repay in kind the help
+he has received.] to put up a shed for the new cow that he was to
+drive back with him, and I am sure Mathilde and I did as much good as
+you and Louis. You know you said you could not have got on nearly so
+well without our help."
+
+"After all," said Hector thoughtfully, "children can do a great many
+things if they only resolutely set to work, and use the wits and the
+strength that God has given them to work with. A few weeks ago and we
+should have thought it utterly impossible to have supported ourselves
+in a lonely wilderness like this by our own exertions in fishing and
+hunting."
+
+"If we had been lost in the forest we must have died with hunger,"
+said Catharine; "but let us be thankful to the good God who led us
+hither, and gave us health and strength to help ourselves."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+    "Aye from the sultry heat,
+     We to our cave retreat,
+  O'er canopied by huge roots, intertwined,
+  Of wildest texture, blackened o'er with age."
+
+  COLERIDGE.
+
+
+"Louis, what are you cutting out of that bit OF wood?" said Catharine,
+the very next day after the first ideas of the shanty had been
+started.
+
+"Hollowing out a canoe."
+
+"Out of that piece of stick!" said Catharine, laughing. "How many
+passengers is it to accommodate, my dear?"
+
+"I am only making a model. My canoe will be made out of a big pine
+log, and large enough to hold three."
+
+"Is it to be like the big sap-trough in the sugar-bush at home?"
+
+Louis nodded assent. "I long to go over to the island; I see lots of
+ducks popping in and out of the little bays beneath the cedars, and
+there are plenty of partridges, I am sure, and squirrels--it is the
+very place for them."
+
+"And shall we have a sail as well as oars?"
+
+"Yes; set up your apron for a sail."
+
+Catharine cast a rueful look upon the tattered remnant of the apron.
+
+"It is worth nothing now," she said, sighing; "and what am I to do
+when my gown is worn out? It is a good thing it is so strong; if it
+had been cotton, now, it would have been torn to bits among the
+bushes."
+
+"We must make clothes of skins as soon as we get enough," said
+Hector.--"Louis, I think you can manufacture a bone needle; we can
+pierce the hole with the strong thorns, or a little round bone bodkin
+that can be easily made."
+
+"The first rainy day we will see what we can do," replied Louis; "but
+I am full of my canoe just now."
+
+"Indeed, Louis, I believe you never think of anything else; but even
+if we had a canoe to-morrow, I do not think that either you or I could
+manage one," said cautious Hector.
+
+"I could soon learn as others have done before me. I wonder who first
+taught the Indians to make canoes, and venture out on the lakes and
+streams. Why should we be more stupid than these untaught heathens? I
+have listened so often to my father's stories and adventures when he
+was out lumbering on the St. John River, that I am as familiar with
+the idea of a boat as if I had been born in one. Only think now," he
+said, turning to Catharine; "just think of the fish, the big ones, we
+could get if we had but a canoe to push out from the shore beyond
+those rush-beds."
+
+"It strikes me, Louis, that those rush-beds, as you call them, must be
+the Indian rice that we have seen the squaws make their soup of."
+
+"Yes; and you remember old Jacob used to talk of a fine lake that he
+called Rice Lake, somewhere to the northward of the Cold Springs,
+where he said there was plenty of game of all kinds, and a fine open
+place where people could see through the openings among the trees. He
+said it was a great hunting-place for the Indians in the Fall of the
+year, and that they came there to hunt the peccary, which is, as you
+know, a kind of wild boar, and whose flesh is very good eating."
+
+"I hope the Indians will not come here and find us out," said
+Catharine, shuddering; "I think I should be more frightened at the
+Indians than at the wolves. Have we not heard fearful tales of their
+cruelty?"
+
+"But we have never been harmed by them; they have always been civil
+enough when they came to the Springs."
+
+"They came, you know, for food, or shelter or something that they
+wanted from us; but it may be different when they find us alone and
+unprotected, encroaching upon their hunting-grounds."
+
+"The place is wide enough for us and them; we will try and make them
+our friends."
+
+"The wolf and the lamb do not lie down in the fold together," observed
+Hector. "The Indian is treacherous. The wild man and the civilized man
+do not live well together, their habits and dispositions are so
+contrary the one to the other. We are open and they are cunning, and
+they suspect our openness to be only a greater degree of cunning than
+their own--they do not understand us. They are taught to be
+revengeful, and we are taught to forgive our enemies. So you see that
+what is a virtue with the savage is a crime with the Christian. If the
+Indian could be taught the Word of God he might be kind, and true, and
+gentle as well as brave."
+
+It was with conversations like this that our poor wanderers whiled
+away their weariness. The love of life, and the exertions necessary
+for self-preservation, occupied so large a portion of their thoughts
+and time, that they had hardly leisure for repining. They mutually
+cheered and animated each other to bear up against the sad fate that
+had thus severed them from every kindred tie, and shut them out from
+that home to which their young hearts were bound by every endearing
+remembrance from infancy upwards.
+
+One bright September morning our young people set off on an exploring
+expedition, leaving the faithful Wolfe to watch the wigwam; for they
+well knew he was too honest to touch their store of dried fish and
+venison himself, and too trusty and fierce to suffer wolf or wild cat
+near it.
+
+They crossed several narrow, deep ravines, and the low wooded flat
+along the lake shore, to the eastward of Pine-tree Point. Finding it
+difficult to force their way through the thick underwood that always
+impedes the progress of the traveller on the low shores of the lake,
+they followed the course of an ascending narrow ridge, which formed a
+sort of natural causeway between two parallel hollows, the top of this
+ridge being in many places not wider than a cart or wagon could pass
+along. The sides were most gracefully adorned with flowering shrubs,
+wild vines, creepers of various species, wild cherries of several
+kinds, hawthorns, bilberry bushes, high-bush cranberries, silver
+birch, poplars, oaks, and pines; while in the deep ravines on either
+side grew trees of the largest growth, the heads of which lay on a
+level with their path. Wild cliffy banks, beset with huge boulders of
+red and gray granite and water-worn limestone, showed that it had once
+formed the boundary of the lake, though now it was almost a quarter of
+a mile in its rear. Springs of pure water were in abundance, trickling
+down the steep rugged sides of this wooded glen. The children wandered
+onwards, delighted with the wild picturesque path they had chosen,
+sometimes resting on a huge block of moss-covered stone, or on the
+twisted roots of some ancient gray old oak or pine, whilst they gazed
+with curiosity and interest on the lonely but lovely landscape before
+them. Across the lake, the dark forest shut all else from their view,
+rising in gradual far-off slopes till it reached the utmost boundary
+of sight. Much the children marvelled what country it might be that
+lay in the dim, blue, hazy distance,--to them, indeed, a _terra
+incognita_--a land of mystery; but neither of her companions laughed
+when Catharine gravely suggested the probability of this unknown shore
+to the northward being her father's beloved Highlands. Let not the
+youthful and more learned reader smile at the ignorance of the
+Canadian girl; she knew nothing of maps, and globes, and
+hemispheres,--her only book of study had been the Holy Scriptures, her
+only teacher a poor Highland soldier.
+
+Following the elevated ground above this deep valley, the travellers
+at last halted on the extreme edge of a high and precipitous mound,
+that formed an abrupt termination to the deep glen. They found water
+not far from this spot fit for drinking by following a deer-path a
+little to the southward. And there, on the borders of a little basin
+on a pleasant brae, where the bright silver birch waved gracefully
+over its sides, they decided upon building a winter house. They named
+the spot Mount Ararat: "For here," said they, "we will build us an ark
+of refuge, and wander no more." And Mount Ararat is the name which the
+spot still bears. Here they sat them down on a fallen tree and ate a
+meal of dried venison and drank of the cold spring that welled out
+from beneath the edge of the bank. Hector felled a tree to mark the
+site of their house near the birches; and they made a blaze, as it is
+called, on he trees, by cutting away pieces of the outer bark as they
+returned home towards the wigwam, that they might not miss the place.
+They found less difficulty in retracing their path than they had
+formerly, as there were some striking peculiarities to mark it, and
+they had learned to be very minute in the marks they made as they
+travelled, so that they now seldom missed the way they came by. A few
+days after this they removed all their household stores--namely, the
+axe, the tin pot, bows and arrows, baskets, and bags of dried fruit,
+the dried venison and fish, and the deerskin; nor did they forget the
+deer-scalp, which they bore away as a trophy, to be fastened up over
+the door of their new dwelling, for a memorial of their first hunt on
+the shores of the Rice Lake. The skin was given to Catharine to sleep
+on.
+
+The boys were now busy from morning till night chopping down trees for
+house-logs. It was a work of time and labour, as the axe was blunt and
+the oaks hard to cut; but they laboured on without grumbling, and Kate
+watched the fall of each tree with lively joy. They were no longer
+dull; there was something to look forward to from day to day--they
+were going to commence housekeeping in good earnest; they would be
+warmly and well lodged before the bitter frosts of winter could come
+to chill their blood. It was a joyful day when the log walls of the
+little shanty were put up, and the door hewed out. Windows they had
+none, so they did not cut out the spaces for them; [Footnote: Many a
+shanty is put up in Canada without windows, and only an open space for
+a door, with a rude plank set up to close it in at night.] they could
+do very well without, as hundreds of Irish and Highland emigrants have
+done before and since.
+
+A pile of stones rudely cemented together with wet clay and ashes
+against the logs, and a hole cut in the roof, formed the chimney and
+hearth in this primitive dwelling. The chinks were filled with
+wedge-shaped pieces of wood, and plastered with clay: the trees, being
+chiefly oaks and pines, afforded no moss. This deficiency rather
+surprised the boys, for in the thick forest and close cedar-swamps
+moss grows in abundance on the north side of the trees, especially on
+the cedar, maple, beech, bass, and iron wood; but there were few of
+these, excepting a chance one or two in the little basin in front of
+the house. The roof was next put on, which consisted of split cedars.
+And when the little dwelling was thus far habitable, they were all
+very happy. While the boys had been putting on the roof, Catharine had
+collected the stones for the chimney, and cleared the earthen floor of
+the chips and rubbish with a broom of cedar boughs, bound together
+with a leathern thong. She had swept it all clean, carefully removing
+all unsightly objects, and strewing it over with fresh cedar sprigs,
+which gave out a pleasant odour and formed a smooth and not unseemly
+carpet for their little dwelling. How cheerful was the first fire
+blazing up on their own hearth! It was so pleasant to sit by its
+gladdening light, and chat away of all they had done and all that they
+meant to do! Here was to be a set of split cedar shelves, to hold
+their provisions and baskets; there a set of stout pegs was to be
+inserted between the logs, for hanging up strings of dried meat, bags
+of birch bark, or the skins of the animals they were to shoot or trap.
+A table was to be fixed on posts in the centre of the floor. Louis was
+to carve wooden platters and dishes, and some stools were to be made
+with hewn blocks of wood till something better could be devised. Their
+bedsteads were rough poles of ironwood, supported by posts driven into
+the ground, and partly upheld by the projection of the logs at the
+angles of the wall. Nothing could be more simple. The frame-work was
+of split cedar; and a safe bed was made by pine boughs being first
+laid upon the frame, and then thickly covered with dried grass, moss,
+and withered leaves. Such were the lowly but healthy couches on which
+these children of the forest slept.
+
+A dwelling so rudely framed and scantily furnished would be regarded
+with disdain by the poorest English peasant. Yet many a settler's
+family have I seen as roughly lodged, while a better house was being
+prepared for their reception; and many a gentleman's son has
+voluntarily submitted to privations as great as these from the love of
+novelty and adventure, or to embark in the tempting expectation of
+realizing money in the lumbering trade,--working hard, and sharing the
+rude log shanty and ruder society of those reckless and hardy men, the
+Canadian lumberers. During the spring, and summer months these men
+spread themselves through the trackless forests, and along the shores
+of nameless lakes and unknown streams, to cut the pine or oak
+lumber,--such being the name they give to the felled stems of
+trees,--which are then hewn, and in the winter dragged out upon the
+ice, where they are formed into rafts, and in spring floated down the
+waters till they reach the great St. Lawrence, and are, after
+innumerable difficulties and casualties, finally shipped for England.
+I have likewise known European gentlemen voluntarily leave the
+comforts of a civilized home and associate themselves with the Indian
+trappers and hunters, leading lives as wandering and as wild as the
+uncultivated children of the forest.
+
+The nights and early mornings were already growing sensibly more
+chilly. The dews at this season fall heavily, and the mists fill the
+valleys till the sun has risen with sufficient heat to draw up the
+vapours. It was a good thing that the shanty was finished so soon, or
+the exposure to the damp air might have been productive of ague and
+fever. Every hour almost they spent in making little additions to
+their household comforts, but some time was necessarily passed in
+trying to obtain provisions. One day Hector, who had been out from
+dawn till moonrise, returned with the welcome news that he had shot a
+young deer, and required the assistance of his cousin to bring it up
+the steep bank (it was just at the entrance of the great ravine) below
+the precipitous cliff near the lake: he had left old Wolfe to guard it
+in the meantime. They had now plenty of fresh broiled meat, and this
+store was very acceptable, as they were obliged to be very careful of
+the dried meat that they had.
+
+This time Catharine adopted a new plan. Instead of cutting the meat in
+strips, and drying it (or jerking it, as the lumberers term it), she
+roasted it before the fire, and hung it up, wrapping it in thin sheets
+of birch bark. The juices, instead of being dried up, were preserved,
+and the meat was more palatable. Catharine found great store of wild
+plums in a beautiful valley not far from the shanty; these she dried
+for the winter store, eating sparingly of them in their fresh state.
+She also found plenty of wild black currants and high-bush
+cranberries, on the banks of a charming creek of bright water that
+flowed between a range of high pine hills and finally emptied itself
+into the lake. There were great quantities of water-cresses in this
+pretty brook; they grew in bright, round, cushion-like tufts at the
+bottom of the water, and were tender and wholesome. These formed an
+agreeable addition to their diet, which had hitherto been chiefly
+confined to animal food, for they could not always meet with a supply
+of the bread-roots, as they grew chiefly in damp, swampy thickets on
+the lake shore, which were sometimes very difficult of access.
+However, they never missed any opportunity of increasing their stores,
+and laying up for the winter such roots as they could procure.
+
+As the cool weather and frosty nights drew on, the want of warm
+clothes and bed-covering became more sensibly felt; those they had
+were beginning to wear out. Catharine had managed to wash her clothes
+at the lake several times, and thus preserved them clean and
+wholesome; but she was often sorely puzzled how the want of her dress
+was to be supplied as time wore on, and many were the consultations
+she held with the boys on the important subject. With the aid of a
+needle she might be able to manufacture the skins of the small animals
+into some sort of jacket, and the doe-skin and deer-skin could be made
+into garments for the boys. Louis was always suppling and rubbing the
+skins to make them soft: they had taken off the hair by sprinkling it
+with wood ashes, and rolling it up with the hairy side inwards. Out of
+one of these skins he made excellent moccasins, piercing the holes
+with a sharpened bone bodkin, and passing the sinews of the deer
+through, as he had seen his father do, by fixing a stout fish-bone to
+the deer-sinew thread. Thus he had an excellent substitute for a
+needle; and, with the aid of the old file, he sharpened the point of
+the rusty nail, so that he was enabled, with a little trouble, to
+drill a hole in a bone needle for his cousin Catharine's use. After
+several attempts, he succeeded in making some of tolerable fineness,
+hardening them by exposure to a slow, steady degree of heat till she
+was able to work with them, and even mend her clothes with tolerable
+expertness. By degrees, Catharine contrived to cover the whole outer
+surface of her homespun woollen frock with squirrel and mink, musk-rat
+and woodchuck skins. A curious piece of fur patchwork of many hues and
+textures it presented to the eye,--a coat of many colours, it is true;
+but it kept the wearer warm, and Catharine was not a little proud of
+her ingenuity and industry,--every new patch that was added was a
+source of fresh satisfaction; and the moccasins that Louis fitted so
+nicely to her feet were great comforts. A fine skin that Hector
+brought triumphantly in one day, the spoil from a fox that had been
+caught in one of his dead-falls, was in due time converted into a
+dashing cap, the brush remaining as an ornament to hang down on one
+shoulder. Catharine might have passed for a small Diana when she went
+out, with her fur dress and bow and arrows, to hunt with Hector and
+Louis.
+
+Whenever game of any kind was killed, it was carefully skinned, and
+the fur stretched upon bent sticks, being first turned, so as to
+present the inner part to the drying action of the air. The young
+hunters were most expert in this work, having been accustomed for many
+years to assist their fathers in preparing the furs which they
+disposed of to the fur traders, who visited them from time to time,
+and gave them various articles in exchange for their peltries,--such
+as powder and shot, and cutlery of different kinds, as knives,
+scissors, needles, and pins, with gay calico and cotton handkerchiefs
+for the women.
+
+As the evenings lengthened, the boys employed themselves with carving
+wooden platters. Knives, and forks, and spoons they fashioned out of
+the larger bones of the deer, which they often found bleaching in the
+sun and wind, where they had been left by their enemies the wolves;
+baskets too they made, and birch dishes, which they could now finish
+so well that they held water or any liquid. But their great want was
+some vessel that would bear the heat of the fire; the tin pot was so
+small that it could be made little use of in the cooking way.
+Catharine had made tea of the leaves of the sweet fern,--a graceful
+woody fern, with a fine aromatic scent, like nutmegs. [Footnote:
+Comptoma asplenifolia, a small shrub of the sweet gale family.] This
+shrub is highly esteemed among the Canadians as a beverage, and also
+as a remedy against the ague. It grows in great abundance on dry sandy
+lands and wastes, by waysides.
+
+"If we could but make some sort of earthen pot that would stand the
+heat of the fire," said Louis, "we might get on nicely with cooking."
+
+But nothing like the sort of clay used by potters had been seen, and
+they were obliged to give up that thought and content themselves with
+roasting or broiling their food. Louis, however, who was fond of
+contrivances, made an oven, by hollowing out a place near the hearth
+and lining it with stones, filling up the intervals with wood ashes
+and such clay as they could find, beaten into a smooth mortar. Such
+cement answered very well, and the oven was heated by filling it with
+hot embers; these were removed when it was sufficiently heated, and
+the meat or roots placed within the oven being covered over with a
+flat stone previously heated before the fire and covered with hot
+embers. This sort of oven had often been described by old Jacob as one
+in common use among some of the Indian tribes in the Lower Province,
+in which they cook small animals; they could bake bread also in this
+oven, if they had had flour to use. [Footnote: This primitive oven is
+much like what voyagers have described as in use among the natives of
+many of the South Sea Islands.]
+
+Since the finishing of the house and furnishing it the young people
+were more reconciled to their lonely life, and even entertained
+decided home feelings for their little log cabin. They never ceased,
+it is true, to talk of their parents, and brothers, and sisters, and
+wonder if all were well, and whether they still hoped for their
+return, and to recall their happy days spent in the home which they
+now feared they were destined never again to behold. Nevertheless,
+they were becoming each day more cheerful and more active. Ardently
+attached to each other, they seemed bound together by a yet more
+sacred tie of brotherhood. They were now all the world to one another,
+and no cloud of disunion came to mar their happiness. Hector's
+habitual gravity and caution were tempered by Louis's lively vivacity
+and ardour of temper; and they both loved Catharine, and strove to
+smooth as much as possible the hard life to which she was exposed, by
+the most affectionate consideration for her comfort; and she, in
+return, endeavoured to repay them by cheerfully enduring all
+privations, and making light of all their trials, and taking a lively
+interest in all their plans and contrivances.
+
+Louis had gone out to fish at the lake one autumn morning. During his
+absence a sudden squall of wind came on, accompanied with heavy rain.
+As he stayed longer than usual, Hector began to feel uneasy lest some
+accident had befallen him, knowing his adventurous spirit, and that he
+had for some days previous been busy constructing a raft of cedar
+logs, which he had fastened together with wooden pins. This raft he
+had nearly finished, and was even talking of adventuring over to the
+nearest island to explore it, and see what game and roots and fruits
+it afforded.
+
+Bidding Catharine stay quietly within doors till his return, Hector
+ran off, not without some misgivings of evil having befallen his rash
+cousin, which fears he carefully concealed from his sister, as he did
+not wish to make her needlessly anxious. When he reached the shore,
+his mind was somewhat relieved by seeing the raft on the beach, just
+as it had been left the night before; but neither Louis nor the axe
+was to be seen, nor the fishing-rod and line.
+
+"Perhaps," thought he, "Louis has gone further down, to the mouth of
+the little creek in the flat east of this, where we caught our last
+fish; or maybe he has gone up to the old place at Pine-tree Point."
+
+While he yet stood hesitating within himself which way to turn, he
+heard steps as of some one running, and perceived his cousin hurrying
+through the bushes in the direction of the shanty. It was evident by
+his disordered air; and the hurried glances that he cast over his
+shoulder from time to time, that something unusual had occurred to
+disturb him.
+
+"Holloa, Louis! is it a bear, wolf, or catamount that is on your
+trail?" cried Hector; almost amused by the speed with which his cousin
+hurried onward. "Why, Louis, whither away?"
+
+Louis now turned and held up his hand, as if to enjoin silence, till
+Hector came up to him.
+
+"Why, man, what ails you? what makes you run as if you were hunted
+down by a pack of wolves?"
+
+"It is not wolves, or bears either," said Louis, as soon as he could
+get breath to speak; "but the Indians are all on Bare Hill, holding a
+war-council, I suppose, for there are several canoe-loads of them."
+
+"How came you to see them?"
+
+"I must tell you that when I parted from you and Cathy, instead of
+going down to my raft, as I thought at first I would do, I followed
+the deer-path through the little ravine, and then ascending the side
+of the valley, I crossed the birch grove, and kept down the slope
+within sight of the creek. While I was looking out upon the lake, and
+thinking how pretty the islands were, rising so green from the blue
+water, I was surprised by seeing several dark spots dotting the lake.
+At first, you may be sure, I thought they must be a herd of deer, only
+they kept too far apart, so I sat down on a log to watch, thinking if
+they turned out to be deer I would race off for you and Wolfe, and the
+bows and arrows, that we might try our chance for some venison; but as
+the black specks came nearer and nearer, I perceived they were canoes
+with Indians in them, three in each. One made for the mouth of the
+creek, and ran ashore among the thick bushes, while the others kept
+further along the shore. I watched them with a beating heart, and lay
+down flat, lest they should spy me out; for those fellows have eyes
+like catamounts, so keen and wild--they see everything without seeming
+to cast a glance on it. After closely examining what I suppose was one
+of our footmarks, I saw them wind up the ridge till they reached the
+Bare Hill. [Footnote: Supposed to be a council-hill. It is known by
+the name of Bare Hill, from the singular want of verdure on its
+surface, It is one of the steepest on the ridge above the little
+creek; being a picturesque object, with its fine pine-trees, seen from
+Mr. Hayward's grounds, and forms, I believe, a part of his property.]
+You remember that spot; we called it so from its barren appearance. In
+a few minutes a column of smoke rose and curled among the pine-trees,
+and then another and another, till I counted five fires burning
+brightly; and, as I stood on the high ground, I could distinguish the
+figures of many naked savages moving about, running to and fro like a
+parcel of black ants on a cedar log; and by-and-by I heard them raise
+a yell like a pack of ravenous wolves on a deer track. It made my
+heart leap up in my breast. I forgot all the schemes that had just got
+into my wise head of slipping quietly down and taking off one of the
+empty birch canoes, which you must own would have been a glorious
+thing for us; but when I heard the noise these wild wretches raised, I
+darted off, and ran as if the whole set were at my heels. I think I
+just saved my scalp." And Louis put his hand to his head, and tugged
+his thick black curls, as if to ascertain that they were still safe
+from the scalping-knives of his Indian enemies.
+
+"And now, Hec, what is to be done? We must hide ourselves from the
+Indians; they will kill us, or take us away with them, if they find
+us."
+
+"Let us go home and talk over our plans with Cathy."
+
+"Yes; for I have heard my father say two heads are better than one,
+and so three of course must be still better than two."
+
+"Why," said Hector, laughing, "it depends upon the stock of practical
+wisdom in the heads; for two fools, you know, Louis, will hardly form
+one rational plan."
+
+Various were the schemes devised for their security. Hector proposed
+pulling down the shanty and dispersing the logs, so as to leave no
+trace of the little dwelling; but to this neither his cousin nor his
+sister would agree. To pull down the new house that had cost them so
+much labour, and which had proved such a comfort to them, they could
+not endure even in idea.
+
+"Let us put out the fire, and hide ourselves in the big ravine below
+Mount Ararat; dig a cave in one of the hills, and convey our household
+goods thither." Such was Louis's plan.
+
+"The ravines would be searched directly," suggested Hector; "besides,
+the Indians know they are famous coverts for deer and game of all
+sorts: they might chance to pop upon us, and catch us like woodchucks
+in a burrow."
+
+"Yes, and burn us," said Catharine with a shudder. "I know the path
+that leads direct to the 'Happy Valley,' (the name she had given to
+the low flat now known as the 'Lower Race-course'), and it is not far
+from here, only ten minutes' walk in a straight line. We can conceal
+ourselves below the steep bank that we descended the other day; and
+there are several springs of fresh water, and plenty of nuts and
+berries; and the trees, though few, are so thickly covered with
+close-spreading branches that touch the very ground that we might hide
+ourselves from a hundred eyes, were they ever so cunning and prying."
+
+Catharine's counsel was deemed the most prudent, and the boys
+immediately busied themselves with hiding under the broken branches of
+a prostrate tree such articles as they could not conveniently carry
+away, leaving the rest to chance. With the most valuable they loaded
+themselves, guided by Catharine, who, with her dear old dog, marched
+forward along the narrow footpath that had been made by some wild
+animals, probably deer, in their passage from the lake to their
+feeding-place, or favourite covert, on the low sheltered plain, where,
+being quite open, and almost, in parts, free from trees, the grass and
+herbage was sweeter and more abundant, and the springs of water were
+fresh and cool.
+
+Catharine cast many a fearful glance through the brushwood as they
+moved onward, but saw no living thing, excepting a family of chitmunks
+gaily chasing each other along a fallen branch, and a covey of quails
+that were feeding quietly on the red berries of the _Mitchella
+repens_, or twinberry, [Footnote: Also partridge-berry and
+checker-berry, a lovely creeping winter-green, with white fragrant
+flowers and double scarlet berry.] as it is commonly called, of which
+the partridges and quails are extremely fond; for Nature with a
+liberal hand has spread abroad her bounties for the small denizens,
+furred or feathered, that haunt the Rice Lake and its flowery shores.
+
+After a continued but gentle ascent through the oak opening, they
+halted at the foot of a majestic pine, and looked round them. It was a
+lovely spot as any they had seen: from west to east, the lake, bending
+like a silver crescent, lay between the boundary hills of forest
+trees; in front, the long lines of undulating wood-covered heights
+faded away into mist, and blended with the horizon. To the east, a
+deep and fertile valley lay between the high lands on which they
+rested and the far ridge of oak hills. From their vantage height they
+could distinguish the outline of the Bare Hill, made more distinct by
+its flickering fires and the smoke wreaths that hung like a
+pearly-tinted robe among the dark pines that grew upon its crest. Not
+long tarrying did our fugitives make, though perfectly safe from
+detection by the distance and their shaded position, for many a
+winding vale and wood-crowned height lay between them and the
+encampment.
+
+But fear is not subject to the control of reason, and in the present
+instance it invested the dreaded Indians with superhuman powers of
+sight and of motion. A few minutes' hasty flight brought our
+travellers to the brow of a precipitous bank, nearly a hundred feet
+above the level open plain which they sought. Here, then, they felt
+comparatively safe: they were out of sight of the camp-fires, the spot
+they had chosen was open, and flight, in case of the approach of the
+Indians, not difficult, while hiding-places were easy of access. They
+found a deep, sheltered hollow in the bank, where two mighty pines had
+been torn up by the roots, and prostrated headlong down the steep,
+forming a regular cave, roofed by the earth and fibres that had been
+uplifted in their fall. Pendent from these roots hung a luxuriant
+curtain of wild grape-vines and other creepers, which formed a leafy
+screen, through which the most curious eye could scarcely penetrate.
+This friendly vegetable veil seemed as if provided for their
+concealment, and they carefully abstained from disturbing the pendent
+foliage, lest they should, by so doing, betray their hiding-place to
+their enemies. They found plenty of long grass, and abundance of long
+soft green moss and ferns near a small grove of poplars which
+surrounded a spring of fine water. They ate some dried fruit and
+smoked fish, and drank of the clear spring; and after they had said
+their evening prayers, they lay down to sleep, Catharine's head
+pillowed on the neck of her faithful guardian, Wolfe. In the middle of
+the night a startling sound, as of some heavy body falling, wakened
+them all simultaneously. The night was so dark they could see nothing,
+and, terror-stricken, they sat gazing into the impenetrable darkness
+of their cave, not even daring to speak to each other, hardly even to
+breathe. Wolfe gave a low grumbling bark, and resumed his couchant
+posture, as if nothing worthy of his attention was near to cause the
+disturbance. Catharine trembled and wept, and prayed for safety
+against the Indians and beasts of prey; and Hector and Louis listened,
+till they fell fast asleep in spite of their fears. In the morning, it
+seemed as if they had dreamed some terrible dream, so vague were their
+recollections of the fright they had had; but the cause was soon
+perceived. A large stone that had been heaved up with the clay that
+adhered to the roots and fibres had been loosened, and had fallen on
+the ground, close to the spot where Catharine lay. So ponderous was
+the mass, that had it struck her, death must have been the consequence
+of the blow; and Hector and Louis beheld it with fear and amazement,
+while Catharine regarded it as a proof of Divine mercy and protection
+from Him in whose hand her safety lay. The boys, warned by this
+accident, carefully removed several large stones from the roof, and
+tried the safety of the clay walls with a stout staff, to ascertain
+that all was secure, before they again ventured to sleep beneath this
+rugged canopy.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+"The soul of the wicked desireth evil: his neighbour findeth no favour
+in his eyes."--_Proverbs._
+
+
+For several days they abstained from lighting a fire, lest the smoke
+should be seen; but this the great height of the bank would have
+effectually prevented. They suffered much cold at night from the
+copious dew, which, even on sultry summer evenings, is productive of
+much chilling. They could not account for the fact that the air at
+night was much warmer on the high hills than in the low valleys; they
+were even sensible of a rush of heat as they ascended to the higher
+ground. These simple children had not been taught that it is the
+nature of the heated air to ascend, and its place to be supplied by
+the colder and denser particles. They noticed the effects, but
+understood nothing of the causes that ruled them.
+
+The following days they procured several partridges, but feared to
+cook them; however, they plucked them, split them open, and dried the
+flesh for a future day. A fox or raccoon, attracted by the smell of
+the birds, came one night and carried them off, for in the morning
+they were gone. They saw several herd of deer crossing the plain, and
+one day Wolfe tracked a wounded doe to a covert under the poplars,
+near a hidden spring, where she had lain herself down to die in peace,
+far from the haunts of her fellows. The arrow was in her throat; it
+was of white flint, and had evidently been sent from an Indian bow. It
+was almost with fear and trembling that they availed themselves of the
+venison thus providentially thrown in their way, lest the Indians
+should track the blood of the doe, and take vengeance on them for
+appropriating it for their own use. Not having seen anything of the
+Indians, who seemed to confine themselves to the neighbourhood of the
+lake, after many days had passed they began to take courage, and even
+ventured to light an evening fire, at which they cooked as much of the
+venison as would last them for several days, and hung the remaining
+portions above the smoke to preserve it from injury.
+
+One morning Hector proclaimed his intention of ascending the hills in
+the direction of the Indian camp. "I am tired of remaining shut up in
+this dull place, where we can see nothing but this dead-flat, bounded
+by those melancholy pines in the distance that seem to shut us in."
+
+Little did Hector know that beyond that dark ridge of pine hills lay
+the home of their childhood, and but a few miles of forest intervened
+to hide it from their sight. Had he known it, how eagerly would his
+feet have pressed onward in the direction of that dark barrier of
+evergreens!
+
+Thus is it often in this life: we wander on, sad and perplexed, our
+path beset with thorns and briers. We cannot see our way clear; doubts
+and apprehensions assail us. We know not how near we are to the
+fulfilment of our wishes; we see only the insurmountable barriers, the
+dark thickets and thorns of our way; and we know not how near we are
+to our Father's home, where he is waiting to welcome the wanderers of
+the flock back to the everlasting home, the fold of the Good Shepherd.
+
+Hector became impatient of the restraint that the dread of the Indians
+imposed upon his movements; he wanted to see the lake again, and to
+roam abroad free and uncontrolled.
+
+"After all," said he, "we never met with any ill-treatment from the
+Indians that used to visit us at Cold Springs; we may even find old
+friends and acquaintances among them."
+
+"The thing is possible, but not very likely," replied Louis.
+"Nevertheless, Hector, I would not willingly put myself in their
+power. The Indian has his own notion of things, and might think
+himself quite justified in killing us if he found us on his
+hunting-grounds. I have heard my father say--and he knows a great deal
+about these people--that their chiefs are very strict in punishing any
+strangers that they find killing game on their bounds uninvited. They
+are both merciless and treacherous when angered, and we could not even
+speak to them in their own language, to explain by what evil chance we
+came here."
+
+This was very prudent of Louis, uncommonly so, for one who was
+naturally rash and headstrong; but unfortunately Hector was inflexible
+and wilful. When once he had made up his mind upon any point, he had
+too good an opinion of his own judgment to give it up. At last he
+declared his intention, rather than remain a slave to such cowardly
+fears as he now deemed them, to go forth boldly, and endeavour to
+ascertain what the Indians were about, how many there were of them,
+and what real danger was to be apprehended from facing them.
+
+"Depend upon it," he added, "cowards are never safer than brave men.
+The Indians despise cowards, and would be more likely to kill us if
+they found us cowering here in this hole like a parcel of wolf-cubs,
+than if we openly faced them and showed that we neither feared them
+nor cared for them."
+
+"Hector, dear Hector, be not so rash!" cried his sister, passionately
+weeping. "Ah! if we were to lose you, what would become of us?"
+
+"Never fear, Kate; I will run into no needless danger. I know how to
+take care of myself. I am of opinion that the Indian camp is broken
+up; they seldom stay long in one place. I will go over the hills and
+examine the camp at a distance and the lake shore. You and Louis may
+keep watch for my return from the big pine that we halted under on our
+way hither."
+
+"But, Hector, if the savages should see you, and take you prisoner,"
+said Catharine, "what would you do?"
+
+"I will tell you what I would do. Instead of running away, I would
+boldly walk up to them, and by signs make them understand that I am no
+scout, but a friend in need of nothing but kindness and friendship. I
+never yet heard of the Indian that would tomahawk the defenceless
+stranger that sought his camp openly in peace and goodwill."
+
+"If you do not return by sunset, Hector, we shall believe that you
+have fallen into the hands of the savages," said Catharine, mournfully
+regarding her brother.
+
+"If it were not for Catharine," said Louis, "you should not go alone;
+but if evil were to befall this helpless one, her blood would be upon
+my head, who led her out with us, tempting her with false words."
+
+"Never mind that now, dearest cousin," said Catharine, tenderly laying
+her hand on his arm. "It is much better that we should have been all
+three together; I should never have been happy again if I had lost
+both Hec and you. It is better as it is; you and Hec would not have
+been so well off if I had not been with you to help you, and keep up
+your spirits by my songs and stories."
+
+"It is true; ma chere; but that is the reason that I am bound to take
+care of my little cousin, and I could not consent to exposing you to
+danger, or leaving you alone; so, if Hec will be so headstrong, I will
+abide by you."
+
+Hector was so confident that he should return in safety, that at last
+Louis and Catharine became more reconciled to his leaving them, and
+soon busied themselves in preparing some squirrels that Louis had
+brought in that morning.
+
+The day wore away slowly, and many were the anxious glances that
+Catharine cast over the crest of the high bank to watch for her
+brother's return. At last, unable to endure the suspense, she with
+Louis left the shelter of the valley; they ascended the high ground,
+and bent their steps to the trysting-tree, which commanded all the
+country within a wide sweep.
+
+A painful and oppressive sense of loneliness and desolation came over
+the minds of the cousins as they sat together at the foot of the pine,
+which cast its lengthened shadow upon the ground before them. The
+shades of evening were shrouding them, wrapping the lonely forest in
+gloom. The full moon had not yet risen, and they watched for the first
+gleam that should break above the eastern hills to cheer them as for
+the coming of a friend.
+
+Sadly these two poor lonely ones sat hand in hand, talking of the
+happy days of childhood, of the perplexing present and the uncertain
+future. At last, wearied out with watching and anxiety, Catharine
+leaned her head upon the neck of old Wolfe and fell asleep, while
+Louis restlessly paced to and fro in front of the sleeper; now
+straining his eyes to penetrate the surrounding gloom, now straining
+his ears to catch the first sound that might indicate the approach of
+his absent cousin.
+
+It was almost with a feeling of irritability that he heard the quick
+sharp note of the wakeful "whip-poor-will," as it flew from bough to
+bough of an old withered tree beside him. Another, and again another
+of these midnight watchers took up the monotonous never-varying cry of
+"Whip-poor-will, Whip-poor-will;" and then came forth, from many a
+hollow oak and birch, the spectral night-hawk from hidden dens, where
+it had lain hushed in silence all day from dawn till sunset. Sometimes
+their sharp hard wings almost swept his cheek as they wheeled round
+and round in circles, first narrow, then wide, and wider extending,
+till at last they soared far above the tallest tree-tops, and
+launching out in the high regions of the air, uttered from time to
+time a wild shrill scream, or hollow booming sound, as they suddenly
+descended to pounce with wide-extended throat upon some hapless moth
+or insect that sported all unheeding in mid-air, happily unconscious
+of the approach of so unerring a foe.
+
+Petulantly Louis chid these discordant minstrels of the night, and
+joyfully he hailed the first gush of moonlight that rose broad and
+full and red over the Oak Hills to the eastward.
+
+Louis envied the condition of the unconscious sleeper, who lay in
+happy forgetfulness of all her sorrows, her fair curls spread in
+unbound luxuriance over the dark shaggy neck of the faithful Wolfe,
+who seemed as if proud of the beloved burden that rested so trustingly
+upon him. Sometimes the careful dog just unclosed his large eyes,
+raised his nose from his shaggy paws, snuffed the night air, growled
+in a sort of undertone, and then dozed again, but watchfully.
+
+It would be no easy task to tell the painful feelings that agitated
+young Louis's breast. He was angry with Hector for having thus madly,
+as he thought, rushed into danger. "It was wilful and almost cruel,"
+he thought, "to leave them the prey of such tormenting fears on his
+account;" and then the most painful fears for the safety of his
+beloved companion took the place of less kindly thoughts, and sorrow
+filled his heart. The broad moon now flooded the hills and vales with
+light, casting broad checkering shadows of the old oaks' gray branches
+and now reddened foliage across the ground.
+
+Suddenly the old dog raises his head, and utters a short half-angry
+note: slowly and carefully he rises, disengaging himself gently from
+the form of the sleeping girl, and stands forth in the full light of
+the moon. It is an open cleared space, that mound beneath the
+pine-tree; a few low shrubs and seedling pines, with the slender
+waving branches of the late-flowering pearly-tinted asters, the
+elegant fringed gentian with open bells of azure blue, the last and
+loveliest of autumn flowers and winter-greens, brighten the ground
+with wreaths of shining leaves and red berries.
+
+Louis is on the alert, though as yet he sees nothing. It is not a full
+free note of welcome that Wolfe gives; there is something uneasy and
+half angry in his tone. Yet it is not fierce, like the bark of angry
+defiance he gives when wolf, or bear, or wolverine is near.
+
+Louis steps forward from the shadow of the pine branches to the edge
+of the inclined plane in the foreground. The slow tread of approaching
+steps is now distinctly heard advancing; it may be a deer.
+
+Two figures approach, and Louis moves a little within the shadow
+again. A clear shrill whistle meets his ear. It is Hector's whistle,
+he knows that, and assured by its cheerful tone, he springs forward,
+and in an instant is at his side, but starts at the strange companion
+that he half leads, half carries. The moonlight streams broad and
+bright upon the shrinking figure of an Indian girl apparently about
+the same age as Catharine: her ashy face is concealed by the long mass
+of raven black hair which falls like a dark veil over her features;
+her step is weak and unsteady, and she seems ready to sink to the
+earth with sickness or fatigue. Hector, too, seems weary. The first
+words that Hector said were, "Help me, Louis, to lead this poor girl
+to the foot of the pine: I am so tired I can hardly walk another
+step."
+
+Louis and his cousin together carried the Indian girl to the foot of
+the pine. Catharine was just rousing herself from sleep, and she gazed
+with a bewildered air on the strange companion that Hector had brought
+with him. The stranger lay down, and in a few minutes sank into a
+sleep so profound it seemed to resemble that of death itself. Pity and
+deep interest soon took the place of curiosity and dread in the heart
+of the gentle Catharine, and she watched the young stranger's slumber
+as tenderly as though she had been a sister or beloved friend, while
+Hector proceeded to relate in what manner he had encountered the
+Indian girl.
+
+"When I struck the high slope near the little birch grove we called
+the '_Birken Skaw_,' I paused to examine if the council-fires
+were still burning on Bare Hill; but there was no smoke visible,
+neither was there a canoe to be seen at the lake shore where Louis had
+described their landing-place at the mouth of the creek. All seemed as
+silent and still as if no human footstep had trodden the shore. I sat
+down and watched for nearly an hour, till my attention was attracted
+by a noble eagle, which was sailing in wide circles over the tall
+pine-trees on Bare Hill. Assured that the Indian camp was broken up,
+and feeling some curiosity to examine the spot more closely, I crossed
+the thicket of cranberries and cedars and small underwood that fringed
+the borders of the little stream, and found myself, after a little
+pushing and scrambling, among the bushes at the foot of the hill.
+
+"I thoughts it not impossible I might find something to repay me for
+my trouble, flint arrowheads, a knife, or a tomahawk; but I little
+thought of what these cruel savages had left there,--a miserable
+wounded captive, bound by the long locks of her hair to the stem of a
+small tree! Her hands and feet were fastened by thongs of deer-skin to
+branches of the tree, which had been bent downward for that purpose.
+Her position was a most painful one. She had evidently been thus left
+to perish by a miserable death of hunger and thirst; for these
+savages, with a fiendish cruelty, had placed within sight of their
+victim an earthen jar of water, some dried deers' flesh, and a cob
+[Footnote: A head of the maize, or Indian corn, is called a "cob."] of
+Indian corn. I have the corn here," he added, putting his hand in his
+breast and displaying it to view.
+
+"Wounded she was, for I drew this arrow from her shoulder," and he
+showed the flint head as he spoke, "and fettered. With food and drink
+in sight the poor girl was to perish, perhaps to become a living prey
+to the eagle that I saw wheeling above the hill-top. The poor thing's
+lips were black and parched with pain and thirst. She turned her eyes
+piteously from my face to the water-jar, as if to implore a draught.
+This I gave her; and then having cooled the festering wound, and cut
+the thongs that bound her, I wondered that she still kept the same
+immovable attitude, and thinking she was stiff and cramped with
+remaining so long bound in one position, I took her two hands and
+tried to induce her to move. I then for the first time noticed that
+she was tied by the hair of her head to the tree against which her
+back was placed. I was obliged to cut the hair with my knife; and this
+I did not do without giving her pain, as she moaned impatiently. She
+sank her head on her breast, and large tears fell over my hands as I
+bathed her face and neck with the water from the jar. She then seated
+herself on the ground, and remained silent and still for the space of
+an hour; nor could I prevail upon her to speak, or quit the seat she
+had taken. Fearing that the Indians might return, I watched in all
+directions, and at last I began to think it would be best to carry her
+in my arms; but this I found no easy task, for she seemed greatly
+distressed at any attempt I made to lift her, and by her gestures I
+fancied she thought I was going to kill her. At least my patience
+began to be exhausted, but I did not like to annoy her. I spoke to her
+as gently and soothingly as I could. By degrees she seemed to listen
+with more composure to me, though she evidently knew not a word of
+what I said to her. She rose at last, and taking my hands, placed them
+above her head, stooping low as she did so; and this seemed to mean
+she was willing at last to submit to my wishes. I lifted her from the
+ground and carried her for some little way; but she was too heavy for
+me. She then suffered me to lead her along whithersoever I would take
+her; but her steps were so slow and feeble through weakness, that many
+times I was compelled to rest while she recovered herself. She seems
+quite subdued now, and as quiet as a lamb."
+
+Catharine listened, not without tears of genuine sympathy, to the
+recital of her brother's adventures. She seemed to think he had been
+inspired by God to go forth that day to the Indian camp to rescue the
+poor forlorn one from so dreadful a death.
+
+Louis's sympathy was also warmly aroused for the young savage, and he
+commended Hector for his bravery and humanity.
+
+He then set to work to light a good fire, which was a great addition
+to their comfort as well as cheerfulness. They did not go back to
+their cave beneath the upturned trees to sleep, preferring lying, with
+their feet to the fire, under the shade of the pine. Louis, however,
+was despatched for water and venison for supper.
+
+The following morning, by break of day, they collected their stores,
+and conveyed them back to the shanty. The boys were thus employed
+while Catharine watched beside the wounded Indian girl, whom she
+tended with the greatest care. She bathed the inflamed arm with water,
+and bound, the cool healing leaves of the _tacamahac_ [Footnote:
+Indian balsam.] about it with the last fragment of her apron; she
+steeped dried berries in water, and gave the cooling drink to quench
+the fever-thirst that burned in her veins and glittered in her full
+soft melancholy dark eyes, which were raised at intervals to the race
+of her youthful nurse with a timid hurried glance, as if she longed
+yet feared to say, "Who are you that thus tenderly bathe my aching
+head, and strive to soothe my wounded limbs, and cool my fevered
+blood? Are you a creature like myself, or a being sent by the Great
+Spirit from the far-off happy land to which my fathers have gone, to
+smooth my path of pain, and lead me to those blessed fields of
+sunbeams and flowers where the cruelty of the enemies of my people
+will no more have power to torment me?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+  "Here the wren of softest note
+    Builds its nest and warbles well,
+  Here the blackbird strains his throat
+    Welcome, welcome to our cell."
+
+  --COLERIDGE.
+
+
+The day was far advanced before the sick Indian girl could be brought
+home to their sylvan lodge, where Catharine made up a comfortable
+couch for her with boughs and grass, and spread one of the deer-skins
+over it, and laid her down as tenderly and carefully as if she had
+been a dear sister. This good girl was overjoyed at having found a
+companion of her own age and sex. "Now," said she, "I shall no more be
+lonely, I shall have a companion and friend to talk to and assist me."
+But when she turned in the fulness of her heart to address herself to
+the young stranger, she felt herself embarrassed in what way to make
+her comprehend the words she used to express the kindness that she
+felt for her and her sorrow for her sufferings.
+
+The young stranger would raise her head, look intently at her as if
+striving to interpret her words, then sadly shake her head, and utter
+her words in her own plaintive language, but, alas! Catharine felt it
+was to her as a sealed book.
+
+She tried to recall some Indian words of familiar import that she had
+heard from the Indians when they came to her father's house, but in
+vain. Not the simplest phrase occurred to her, and she almost cried
+with vexation at her own stupidity. Neither was Hector or Louis more
+fortunate in attempts at conversing with their guest.
+
+At the end of three days the fever began to abate; the restless eye
+grew more steady in its gaze, the dark flush faded from the cheek,
+leaving it of a gray ashy tint, not the hue of health, such as even
+the swarthy Indian shows, but wan and pallid, her eyes bent mournfully
+on the ground.
+
+She would sit quiet and passive while Catharine bound up the long
+tresses of her hair, and smoothed them with her hands and the small
+wooden comb that Louis had cut for her use. Sometimes she would raise
+her eyes to her new friend's face with a quiet sad smile, and once she
+took her hands within her own and gently pressed them to her breast
+and lips and forehead, in token of gratitude; but she seldom gave
+utterance to any words, and would remain with her eyes fixed vacantly
+on some object which seemed unseen, or to awaken no idea in her mind.
+At such times the face of the young squaw, wore a dreamy apathy of
+expression, or rather it might with more propriety have been said the
+absence of all expression, almost as blank as that of an infant of a
+few weeks old.
+
+How intently did Catharine study that face, and strive to read what
+was passing within her mind! How did the lively intelligent Canadian
+girl, the offspring of a more intellectual race, long to instruct her
+Indian friend, to enlarge her mind by pointing out such things to her
+attention as she herself took interest in! She would then repeat the
+name of the object that she showed her several times over, and by
+degrees the young squaw learned the names of all the familiar
+household articles about the shanty, and could repeat them in her own
+soft plaintive tone; and when she had learned a new word, and could
+pronounce it distinctly, she would laugh, and a gleam of innocent joy
+and pleasure would lighten up her fine dark eyes, generally so fixed
+and sad-looking.
+
+It was Catharine's delight to teach her pupil to speak a language
+familiar to her own ears. She would lead her out among the trees, and
+name to her all the natural objects that presented themselves to view.
+And she in her turn mae "Indiana" (for so they named the young squaw,
+after a negress that she had heard her father tell of, a nurse to one
+of his colonel's infant children) tell her the Indian names for each
+object they saw. Indiana soon began to enjoy in her turn the amusement
+arising from instructing Catharine and the boys, and often seemed to
+enjoy the blunders they made in pronouncing the words she taught them.
+When really interested in anything that was going on, her eyes would
+beam out, and her smile gave an inexpressible charm to her face; for
+her lips were red, and her teeth even and brilliantly white, so purely
+white that Catharine thought she had never seen any so beautiful in
+her life before. At such times her face was joyous and innocent as a
+little child's; but there were also hours of gloom, that transformed
+it into an expression of sullen apathy. Then a dull glassy look took
+possession of her eye, the full lip drooped and the form seemed rigid
+and stiff. Obstinate determination neither to move nor speak
+characterized her in what Louis used to call the young squaw's "dark
+hour." Then it was that the savage nature seemed predominant, and her
+gentle nurse almost feared to look at her _protegee_ or approach
+her.
+
+"Hector," said Louis, "you spoke about a jar of water being left at
+the camp. The jar would be a great treasure to us. Let us go over for
+it." Hector assented to the proposal. "And we may possibly pick up a
+few grains of Indian corn, to add to what you showed us."
+
+"If we are here in the spring," said Hector, "you and I will prepare a
+small patch of ground and plant it with this corn;" and he sat down on
+the end of a log and began carefully to count the rows of grain on the
+cob, and then each corn, grain by grain. "Three hundred and ten sound
+grains. Now if every one of these produce a strong plant, we shall
+have a great increase, and besides seed for another year, there will
+be, if it is a good year, several bushels to eat."
+
+"We shall have a glorious summer, mon ami, no doubt, and a fine
+flourishing crop; and Kate is a good hand at making supporne."
+[Footnote: Supporne probably an Indian word for a stirabout, or
+porridge, made of Indian meal, a common dish in every Canadian or
+Yankee farmer's house.]
+
+"You forget we have no porridge pot."
+
+"I was thinking of that Indian jar all the time. You will see what
+fine cookery we will make when we get it, if it will but stand fire.
+Come, let us be off; I am impatient till we get it home;" and Louis,
+who had now a new crotchet at work in his fertile and vivacious brain,
+walked and danced along at a rate which proved a great disturbance to
+his graver companion, who tried to keep down his cousin's lively
+spirits by suggesting the probability of the jar being cracked, or
+that the Indians might have returned for it; but Louis was not one of
+the doubting sort, and was right in not damping the ardour of his mind
+by causeless fears. The jar was there at the deserted camp, and though
+it had been knocked over by some animal, it was sound and strong, and
+excited great speculation in the two cousins as to the particular
+material of which it was made, as it was unlike any sort of pottery
+they had ever before seen. It seemed to have been manufactured from
+some very dark red earth, or clay mixed up with pounded granite, as it
+presented the appearance of some coarse crystals. It was very hard and
+ponderous, and the surface was marked over in a rude sort of pattern,
+as if punctured and scratched with some pointed instrument. It seemed
+to have been hardened by fire, and, from the smoked hue of one side,
+had evidently done good service as a cooking utensil. Subsequently
+they learned the way in which it was used. [Footnote: Pieces of this
+rude pottery are often found along the shores of the inland lakes, but
+I have never met with any of the perfect vessels in use with the
+Indians, who probably find it now easier to supply themselves with
+iron pots and crockery from the towns of the European settlers.] The
+jar, being placed near but not on the fire, was surrounded by hot
+embers, and the water made to boil by stones being made red hot and
+plunged into it. In this way soups and other food were prepared and
+kept stewing, with no further trouble, after once the simmering began,
+than adding a few fresh embers at the side farthest from the fire. A
+hot stone, also, placed on the top, facilitated the cooking process.
+
+Louis, who like all French people was addicted to cookery,--indeed it
+was an accomplishment he prided himself on,--was enchanted with the
+improvement made in their diet by the acquisition of the said earthen
+jar, or pipkin, and gave Indiana some praise for initiating his cousin
+in the use of it. Catharine and Hector declared that he went out with
+his bow and arrows, and visited his dead-falls and snares, ten times
+oftener than he used to do, just for the sake of proving the admirable
+properties of this precious utensil, and finding out some new way of
+dressing his game.
+
+At all events, there was a valuable increase of furs, for making up
+into clothing, caps, leggings, mitts, and other articles.
+
+From the Indian girl Catharine learned the value of many of the herbs
+and shrubs that grew in her path, the bark and leaves of various
+trees, and many dyes she could extract, with which she stained the
+quills of the porcupine and the strips of the wood of which she made
+baskets and mats. The little creeping winter-green, [Footnote:
+Gaultheria procumbens,--spice winter-green.] with its scarlet berries,
+that grows on the dry flats or sandy hills, which the Canadians call
+spice-berry, she showed them was good to eat; and she would crush the
+leaves, draw forth their fine aromatic flavour in her hands, and then
+inhale their fragrance with delight. She made an infusion of the
+leaves, and drank it as a tonic. The inner bark of the wild black
+cherry she said was good to cure ague and fever. The root of the
+bitter-sweet she scraped down and boiled in the deer-fat, or the fat
+of any other animal, and made an ointment that possessed very healing
+qualities, especially as an immediate application to fresh burns.
+
+Sometimes she showed a disposition to mystery, and would conceal the
+knowledge of the particular herbs she made use of; and Catharine
+several times noticed that she would go out and sprinkle a portion of
+the food she had assisted her in preparing, on the earth, or under
+some of the trees or bushes. When she was more familiar with their
+language, she told Catharine this was done in token of gratitude to
+the Good Spirit, who had given them success in hunting or trapping; or
+else it was to appease the malice of the Evil Spirit; who might bring
+mischief or loss to them, or sickness or death, unless his forbearance
+was purchased by some particular mark of attention.
+
+Attention, memory, and imitation appeared to form the three most
+remarkable of the mental faculties developed by the Indian girl. She
+examined (when once her attention was roused) any object with critical
+minuteness. Any knowledge she had once acquired she retained; her
+memory was great, she never missed a path she had once trodden; she
+seemed even to single out particular birds in a flock, to know them
+from their companions. Her powers of imitation were also great. She
+brought patience and perseverance to assist her: when once thoroughly
+interested in any work she began, she would toil on untiringly till it
+was completed; and then what triumph shone in her eyes! At such times
+they became darkly brilliant with the joy that filled her heart. But
+she possessed little talent for invention; what she had seen done,
+after a few imperfect attempts, she could do again, but she rarely
+struck out any new path for herself.
+
+At times she was docile and even playful, and appeared grateful for
+the kindness with which she was treated, each day seemed to increase
+her fondness for Catharine, and she appeared to delight in doing any
+little service to please and gratify her; but it was towards Hector
+that she displayed the deepest feeling of affection and respect. It
+was to him her first tribute of fruit, or flowers, furs, moccasins, or
+ornamental plumage of rare birds, was offered. She seemed to turn to
+him as to a master and protector. He was in her eyes the "_chief_,"
+the head of his tribe. His bow was strung by her, and stained with
+quaint figures and devices; his arrows were carved by her; the sheath
+of deer-skin he carried his knife in was made and ornamented by her
+hands; also, the case for his arrows, of birch-bark, she wrought with
+especial neatness, and suspended by thongs to his neck when he was
+preparing to go out in search of game. She gave him the name of the
+"Young Eagle," while she called Louis "Nee-chee," or "Friend," to
+Catharine she gave the poetical name of "Music of the Winds,"--_Madwaosh_.
+
+When they asked her to tell them her own name, she would bend down her
+head in sorrow and refuse to pronounce it. She soon answered to the
+name of Indiana, and seemed pleased with the sound.
+
+But of all the household, next to Hector, old Wolfe was her greatest
+favourite. At first, it is true, the old dog regarded the new inmate
+with a jealous eye, and seemed uneasy when he saw her approach to
+caress him; but Indiana soon reconciled him to her person, and a
+mutual friendly feeling became established between them, which seemed
+daily and hourly to increase, greatly to the delight of the young
+stranger. She would seat herself Eastern fashion, cross-legged on the
+floor of the shanty, with the capacious head of the old dog in her
+lap, and address herself to this mute companion in wailing tones, as
+if she would unburden her heart by pouring into his unconscious ear
+her tale of desolation and woe.
+
+Catharine was always very particular and punctual in performing her
+personal ablutions, and she intimated to Indiana that it was good for
+her to do the same. The young girl seemed reluctant to follow her
+example, till daily custom had reconciled her to what she evidently at
+first regarded as an unnecessary ceremony; but she soon took pleasure
+in dressing her dark hair, and suffering Catharine to braid it and
+polish it till it looked glossy and soft. Indiana in her turn would
+adorn Catharine with the wings of the blue-bird or red-bird, the crest
+of the wood-duck, or quill feathers of the golden-winged flicker,
+which is called in the Indian tongue the shot-bird, in allusion to the
+round spots on its cream-coloured breast. [Footnote: The golden-winged
+flicker belongs to a sub-genus of woodpeckers, it is very handsome,
+and is said to be eatable, it lives on fruits and insects.] It was not
+in these things alone she indicated her grateful sense of the sisterly
+kindness that her young hostess showed to her; she soon learned to
+lighten her labours in every household work, and above all, she spent
+her time most usefully in manufacturing clothing from the skins of the
+wild animals, and in teaching Catharine how to fit and prepare them:
+but these were the occupations of the winter months.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+"Go to the ant."--Proverbs.
+
+
+It was now the middle of September. The weather, which had continued
+serene and beautiful for some time, with dewy nights and misty
+mornings, began to show symptoms of the change of season usual at the
+approach of the equinox. Sudden squalls of wind, with hasty showers,
+would come sweeping over the lake; the nights and mornings were damp
+and chilly. Already the tints of autumn were beginning to crimson the
+foliage of the oaks, and where the islands were visible, the splendid
+colours of the maple shone out in gorgeous contrast with the deep
+verdure of the evergreens and light golden-yellow of the poplar; but
+lovely as they now looked, they had not yet reached the meridian of
+their beauty, which a few frosty nights at the close of the month were
+destined to bring to perfection--a glow of splendour to gladden the
+eye for a brief space, before the rushing winds and rains of the
+following month were to sweep them away and scatter them abroad upon
+the earth.
+
+One morning, after a night of heavy rain and wind, the two boys went
+down to see if the lake was calm enough for trying the raft, which
+Louis had finished before the coming on of the bad weather. The water
+was rough and crested with mimic waves, and they felt indisposed to
+launch the raft on so stormy a surface, but stood looking out over the
+lake and admiring the changing foliage, when Hector pointed out to his
+cousin a dark speck dancing on the waters, between the two nearest
+islands. The wind, which blew very strong still from the north-east,
+brought the object nearer every minute. At first they thought it might
+be a pine-branch that was floating on the surface, when as it came
+bounding over the waves, they perceived that it was a birch canoe, but
+impelled by no visible arm. It was a strange sight upon that lonely
+lake to see a vessel of any kind afloat, and, on first deciding that
+it was a canoe, the boys were inclined to hide themselves among the
+bushes, for fear of the Indians; but curiosity got the better of their
+fears.
+
+"The owner of yonder little craft is either asleep or absent from her;
+for I see no paddle, and it is evidently drifting without any one to
+guide it," said Hector, after intently watching the progress of the
+tempest-driven canoe. Assured as it approached nearer that such was
+the case, they hurried to the beach just as a fresh gust had lodged
+the canoe among the branches of a fallen cedar which projected out
+some way into the water.
+
+By creeping along the trunk of the tree, and trusting at times to the
+projecting boughs, Louis, who was the most active and the lightest of
+weight, succeeded in getting within reach of the canoe, and with some
+trouble and the help of a stout branch that Hector handed to him, he
+contrived to moor her in safety on the shore, taking the precaution of
+hauling her well up on the shingle, lest the wind and water should set
+her afloat again. "Hec, there is something in this canoe, the sight of
+which will gladden your heart," cried Louis, with a joyful look. "Come
+quickly, and see my treasures!"
+
+"Treasures! You may well call them treasures," exclaimed Hector, as he
+helped Louis to examine the contents of the canoe and place them on
+the shore side by side.
+
+The boys could hardly find words to express their joy and surprise at
+the discovery of a large jar of parched rice, a tomahawk, an Indian
+blanket almost as good as new, a large mat rolled up, with a bass-bark
+rope several yards in length wound round it, and, what was more
+precious than all, an iron three-legged pot in which was a quantity of
+Indian corn. These articles had evidently constituted the stores of
+some Indian hunter or trapper: possibly the canoe had been imperfectly
+secured, and had drifted from its moorings during the gale of the
+previous night, unless by some accident the owner had fallen into the
+lake and been drowned. This was of course only a matter of conjecture
+on which it was useless to speculate, and the boys joyfully took
+possession of the good fortune that had so providentially been wafted,
+as it were, to their very feet.
+
+"It was a capital chance for us, that old cedar having been blown down
+last night just where it was," said Louis; "for if the canoe had not
+been drawn into the eddy, and stopped by the branches, we might have
+lost it. I trembled, when I saw the wind driving it on so rapidly,
+that it would founder in the deep water or go off to Long Island."
+
+"I think we should have got it at Pine-tree Point," said Hector; "but
+I am glad it was lodged so cleverly among the cedar boughs. I was half
+afraid you would have fallen in once or twice when you were trying to
+draw it nearer to the shore."
+
+"Never fear for me, my friend; I can cling like a wild cat when I
+climb. But what a grand pot! What delightful soups, and stews, and
+boils Catharine will make! Hurrah!" and Louis tossed up the new fur
+cap he had made with great skill from an entire fox-skin, and cut
+sundry fantastic capers which Hector gravely condemned as unbecoming
+his mature age (Louis was turned of fifteen); but with the joyous
+spirit of a little child he sang and danced, and laughed and shouted,
+till the lonely echoes of the islands and far-off hills returned the
+unusual sounds, and even his more steady cousin caught the infection
+and laughed to see Louis so elated.
+
+Leaving Hector to guard the prize, Louis ran gaily off to fetch
+Catharine to share his joy and come and admire the canoe, and the
+blanket, and the tripod, and the corn, and the tomahawk. Indiana
+accompanied them to the lake shore, and long and carefully she
+examined the canoe and its contents, and many were the plaintive
+exclamations she uttered as she surveyed the things piece by piece,
+till she took notice of the broken handle of an Indian paddle which
+lay at the bottom of the vessel: this seemed to afford some solution
+to her of the mystery, and by broken words and signs she intimated
+that the paddle had possibly broken in the hand of the Indian, and
+that in endeavouring to regain the other part, he had lost his balance
+and been drowned. She showed Hector a rude figure of a bird engraved
+with some sharp instrument, and rubbed in with a blue colour. This she
+said was the totem or crest of the chief of the tribe, and was meant
+to represent a _crow_. The canoe had belonged to a chief of that name.
+
+While they were dividing the contents of the canoe among them to be
+carried to the shanty, Indiana, taking up the bass-rope and the
+blanket, bundled up the most of the things, and adjusting the broad
+thick part of the rope to the front of her head, she bore off the
+burden with as great apparent ease as a London or an Edinburgh porter
+would his trunks and packages, turning round with a merry glance and
+repeating some Indian words with a lively air as she climbed the steep
+bank, and soon distanced her companions, to her great delight. That
+night Indiana cooked some of the parched rice, Indian fashion, with
+venison, and they enjoyed the novelty very much; it made an excellent
+substitute for bread, of which they had been so long deprived.
+
+Indiana gave them to understand that the rice harvest would soon be
+ready on the lake, and that now they had got a canoe, they would go
+out and gather it, and so lay by a store to last them for many months.
+
+This little incident furnished the inhabitants of the shanty with
+frequent themes for discussion. Hector declared that the Indian corn
+was the most valuable of their acquisitions. "It will insure us a crop
+and bread and seed-corn for many years," he said. He also highly
+valued the tomahawk, as his axe was worn and blunt. Louis was divided
+between the iron pot and the canoe. Hector seemed to think the raft
+might have formed a substitute for the latter, besides, Indiana had
+signified her intention of helping him to make a canoe. Catharine
+declared in favour of the blanket, as it would make, after thorough
+ablutions, warm petticoats with tight bodices for herself and Indiana.
+With deer-skin leggings and a fur jacket, they should be comfortably
+clad. Indiana thought the canoe the most precious, and was charmed
+with the good jar and the store of rice; nor did she despise the
+packing-rope, which she soon showed was of use in carrying burdens
+from place to place, Indian fashion. By placing a pad of soft fur in
+front of the head, she could carry heavy loads with great ease. The
+mat, she said, would be useful for drying the rice she meant to store.
+
+The next day after this adventure, the two girls set to work, and with
+the help of Louis's large knife, which was called into requisition as
+a substitute for scissors, they cut out the blanket dresses, and in a
+short time made two comfortable and not very unsightly garments. The
+full, short, plaited skirts reached a little below the knees; light
+vests, bordered with fur, completed the upper part; and leggings,
+terminated at the ankles by knotted fringes of doeskin, with moccasins
+turned over with a band of squirrel fur, completed the novel costume;
+and many a glance of innocent satisfaction did our young damsels cast
+upon each other, when they walked forth in the pride of girlish vanity
+to display their dresses to Hector and Louis, who, for their part,
+regarded them as most skilful dressmakers, and were never tired of
+admiring and commending their ingenuity in the making and fitting,
+considering what rude implements they were obliged to use in the
+cutting out and sewing of the garments.
+
+The extensive rice-beds on the lake had now begun to assume a golden
+tinge, which contrasted very delightfully with the deep-blue waters,
+looking, when lighted up by the sunbeams, like islands of
+golden-coloured sand. The ears, heavy laden with the ripe grain,
+drooped towards; the water. The time of the rice-harvest was at hand,
+and with light and joyous hearts our young adventurers launched the
+canoe, and, guided in their movements by the little squaw, paddled to
+the extensive aquatic fields to gather it in, leaving Catharine and
+Wolfe to watch their proceedings from the raft, which Louis had
+fastened to a young tree that projected out over the lake, and which
+made a good landing-place, likewise a wharf where they could stand and
+fish very comfortably. As the canoe could not be overloaded on account
+of the rice-gathering, Catharine very readily consented to employ
+herself with fishing from the raft till their return.
+
+The manner of procuring the rice was very simple. One person steered
+the canoe with the aid of the paddle along the edge of the rice-beds,
+and another with a stick in one hand, and a curved sharp-edged paddle
+in the other, struck the heads off as they bent them over the edge of
+the stick; the chief art was in letting the heads fall into the canoe,
+which a little practice soon enabled them to do as expertly as the
+mower lets the grass fall in ridges beneath his scythe.
+
+Many bushels of wild rice were thus collected. Nothing could be more
+delightful than this sort of work to our young people, and merrily
+they worked, and laughed and sang as they came home each day with
+their light bark laden with a store of grain which they knew would
+preserve them from starving through the long, dreary winter that was
+coming on.
+
+The canoe was a source of great comfort and pleasure to them. They
+were now able to paddle out into the deep water and fish for
+masquinonje and black bass, which they caught in great numbers.
+Indiana seemed quite another creature when, armed with a paddle of her
+own carving, she knelt at the head of the canoe and sent it flying
+over the water; then her dark eyes, often so vacant and glassy,
+sparkled with delight, and her teeth gleamed with ivory whiteness as
+her face broke into smiles and dimples.
+
+It was delightful then to watch this child of nature, and see how
+innocently happy she could be when rejoicing in the excitement of
+healthy exercise, and elated by a consciousness of the power she
+possessed of excelling her companions in feats of strength and skill
+which they had yet to acquire by imitating her.
+
+Even Louis was obliged to confess that the young savage knew more of
+the management of a canoe, and the use of the bow and arrow and the
+fishing-line, than either himself or his cousin. Hector was lost in
+admiration of her skill in all these things, and Indiana rose highly
+in his estimation, the more he saw of her usefulness.
+
+"Every one to his craft," said Louis, laughing. "The little squaw has
+been brought up in the knowledge and practice of such matters from her
+babyhood; perhaps if we were to set her to knitting and spinning,
+milking cows, and house-work, and learning to read, I doubt if she
+would prove half as quick as Catharine or Mathilde."
+
+"I wonder if she knows anything of God or our Saviour," said Hector
+thoughtfully.
+
+"Who should have taught her? for the Indians are all heathens,"
+replied Louis.
+
+"I have heard my dear mother say the missionaries have taken great
+pains to teach the Indian children about Quebec and Montreal, and that
+so far from being stupid, they learn very readily," said Catharine.
+
+"We must try and make Indiana learn to say her prayers. She sits quite
+still, and seems to take no notice of what we are doing when we kneel
+down before we go to bed," observed Hector.
+
+"She cannot understand what we say," said Catharine; "for she knows so
+little of our language yet, that of course she cannot comprehend the
+prayers, which are in other sort of words than what we use in speaking
+of hunting, and fishing, and cooking, and such matters."
+
+"Well, when she knows more of our way of speaking, then we must teach
+her. It is a sad thing for Christian children to live with an untaught
+pagan," said Louis, who, being rather bigoted in his creed, felt a
+sort of uneasiness in his own mind at the poor girl's total want of
+the rites of his church; but Hector and Catharine regarded her
+ignorance with feelings of compassionate interest, and lost no
+opportunity of trying to enlighten her darkened mind on the subject of
+belief in the God who made and the Lord who saved them. Simply and
+earnestly they entered into the task as a labour of love; and though
+for a long time Indiana seemed to pay little attention to what they
+said, by slow degrees the good seed took root and brought forth fruit
+worthy of Him whose Spirit poured the beams of spiritual light into
+her heart. But my young readers must not imagine these things were the
+work of a day: the process was slow, and so were the results, but they
+were good in the end.
+
+Catharine was glad when, after many months of patient teaching, the
+Indian girl asked permission to kneel down with her white friend and
+pray to the Great Spirit and his Son in the same words that Christ
+Jesus gave to his disciples; and if the full meaning of that holy
+prayer, so full of humility and love and moral justice, was not fully
+understood by her whose lips repeated it, yet even the act of worship
+and the desire to do that which she had been told was right were,
+doubtless, sacrifices better than the pagan rites which that young
+girl had witnessed among her father's people, who, blindly following
+the natural impulse of man in his depraved nature, regarded bloodshed
+and cruelty as among the highest of human virtues, and gloried in
+those deeds of vengeance at which the Christian mind revolts with
+horror.
+
+Indiana took upon herself the management of the rice, drying, husking,
+and storing it, the two lads working under her direction. She caused
+several forked stakes to be cut, sharpened, and driven into the
+ground. On these were laid four poles, so as to form a frame. Over it
+she stretched the bass-mat, which she secured by means of forked pegs
+to the frame. On the mat she then spread out the rice thinly, and
+lighted a fire beneath, taking good care not to let the flame set fire
+to the mat, the object being rather to keep up a strong, slow heat by
+means of the red embers. She next directed the boys to supply her with
+pine or cedar boughs, which she stuck in close together, so as to
+enclose the fire within the area of the stakes. This was done to
+concentrate the heat and cause it to bear upwards with more power, the
+rice being frequently stirred with a sort of long-handled, flat
+shovel. After the rice was sufficiently dried, the next thing to be
+done was separating it from the husk. This was effected by putting it,
+in small quantities, into the iron pot, and with a sort of wooden
+pestle or beetle rubbing it round and round against the sides.
+[Footnote: The Indians often make use of a very rude, primitive sort
+of mortar, by hollowing out a bass-wood stump, and rubbing the rice
+with a wooden pounder.] If they had not had the iron pot, a wooden
+trough must have been substituted in its stead.
+
+When the rice was husked, the loose chaff was winnowed from it in a
+flat basket like a sieve; and it was then put by in coarse birch
+baskets, roughly sewed with leather-wood bark, or bags made of matting
+woven by the little squaw from the cedar-bark. A portion was also
+parched, which was simply done by putting the rice dry into the iron
+pot, and setting it on hot embers, stirring the grain till it burst;
+it was then stored by for use. Rice thus prepared is eaten dry, as a
+substitute for bread, by the Indians.
+
+The lake was now swarming with wild-fowl of various kinds: crowds of
+ducks were winging their way across it from morning till night,
+floating in vast flocks upon its surface, or rising in noisy groups if
+an eagle or fish-hawk appeared sailing with slow, majestic circles
+above them, then settling down with noisy splash upon the calm water.
+The shores, too, were covered with these birds, feeding on the fallen
+acorns which fell ripe and brown with every passing breeze.
+
+The berries of the dogwood also furnished them with food; but the wild
+rice seemed the great attraction, and small shell-fish and the larvae
+of many insects that had been dropped into the waters, there to come
+to perfection in due season, or to form a provision for myriads of
+wild-fowl that had come from the far north-west to feed upon them,
+guided by that instinct which has so beautifully been termed by one of
+our modern poetesses,--
+
+  "God's gift to the weak." [Footnote: Mrs. Southey.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+  "Oh, come and hear what cruel wrongs
+   Befell the Dark Ladye"--COLERIDGE.
+
+
+The Mohawk girl was in high spirits at the coming of the wild-fowl to
+the lake; she would clap her hands and laugh with almost childish glee
+as she looked at them darkening the lake like clouds resting on its
+surface. "If I had but my father's gun, his good old gun, now!" would
+Hector say, as he eyed the timorous flocks as they rose and fell upon
+the lake; "but these foolish birds are so shy they are away before an
+arrow can reach them."
+
+Indiana smiled in her quiet way; she was busy filling the canoe with
+green boughs, which she arranged so as completely to transform the
+little vessel into the semblance of a floating island of evergreen.
+Within this bower she motioned Hector to crouch down, leaving a small
+space for the free use of his bow; while concealed at the prow she
+gently and noiselessly paddled the canoe from the shore among the
+rice-beds, letting it remain stationary or merely rocking to and fro
+with the undulatory motion of the waters.
+
+The unsuspecting birds, deceived into full security, eagerly pursued
+their pastime or their prey, and it was no difficult matter for the
+hidden archer to hit many a black duck, or teal, or whistlewing, as it
+floated securely on the placid water, or rose to shift its place a few
+yards up or down the stream. Soon the lake around was strewed with the
+feathered game, which Wolfe, cheered on by Louis who was stationed on
+the shore, brought to land.
+
+Indiana told Hector that this was the season when the Indians made
+great gatherings on the lake for duck-shooting, which they pursued
+much after the same fashion as that which has been described, only
+instead of one, a dozen or more canoes would be thus disguised with
+boughs, with others stationed at different parts of the lake, or under
+the shelter of the island, to collect the birds. This sport generally
+concluded with a great feast.
+
+The Indians offered the first of the birds as an oblation to the Great
+Spirit, as a grateful acknowledgment of his bounty in having allowed
+them to gather food thus plentifully for their families. Sometimes
+distant tribes with whom they were on terms of friendship were invited
+to share the sport and partake of the spoils.
+
+Indiana could not understand why Hector did not follow the custom of
+her Indian fathers, and offer the first duck or the best fish to
+propitiate the Great Spirit. Hector told her that the God he
+worshipped desired no sacrifice; that his holy Son, when he came down
+from heaven and gave himself as a sacrifice for the sin of the world,
+had satisfied his Father, the Great Spirit, an hundredfold.
+
+They feasted now continually upon the water-fowl, and Catharine
+learned from Indiana how to skin them, and so preserve the feathers
+for making tippets, and bonnets, and ornamental trimmings, which are
+not only warm, but light and very becoming. They split open the birds
+they did not require for present consumption, and dried them for
+winter store, smoking some after the manner the Shetlanders and the
+Orkney people smoke the solan geese. Their shanty displayed an
+abundant store of provisions--fish, flesh, and fowl, besides baskets
+of wild rice and bags of dried fruit.
+
+One day Indiana came in from the brow of the hill, and told the boys
+that the lake eastward was covered with canoes, she showed, by holding
+up her two hands and then three fingers, that she had counted
+thirteen. The tribes had met for the annual duck-feast and the
+rice-harvest. She advised them to put out the fire, so that no smoke
+might be seen to attract them, but said they would not leave the lake
+for hunting over the plains just then, as the camp was lower down on
+the point [Footnote: This point, commonly known as _Andersen's Point_,
+now the seat of an Indian village, used in former times to be a great
+place of rendezvous for the Indians, and was the scene of a murderous
+carnage or massacre that took place about eighty years ago; the war
+weapons and bones of the Indians are often turned up with the plough
+at this day.] east of the mouth of a big river, which she called
+"Otonabee."
+
+Hector asked Indiana if she would go away and leave them in the event
+of meeting with any of her own tribe. The girl cast her eyes on the
+earth in silence; a dark cloud seemed to gather over her face.
+
+"If they should prove to be any of your father's people, or a friendly
+tribe, would you go away with them?" he again repeated; to which she
+solemnly replied,--
+
+"Indiana has no father, no tribe, no people; no blood of her father
+warms the heart of any man, woman, or child, saving herself alone. But
+Indiana is a brave, and the daughter of a brave, and will not shrink
+from danger: her heart is warm; red blood flows warm here," and she
+laid her hand on her heart. Then lifting up her hand, she said in slow
+but impassioned tone, "They left not one drop of living blood to flow
+in any veins but these." She raised her eyes, and stretched her arms
+upwards toward heaven, as though calling down vengeance on the
+murderers of her father's house.
+
+"My father was a Mohawk, the son of a great chief, who owned these
+hunting-grounds far as your eye can see to the rising and setting sun,
+along the big waters of the big lakes; but the Ojebwas, a portion of
+the Chippewa nation, by treachery cut off my father's people by
+hundreds in cold blood, when they were defenceless and at rest. It was
+a bloody day and a bloody deed."
+
+Instead of hiding herself, as Hector and Louis strongly advised the
+young Mohawk to do, she preferred remaining, as a scout, she said,
+under the cover of the bushes on the edge of the steep that overlooked
+the lake, to watch the movements of the Indians. She told Hector to be
+under no apprehension if they came to the hut; not to attempt to
+conceal themselves, but offer them food to eat and water to drink. "If
+they come to the house and find you away, they will take your stores
+and burn your roof, suspecting that you are afraid to meet them
+openly; but they will not harm you if you meet them with open hand and
+fearless brow: if they eat of your bread, they will not harm you; me
+they would kill by a cruel death--the war-knife is in their heart
+against the daughter of the brave."
+
+The boys thought Indiana's advice good, and they felt no fear for
+themselves, only for Catharine, whom they counselled to remain in the
+shanty with Wolfe.
+
+The Indians, intent only on the sport which they had come to enjoy,
+seemed in high glee, and apparently peaceably disposed; every night
+they returned to the camp on the north side. The boys could see their
+fires gleaming among the trees on the opposite shore; and now and
+then, in the stillness of the evening, their wild shouts of revelry
+would come faintly to their ears, borne by the breeze over the waters
+of the lake.
+
+The allusion that Indiana had made to her own history, though conveyed
+in broken and hardly intelligible language, had awakened feelings of
+deep interest for her in the breasts of her faithful friends. Many
+months after this she related to her wondering auditors the fearful
+story of the massacre of her kindred, which I will now relate, as I
+have raised the curiosity of my youthful readers.
+
+There had been for some time a jealous feeling existing between the
+chiefs of two principal tribes of the Ojebwas and the Mohawks, which
+like a smothered fire had burned in the heart of each without having
+burst into a decided blaze; for each strove to compass his ends and
+obtain the advantage over the other by covert means. The tribe of the
+Mohawks of which I now speak claimed the southern shores of the Rice
+Lake for their hunting-grounds, and certain islands and parts of the
+lake for fishing, while that of the Ojebwas considered themselves
+masters of the northern shores and certain rights of water besides.
+[Footnote: The facts of this narrative were gathered from the lips of
+the eldest son of a Rice Lake chief. I have preferred giving it in the
+present form, rather than as the story of the Indian girl. Simple as
+it is, it is matter of history.] Possibly it was about these rights
+that the quarrel originated; but if so, it was not openly avowed
+between the "Black Snake" (that was the totem borne by the Mohawk
+chief) and the "Bald Eagle" (the totem of the Ojebwa).
+
+These chiefs had each a son, and the Bald Eagle had also a daughter of
+great and rare beauty, called by her people the "Beam of the Morning."
+She was the admiration of Mohawks as well as Ojebwas, and many of the
+young men of both the tribes had sought her hand, but hitherto in
+vain. Among her numerous suitors, the son of the Black Snake seemed to
+be the most enamoured of her beauty; and it was probably with some
+intention of winning the favour of the young Ojebwa squaw for his son,
+that the Black Snake accepted the formal invitation of the Bald Eagle
+to come to his hunting-grounds during the rice-harvest, and shoot deer
+and ducks on the lake, and to ratify a truce which had been for some
+time set on foot between them. But while outwardly professing
+friendship and a desire for peace, inwardly the fire of hatred burned
+fiercely in the breast of the Black Snake against the Ojebwa chief and
+his only son, a young man of great promise, renowned among his tribe
+as a great hunter and warrior, but who had once offended the Mohawk
+chief by declining a matrimonial alliance with one of the daughters of
+a chief of inferior rank who was closely connected to him by marriage.
+This affront rankled in the heart of the Black Snake, though outwardly
+he affected to have forgiven and forgotten the slight that had been
+put upon his relative.
+
+The hunting had been carried on for some days very amicably, when one
+day the Bald Eagle was requested, with all due attention to Indian
+etiquette, to go to the wigwam of the Black Snake. On entering the
+lodge, he perceived the Mohawk strangely disordered: he rose from his
+mat, on which he had been sleeping, with a countenance fearfully
+distorted, his eyes glaring hideously, his whole frame convulsed and
+writhing as in fearful bodily anguish; and casting himself upon the
+ground he rolled and grovelled on the earth, uttering frightful yells
+and groans.
+
+The Bald Eagle was moved at the distressing state in which he found
+his guest, and asked the cause of his disorder, but this the other
+refused to tell. After some hours the fit appeared to subside, but the
+chief remained moody and silent. The following day the same scene was
+repeated; and on the third, when the fit seemed to have increased in
+bodily agony, with great apparent reluctance, wrung seemingly from him
+by the importunity of his host, he consented to reveal the cause,
+which was, that the Bad Spirit had told him that these bodily tortures
+could not cease till the only son of his friend, the Ojebwa chief, had
+been sacrificed to appease his anger, neither could peace long
+continue between the two nations until this deed had been done; and
+not only must the chief's son be slain, but his flesh must be served
+up at a feast at which the father must preside. The Black Snake
+affected the utmost horror and aversion at so bloody and unnatural a
+deed being committed to save his life and the happiness of his tribe,
+but the peace was to be ratified for ever if the sacrifice were
+made,--if not, war to the knife was to be ever between the Mohawks and
+Ojebwas.
+
+The Bald Eagle, seeing that his treacherous guest would make this an
+occasion of renewing a deadly warfare, for which possibly he was not
+at the time well prepared, assumed a stoical calmness, and replied,--
+
+"Be it so; great is the power of the Bad Spirit to cause evil to the
+tribes of the chiefs that rebel against his will. My son shall be
+sacrificed by my hand, that the evil one may be appeased, and that the
+Black Snake's body may have ease, and his people rest beside the fires
+of their lodges in peace."
+
+"The Bald Eagle has spoken like a chief with a large heart," was the
+specious response of the wily Mohawk, "moreover, the Good Spirit also
+appeared, and said, 'Let the Black Snake's son and the Bald Eagle's
+daughter become man and wife, that peace may be found to dwell among
+the lodges, and the war-hatchet be buried for ever.'"
+
+"The Beam of the Morning shall become the wife of the Young Pine," was
+the courteous answer; but stern revenge lay deep hidden beneath the
+unmoved brow and passionless lip.
+
+The fatal day arrived. The Bald Eagle, with unflinching hand and eye
+that dropped no human tear of sorrow for the son of his love, saw his
+son bound to the fatal post and pierced by the arrows of his own
+tribe. The fearful feast of human flesh was prepared, and the old
+chief, pale but unmoved, presided over the ceremonies. The war-dance
+was danced round the sacrifice, and all went off well, as if no such
+horrible rite had been enacted, but a fearful retribution was at hand.
+The Young Pine sought the tent of the Bald Eagle's daughter that
+evening, and was received with all due deference, as a son of so great
+a chief as the Black Snake merited. He was regarded now as a
+successful suitor; and, intoxicated with the beauty of the Beam of the
+Morning, he pressed her to allow the marriage to take place in a few
+days. The bride consented, and a day was named for the wedding feast
+to be celebrated; and, that due honour might be given to so great an
+event, invitations were sent out to the principal families of the
+Mohawk tribe, and these amounted to several hundreds of souls; while
+the young Ojebwa hunters were despatched up the river and to different
+parts of the country, avowedly to collect venison, beaver, and other
+delicacies, to regale their guests, but in reality to summon, by means
+of trusty scouts, a large war-party from the small lakes, to be in
+readiness to take part in the deadly revenge that was preparing for
+their enemies.
+
+Meantime the squaws had pitched the nuptial tent and prepared the
+bridal ornaments. A large wigwam, capable of containing all the
+expected guests, was then constructed, adorned with the thick branches
+of evergreens, so artfully contrived as to be capable of concealing
+the armed Ojebwas and their allies, who in due time were introduced
+beneath this leafy screen, armed with the murderous tomahawk and
+scalping-knife, with which to spring upon their defenceless and
+unsuspecting guests. According to the etiquette always observed upon
+such occasions, all deadly weapons were left outside the tent. The
+bridegroom had been conducted with songs and dancing to the tent of
+the bride. The guests, to the number of several hundred naked and
+painted warriors, were assembled. The feast was declared to be ready.
+A great iron pot or kettle occupied the centre of the tent. According
+to the custom of the Indians, the father of the bridegroom was invited
+to lift the most important dish from the pot, whilst the warriors
+commenced their war-dance around him. This dish was usually a bear's
+head, which was fastened to a string left for the purpose of raising
+it from the pot.
+
+"Let the Black Snake, the great chief of the Mohawks, draw up the head
+and set it on the table, that his people may eat and make merry, and
+that his wise heart may be glad," were the scornful words of the Bald
+Eagle.
+
+A yell of horror burst from the lips of the horror-stricken father as
+he lifted to view the fresh gory head of his only son, the _happy_
+bridegroom the lovely daughter of the Ojebwa chief.
+
+"Ha!" shouted the Bald Eagle, "is the great chief of the Mohawks a
+squaw, that his blood grows white and his heart trembles at the sight
+of his son, the bridegroom of the Beam of the Morning? The Bald Eagle
+gave neither sigh nor groan when he saw the arrows pierce the heart of
+his child. Come, brother, take the knife; taste the flesh and drink
+the blood of thy son. The Bald Eagle shrank not when you bade him
+partake of the feast that was prepared from his young warrior's body."
+
+The wretched father dashed himself upon the earth, while his cries and
+howlings rent the air. These cries were answered by the war-whoop of
+the ambushed Ojebwas, as they sprang to their feet and with deafening
+yells attacked the guests, who, panic-stricken, naked and defenceless,
+fell an easy prey to their infuriated enemies. Not one living foe
+escaped to tell the tale of that fearful marriage feast. A second
+Judith had the chief's daughter proved. It was her plighted hand that
+had severed the head of her unsuspecting bridegroom, to complete the
+fearful vengeance that had been devised in return for the merciless
+and horrible murder of her brother.
+
+Nor was the sacrifice yet finished; for with fearful cries the Indians
+seized upon the canoes of their enemies, and with the utmost speed,
+urged by unsatisfied revenge, hurried down the lake to an island where
+the women and children and such of the aged or young men as were not
+included among the wedding guests were encamped in unsuspecting
+security. Panic-stricken, the Mohawks offered no resistance, but fell
+like sheep appointed for the slaughter. The Ojebwas slew there the
+gray-head with the infant of days. But while the youths and old men
+tamely yielded to their enemies, there was one who, her spirit roused
+to fury by the murder of her father, armed herself with the war-club
+and knife, and boldly withstood the successful warriors. At the door
+of the tent of the slaughtered chief the Amazon defended her children.
+While the war lightning kindled in her dark eyes, she called aloud in
+scornful tones to her people to hide themselves in the tents of their
+women, who alone were braves, and would fight their battles. Fiercely
+she taunted the men; but they shrank from the unequal contest, and she
+alone was found to deal the death-blow upon the foe, till, overpowered
+with numbers, and pierced with frightful wounds, she fell singing her
+own death-song and raising the wail for the dead who lay around her.
+Night closed in, but the work of blood still continued. Lower down
+they found another encampment, and there also they slew all the
+inhabitants of the lodges. They then returned to the island, to gather
+together their dead and to collect the spoils of the tents. They were
+weary with the fatigue of the slaughter of that fearful day. The
+retribution had satisfied even their love of blood. And when they
+found, on returning to the spot where the heroine had stood at bay, a
+young solitary female sitting beside the corpse of that dauntless
+woman, her mother, they led her away, and did all that their savage
+nature could suggest to soften her anguish and dry her tears. They
+brought her to the tents of their women, clothed and fed her, and bade
+her be comforted; but her young heart burned within her, and she
+refused consolation. She could not forget the wrongs of her people:
+she was the only living creature left of the Mohawks on that island.
+The young girl was Indiana--the same whom Hector Maxwell had found,
+wounded and bound, and ready to perish with hunger and thirst, on Bare
+Hill.
+
+Brooding with revenge in her heart, the young girl told them that she
+had stolen into the tent of the Bald Eagle, and aimed a knife at his
+throat; but the fatal blow was arrested by one of the young men, who
+had watched her enter the old chief's tent. A council was called, and
+she was taken to Bare Hill, bound, and left in the sad state already
+described.
+
+It was with feelings of horror and terror that the Christian children
+listened to this fearful tale, and Indiana read in their averted eyes
+and pale faces the feelings with which the recital of the tale of
+blood had inspired them. And then it was, as they sat beneath the
+shade of the trees, in the soft, misty light of an Indian summer moon,
+that Catharine, with simple earnestness, taught her young disciple
+those heavenly lessons of mercy and forgiveness which her Redeemer had
+set forth by his life, his doctrines, and his death--telling her that
+if she, would see that Saviour's face in heaven, and dwell with him in
+joy and peace for ever, she must learn to pray for those dreadful men
+who had made her fatherless and motherless and her home a desolation;
+and that the fire of revenge must be quenched within her heart, and
+replaced by the spirit of love, or she could not become a child of God
+and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven. How hard were these
+conditions to the young heathen! how contrary to her nature, to all
+that she had been taught in the tents of her fathers, where revenge
+was virtue, and to take the scalp of an enemy a glorious thing!
+
+Yet when she contrasted the gentle, kind, and dove-like characters of
+her Christian friends with the fierce, bloody people of her tribe and
+of her Ojebwa enemies, she could not but own they were more worthy of
+love and admiration. Had they not found her a poor, miserable,
+trembling captive, unbound her, fed and cherished her, pouring the
+balm of consolation into her wounded heart, drawing her in bands of
+tenderest love to forsake those wild and fearful passions that warred
+in her soul, and bringing her to the feet of the Saviour, to become
+his meek and holy child--a lamb of his "extended fold"? [Footnote: The
+Indian who related this narrative to the author was a son of a Rice
+Lake chief, Mosang Pondash by name. He vouched for its truth as a
+historic fact remembered by his father, whose grandsire had been one
+of the actors in the massacre.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+"The horn of the hunter is heard on the hill"
+
+_Irish Song_
+
+
+While the Indians were actively pursuing their sports on the lake,
+shooting wildfowl, and hunting and fishing by torchlight, so exciting
+was the amusement of watching them that the two lads, Hector and
+Louis, quite forgot all sense of danger in the enjoyment of lying or
+sitting on the brow of the mount near the great ravine and looking at
+their proceedings. Once or twice the lads were near betraying
+themselves to the Indians by raising a shout of delight at some
+skilful manoeuvre that excited their unqualified admiration and
+applause.
+
+At night, when the canoes had all retired to the camp on the north
+shore, where the Indians assembled under the boughs of some venerable
+trees, and round the evening fires related the deeds of the preceding
+day, and all fear of detection had ceased for the time, they lighted
+up their own shanty fire, and cooked a good supper, and also prepared
+a sufficiency of food for the morrow. The Indians remained for a
+fortnight. At the end of that time Indiana, who was a watchful spy on
+their movements, told Hector and Louis that the camp was broken up,
+and the Indians had gone up the river, and would not return again for
+some weeks. The departure of the Indians was a matter of great
+rejoicing to Catharine, whose dread of these savages had greatly
+increased since she had been made acquainted with the fearful deeds
+which Indiana had described.
+
+Once, and only once during their stay, the Indians had passed within a
+short distance of their dwelling; but they were in full chase of a
+bear, which had been seen crossing the deep ravine near Mount Ararat,
+and were too intent upon their game to notice the shanty; for they
+never turned out of their path, and Catharine, who was alone at the
+time, drawing water from the spring, was so completely concealed by
+the high bank above her that she had quite escaped their notice.
+Fortunately, Indiana gave the two boys a signal to conceal themselves,
+where, effectually hidden among the thick, gray, mossy trunks of the
+cedars at the lake shore, they remained secure from molestation; while
+the Indian girl dropped noiselessly down among the tangled thicket of
+wild vines and brushwood, which she drew cautiously over her, and
+closed her eyes, lest, as she naively remarked, their glitter should
+be seen and betray her to her enemies.
+
+It was a moment of intense anxiety to our poor wanderers, whose
+terrors were more excited on behalf of the young Mohawk than for
+themselves, and they congratulated her on her escape with affectionate
+warmth.
+
+"Are my white brothers afraid to die?" was the young squaw's
+half-scornful reply. "Indiana is the daughter of a brave; she fears
+not to die."
+
+The latter end of September and the first week in October had been
+stormy and even cold. The rainy season, however, was now over. The
+nights were often illuminated by the aurora borealis, which might be
+seen forming an arch of soft and lovely brightness over the lake to
+the north and north-eastern portions of the horizon, or shooting
+upwards, in ever-varying shafts of greenish light, now hiding, now
+revealing the stars, which shone with softened radiance through the
+silvery veil that dimmed their beauty. Sometimes for many nights
+together the same appearance might be seen, and was usually the
+forerunner of frosty weather, though occasionally it was the precursor
+of cold winds and heavy rains.
+
+The Indian girl regarded it with superstitious feelings, but whether
+as an omen of good or evil she would not tell. On all matters
+connected with her religious notions she was shy and reserved, though
+occasionally she unconsciously revealed them. Thus the warnings of
+death or misfortunes were revealed to her by certain ominous sounds in
+the woods, the appearance of strange birds or animals, or the moanings
+of others. The screeching of the owl, the bleating of the doe, or
+barking of the fox, were evil auguries, while the flight of the eagle
+and the croaking of the raven were omens of good. She put faith in
+dreams, and would foretell good or evil fortune from them; she could
+read the morning and evening clouds, and knew from various appearances
+of the sky, or the coming or departing of certain birds or insects,
+changes in the atmosphere. Her ear was quick in distinguishing the
+changes in the voices of the birds or animals; she knew the times of
+their coming and going, and her eye was quick to see, as her ear to
+detect sounds. Her voice was soft, and low, and plaintive, and she
+delighted in imitating the little ballads or hymns that Catharine
+sang; though she knew nothing of their meaning, she would catch the
+tunes and sing the song with Catharine, touching the hearts of her
+delighted auditors by the melody and pathos of her voice.
+
+The season called Indian summer had now arrived. The air was soft and
+mild, almost oppressively warm; the sun looked red as though seen
+through the smoke-clouds of a populous city. A soft blue haze hung on
+the bosom of the glassy lake, which reflected on its waveless surface
+every passing shadow, and the gorgeous tints of its changing woods on
+shore and island. Sometimes the stillness of the air was relieved by a
+soft sighing wind, which rustled the dying foliage as it swept by.
+
+The Indian summer is the harvest of the Indian tribes. It is during
+this season that they hunt and shoot the wild-fowl that come in their
+annual flights to visit the waters of the American lakes and rivers;
+it is then that they gather in their rice, and prepare their winter
+stores of meat, and fish, and furs. The Indian girl knew the season
+they would resort to certain hunting-grounds. They were constant, and
+altered not their customs, as it was with their fathers, so it was
+with them.
+
+Louis had heard so much of the Otonabee river from Indiana that he was
+impatient to go and explore the entrance and the shores of the lake on
+that side, which hitherto they had not ventured to do for fear of
+being surprised by the Indians. "Some fine day," said Louis, "we will
+go out in the canoe, explore the distant islands, and go up the river
+a little way."
+
+Hector advised visiting all the islands by turns, beginning at the
+little islet which looks in the distance like a boat in full sail, it
+is level with the water, and has only three or four trees upon it. The
+name they had given to it was "Ship Island." The Indians have some
+name for it which I have forgotten, but it means, I have been told,
+"Witch Island." Hector's plan met with general approbation, and they
+resolved to take provisions with them for several days, and visit the
+islands and go up the river, passing the night under the shelter of
+the thick trees on the shore wherever they found a pleasant
+halting-place.
+
+The weather was mild and warm, the lake was as clear and calm as a
+mirror, and in joyous mood our little party embarked and paddled up
+the lake, first to Ship Island; but this did not detain them many
+minutes. They then went to Grape Island, which they so named from the
+abundance of wild vines, now rich with purple clusters of the ripe
+grapes--tart, but still not to be despised by our young adventurers,
+and they brought away a large birch basket heaped up with the fruit.
+"Ah, if we had but a good cake of maple sugar now, to preserve our
+grapes with, and make such grape jelly as my mother makes!" said
+Louis.
+
+"If we find out a sugar-bush we will manage to make plenty of sugar,"
+said Catharine; "there are maples not two hundred yards from the
+shanty, near the side of the steep bank to the east. You remember the
+pleasant spot, which we named the Happy Valley, where the bright creek
+runs dancing along so merrily, below the pine-ridge?"
+
+"Oh yes; the same that winds along near the foot of Bare Hill, where
+the water-cresses grow."
+
+"Yes, where I gathered the milk-weed the other day."
+
+"What a beautiful pasture-field that will make when it is cleared!"
+said Hector thoughtfully.
+
+"Hector is always planning about fields, and clearing great farms,"
+said Louis, laughing. "We shall see Hec a great man one of these days;
+I think he has in his own mind brushed, and burned, and logged up all
+the fine flats and table-land on the plains before now--ay, and
+cropped it all with wheat, and pease, and Indian corn."
+
+"We will have a clearing and a nice field of corn next year, if we
+live," replied Hector; "that corn that we found in the canoe will be a
+treasure."
+
+"Yes; and the corn-cob you got on Bare Hill," said Catharine. "How
+lucky we have been! We shall be so happy when we see our little field
+of corn flourishing round the shanty! It was a good thing, Hec, that
+you went to the Indian camp that day, though both Louis and I were
+very miserable while you were absent; but, you see, God must have
+directed you, that the life of this poor girl might be saved, to be a
+comfort to us. Everything has prospered well with us since she came to
+us. Perhaps it is because we try to make a Christian of her, and so
+God blesses all our endeavours."
+
+"We are told," said Hector, "that there is joy with the angels of God
+over one sinner that repenteth: doubtless, it is a joyful thing when
+the heathen, that knew not the name of God, are taught to glorify his
+holy name."
+
+Indiana, while exploring, had captured a porcupine. She declared that
+she should have plenty of quills for edging baskets and moccasins;
+besides, she said, the meat was white and good to eat. Hector looked
+with a suspicious eye upon the little animal, doubting the propriety
+of eating its flesh, though he had learned to eat musk-rats, and
+consider them good meat, baked in Louis's Indian oven, or roasted on a
+forked stick before the fire. The Indian porcupine is a small animal,
+not a very great deal larger than the common British hedgehog; the
+quills, however, are longer and stronger, and varied with alternate
+clouded marks of pure white and dark brownish-gray; they are minutely
+barbed, so that if one enters the flesh it is with difficulty
+extracted, but will work through of itself in an opposite direction,
+and can then be easily pulled out. Dogs and cattle often suffer great
+inconvenience from getting their muzzles filled with the quills of the
+porcupine, the former when worrying the poor little animal, and the
+latter by accidentally meeting a dead one among the herbage; great
+inflammation will sometimes attend the extraction. Indians often lose
+valuable hounds from this cause. Besides porcupines, Indiana told her
+companions, there were some fine butter-nut trees (_Juglans cinerea_)
+on the island, and they could collect a bagful of nuts in a very short
+time. This was good news, for the butter-nut is sweet and pleasant,
+almost equal to the walnut, of which it is a species.
+
+The day was passed pleasantly enough in collecting nuts and grapes;
+but as this island did not afford any good cleared spot for passing
+the night, and moreover, was tenanted by black snakes, several of
+which made their appearance among the stones near the edge of the
+water, they agreed by common counsel to go to Long Island, where
+Indiana said there was an old log-house, the walls of which were still
+standing, and where there was dry moss in plenty which would make them
+a comfortable bed for the night. This old log-house, she said, had
+been built, she had heard the Indians say, by a French Canadian
+trapper, who used to visit the lake some years ago. He was on friendly
+terms with the chiefs, who allowed him many privileges, and he bought
+their furs, and took them down the lake, through the river Trent, to
+some station-house on the great lake. They found they should have time
+enough to land and deposit their nuts and grapes and paddle to Long
+Island before sunset. Upon the western part of this fine island they
+had several times landed and passed some hours, exploring its shores;
+but Indiana told them that to reach the old log-house they must enter
+the low swampy bay to the east, at an opening which she called Indian
+Cove. To do this required some skill in the management of the canoe,
+which was rather overloaded for so light a vessel, and the trees grew
+so close and thick that they had some difficulty in pushing their way
+through them without injuring its frail sides. These trees or bushes
+were chiefly black alder (_Alnus incuna_), high-bush cranberries
+(_Viburnum opulus_), dogwood, willows, as they proceeded further,
+there was ground of a more solid nature, with cedar, poplar, swamp
+oak, and soft maple, silver birch, and wild cherries. Long strings of
+silver-gray tree-moss hung dangling over their heads, the bark and
+roots of the birch and cedars were covered with a luxuriant growth of
+green moss, but there was a dampness and closeness in this place that
+made it far from wholesome. The little band of voyagers were not sorry
+when the water became too shallow to admit of the canoe making its way
+through the swampy channel, and they landed on the bank of a small
+circular pond, as round as a ring, and nearly surrounded by tall trees
+hoary with moss and lichens; large water-lilies floated on the surface
+of this miniature lake; the brilliant red berries of the high-bush
+cranberry and the purple clusters of grapes festooned the trees. "A
+famous breeding-place this must be for ducks," observed Louis.
+
+"And for flowers," said Catharine, "and for grapes and cranberries.
+There is always some beauty or some usefulness to be found, however
+lonely the spot."
+
+"A fine place for musk-rats, and minks, and fishes," said Hector,
+looking round. "The old trapper knew what he was about when he made
+his lodge near this pond. And there, sure enough, is the log-hut, and
+not so bad a one either;" and scrambling up the bank he entered the
+deserted little tenement, well pleased to find it in tolerable repair.
+There were the ashes on the stone hearth, just as it had been left
+years back by the old trapper; some rough-hewn shelves, a rude
+bedstead of cedar poles still occupied a corner of the little
+dwelling; heaps of old dry moss and grass lay upon the ground; and the
+little squaw pointed with one of her silent laughs to a collection of
+broken egg-shells, where some wild-duck had sat and hatched her downy
+brood among the soft materials which she had found and appropriated to
+her own purpose. The only things pertaining to the former possessor of
+the log-hut were an old, rusty, battered tin pannikin, now, alas!
+unfit for holding water; a bit of a broken earthen whisky jar; a rusty
+nail, which Louis pocketed, or rather pouched--for he had substituted
+a fine pouch of deer-skin for his worn-out pocket; and a fishing-line
+of good stout cord, which was wound on a splinter of red cedar, and
+carefully stuck between one of the rafters and the roof of the shanty.
+A rusty but efficient hook was attached to the line, and Louis, who
+was the finder, was quite overjoyed at his good fortune in making so
+valuable an addition to his fishing tackle. Hector got only an odd
+worn-out moccasin, which he threw into the little pond in disdain:
+while Catharine declared she would keep the old tin pot as a relic,
+and carefully deposited it in the canoe.
+
+As they made their way into the interior of the island, they found
+that there were a great many fine sugar maples, which had been tapped
+by some one--as the boys thought, by the old trapper, but Indiana, on
+examining the incisions in the trees, and the remnants of birch-bark
+vessels that lay moldering on the earth below them, declared them to
+have been the work of her own people, and long and sadly did the young
+girl look upon these simple memorials of a race of whom she was the
+last living remnant. The young girl stood there in melancholy mood, a
+solitary, isolated being, with no kindred tie upon the earth to make
+life dear to her; a stranger in the land of her fathers, associating
+with those whose ways were not her ways, nor their thoughts her
+thoughts, whose language was scarcely known to her, whose God was not
+the god of her fathers. Yet the dark eyes of the Indian girl were not
+dimmed with tears as she thought of these things, she had learned of
+her people to suffer and be still.
+
+Silent and patient she stood, with her melancholy gaze bent on the
+earth, when she felt the gentle hand of Catharine laid upon her arm,
+and then kindly and lovingly passed round her neck, as she
+whispered,--
+
+"Indiana, I will be to you as a sister, and will love you and cherish
+you, because you are an orphan girl and alone in the world; but God
+loves you, and will make you happy. He is a Father to the fatherless,
+and the Friend of the destitute and them that have no helper."
+
+The words of kindness and love need no interpretation; no
+book-learning is necessary to make them understood. The young, the
+old, the deaf, the dumb, the blind can read this universal language;
+its very silence is often more eloquent than words,--the gentle
+pressure of the hand, the half-echoed sigh, the look of sympathy will
+penetrate to the very heart, and unlock its hidden stores of human
+tenderness and love. The rock is smitten and the waters gush forth, a
+bright and living stream, to refresh and fertilize the thirsty soul.
+
+The heart of the poor mourner was touched; she bowed down her head
+upon the hand that held her so kindly in its sisterly grasp, and wept
+soft, sweet, human tears full of grateful love, while she whispered,
+in her own low, plaintive voice, "My white sister, I kiss you in my
+heart; I will love the God of my white brothers, and be his child."
+
+The two friends now busied themselves in preparing the evening meal:
+they found Louis and Hector had lighted up a charming blaze on the
+desolate hearth. A few branches of cedar, twisted together by
+Catharine, made a serviceable broom, with which she swept the floor,
+giving to the deserted dwelling a neat and comfortable aspect; some
+big stones were quickly rolled in, and made to answer for seats in the
+chimney-corner. The new-found fishing-line was soon put into
+requisition by Louis, and with very little delay a fine dish of black
+bass, broiled on the embers, was added to their store of dried venison
+and roasted bread-roots, which they found in abundance on a low spot
+on the island. Grapes and butter-nuts, which Hector cracked with a
+stone by way of a nutcracker, finished their sylvan meal. The boys
+then stretched themselves to sleep on the ground, with their feet,
+Indian fashion, to the fire; while Catharine and Indiana occupied the
+mossy couch which they had newly spread with fragrant cedar and
+hemlock boughs.
+
+The next island that claimed their attention was Sugar-Maple Island, a
+fine, thickly-wooded island, rising with steep, rocky banks from the
+water. A beautiful object, but too densely wooded to admit of our
+party penetrating beyond a few yards of its shores.
+
+The next island they named the Beaver, [Footnote: Commonly called
+Sheep Island, from some person having pastured a few sheep upon it
+some few years ago. I have taken the liberty of preserving the name,
+to which it bears an obvious resemblance, the nose of the Beaver lies
+towards the west, the tail to the east.] from its resemblance in shape
+to that animal. A fine, high, oval island beyond this they named Black
+Island, [Footnote: Black Island, the sixth from the head of the lake;
+an oval island, remarkable for its evergreens.] from its dark
+evergreens. The next was that which seemed most to excite the interest
+of their Indian guide, although but a small stony island, scantily
+clothed with trees, lower down the lake. This place she called Spoke
+Island, which means in the Indian tongue "a place for the dead." It is
+sometimes called Spirit Island; and here, in times past, the Indian
+people used to bury their dead. The island is now often the resort of
+parties of pleasure, who, from its being grassy and open, find it more
+available than those which are densely wooded. The young Mohawk
+regarded it with feelings of superstitious awe, and would not suffer
+Hector to land the canoe on its rocky shore.
+
+"It is a place of spirits," she said; "the ghosts of my fathers will
+be angry if we go there." Even her young companions felt that they
+were upon sacred ground, and gazed with silent reverence upon the
+burial isle.
+
+Strongly imbued with a love of the marvellous, which they had derived
+from their Highland origin, Indiana's respect for the spirits of her
+ancestors was regarded as most natural, and in silence, as if fearing
+to disturb the solemnity of the spot, they resumed their paddles, and
+after a while reached the mouth of the river Otonabee, which was
+divided into two separate channels by a long, low point of swampy
+land, covered with stunted, mossy bushes and trees, rushes, driftwood,
+and aquatic plants. Indiana told them this river flowed from the
+north, and that it was many days' journey up to the lakes. To
+illustrate its course, she drew with her paddle a long line, with
+sundry curves and broader spaces, some longer, some smaller, with bays
+and inlets, which she gave them to understand were the chain of lakes
+that she spoke of. There were beautiful hunting-grounds on the borders
+of these lakes, and many fine waterfalls and rocky islands; she had
+been taken up to these waters during the time of her captivity. The
+Ojebwas, she said, were a branch of the great Chippewa nation, who
+owned much land and great waters thereabouts.
+
+Compared with the creeks and streams that they had seen hitherto, the
+Otonabee appeared a majestic river, and an object of great admiration
+and curiosity, for it seemed to them as if it were the highroad
+leading up to an unknown, far-off land,--a land of dark, mysterious,
+impenetrable forests,--flowing on, flowing on, in lonely majesty,
+reflecting on its tranquil bosom the blue sky, the dark pines and gray
+cedars, the pure ivory-white water-lily, and every passing shadow of
+bird or leaf that flitted across its surface, so quiet was the onward
+flow of its waters.
+
+A few brilliant leaves yet clung to the soft maples and crimson-tinted
+oaks, but the glory of the forest had departed; the silent fall of
+many a sere and yellow leaf told of the death of summer and of
+winter's coming reign. Yet the air was wrapped in a deceitful
+stillness; no breath of wind moved the trees or dimpled the water.
+Bright wreaths of scarlet berries and wild grapes hung in festoons
+among the faded foliage. The silence of the forest was unbroken, save
+by the quick tapping of the little midland woodpecker or the shrill
+scream of the blue jay, the whirring sound of the large white-and-gray
+duck (called by the frequenters of these lonely waters the
+whistlewing) as its wings swept the waters in its flight, or the light
+dripping of the paddle,--so still, so quiet was the scene.
+
+As the day was now far advanced, the Indian girl advised them either
+to encamp for the night on the river-bank or to use all speed in
+returning. She seemed to view the aspect of the heavens with some
+anxiety. Vast volumes of light, copper-tinted clouds were rising; the
+sun, seen through its hazy veil, looked red and dim; and a hot, sultry
+air, unrelieved by a breath of refreshing wind, oppressed our young
+voyagers. And though the same coppery clouds and red sun had been seen
+for several successive days, a sort of instinctive feeling prompted
+the desire in all to return, and, after a few minutes' rest and
+refreshment, they turned their little bark towards the lake; and it
+was well that they did so. By the time they had reached the middle of
+the lake, the stillness of the air was rapidly changing; the
+rose-tinted clouds, that had lain so long piled upon each other in
+mountainous ridges, began to move upwards, at first slowly, then with
+rapidly accelerated motion. There was a hollow moaning in the
+pine-tops; and by fits a gusty breeze swept the surface of the water,
+raising it into rough, short, white-crested ridges.
+
+These signs were pointed out by Indiana as the harbingers of a rising
+hurricane; and now a swift spark of light, like a falling star,
+glanced on the water, as if there to quench its fiery light. Again the
+Indian girl raised her dark hand and pointed to the rolling
+storm-clouds, to the crested waters and the moving pine-tops; then to
+the head of the Beaver Island,--it was the one nearest to them. With
+an arm of energy she wielded the paddle, with an eye of fire she
+directed the course of their little vessel; for well she knew their
+danger and the need for straining every nerve to reach the nearest
+point of land. Low muttering peals of thunder were now heard; the wind
+was rising with electric speed. Away flew the light bark, with the
+swiftness of a bird, over the water; the tempest was above, around,
+and beneath. The hollow crash of the forest trees as they bowed to the
+earth could be heard sullenly sounding from shore to shore. And now
+the Indian girl, flinging back her black streaming hair from her brow,
+knelt at the head of the canoe and with renewed vigour plied the
+paddle. The waters, lashed into a state of turbulence by the violence
+of the storm, lifted the canoe up and down; but no word was spoken;
+they each felt the greatness of the peril, but they also knew that
+they were in the hands of Him who can say to the tempest-tossed waves,
+"Peace, be still," and they obey him.
+
+Every effort was made to gain the nearest island; to reach the
+mainland was impossible, for the rain poured down a blinding deluge.
+It was with difficulty the little craft was kept afloat by baling out
+the water; to do this, Louis was fain to use his cap, and Catharine
+assisted with the old tin pot which she had fortunately brought from
+the trapper's shanty. The tempest was at its height when they reached
+the nearest point of the Beaver, and joyful was the grating sound of
+the canoe as it was vigorously pushed up on the shingly beach, beneath
+the friendly shelter of the overhanging trees, where, perfectly
+exhausted by the exertions they had made, dripping with rain and
+overpowered by the terrors of the storm, they threw themselves on the
+ground, and in safety watched its progress, thankful for an escape
+from such imminent peril.
+
+Thus ended the Indian summer, so deceitful in its calmness and its
+beauty. The next day saw the ground white with snow, and hardened into
+stone by a premature frost. Our poor voyagers were not long in
+quitting the shelter of the Beaver Island, and betaking themselves
+once more to their ark of refuge, the log-house on Mount Ararat.
+
+The winter that year set in with unusual severity some weeks sooner
+than usual, so that from the beginning of November to the middle of
+April the snow never entirely left the ground. The lake was soon
+covered with ice, and by the month of December it was one compact,
+solid sheet from shore to shore.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+  "Scared by the red and noisy light."
+
+  --COLERIDGE.
+
+
+Hector and Louis had now little employment, except chopping fire-wood,
+which was no very arduous task for two stout, healthy lads used from
+childhood to handling the axe. Trapping, and hunting, and snaring
+hares were occupations which they pursued more for the excitement and
+exercise than from hunger, as they had laid by abundance of dried
+venison, fish, and birds, besides a plentiful store of rice. They now
+visited those trees that they had marked in the summer, where they had
+noticed the bees hiving, and cut them down. In one they got more than
+a pailful of rich honeycomb, and others yielded some more, some less;
+this afforded them a delicious addition to their boiled rice and dried
+acid fruits. They might have melted the wax and burned candles of it;
+but this was a refinement of luxury that never once occurred to our
+young housekeepers: the dry pineknots that are found in the woods are
+the settlers' candles. Catharine made some very good vinegar with the
+refuse of the honey and combs, by pouring water on it, and leaving it
+to ferment in a warm nook of the chimney, in one of the birch-bark
+vessels; and this was an excellent substitute for salt as a
+seasoning--to the fresh meat and fish. Like the Indians, they were now
+reconciled to the want of this seasonable article.
+
+Indiana seemed to enjoy the cold weather. The lake, though locked up
+to every one else, was open to her: with the aid of the tomahawk she
+patiently made an opening in the ice, and over this she built a little
+shelter of pine boughs stuck into the ice. Armed with a sharp spear
+carved out of hardened wood, she would lie upon the ice, and patiently
+await the rising of some large fish to the air-hole, when dexterously
+plunging the spear into the unwary creature, she dragged it to the
+surface. Many a noble fish did the young squaw bring home, and cast at
+the feet of him whom she had tacitly elected as her lord and master:
+to him she offered the voluntary service of a faithful and devoted
+servant--I might almost have said, slave.
+
+During the middle of December there were some days of such intense
+cold that even our young Crusoes, hardy as they were, preferred the
+blazing log-fire and warm ingle-nook to the frozen lake and cutting
+north-west wind which blew the loose snow in blinding drifts over its
+bleak, unsheltered surface. Clad in the warm tunic and petticoat of
+Indian blanket, with fur-lined moccasins, Catharine and her Indian
+friend felt little cold excepting to the face when they went abroad,
+unless the wind was high, and then experience taught them to keep at
+home. And these cold gloomy days they employed in many useful works.
+Indiana had succeeded in dyeing the quills of the porcupine that she
+had captured on Grape Island; with these she worked a pair of
+beautiful moccasins and an arrow-case for Hector, besides making a
+sheath for Louis's _couteau de chasse_, of which the young hunter
+was very proud, bestowing great praise on the workmanship.
+
+Indiana appeared to be deeply engrossed with some work that she was
+engaged in, but preserved a provoking degree of mystery about it, to
+the no small annoyance of Louis, who, among his other traits of
+character, was remarkably inquisitive, wanting to know the why and
+wherefore of everything he saw.
+
+Indiana first prepared a frame of some tough wood,--it might be the
+inner bark of the oak, or elm, or hickory; this was pointed at either
+end, and wide in the middle--not very much unlike the form of some
+broad, flat fish. Over this she wove an open network of narrow thongs
+of deer-hide, wetted to make it more pliable, and securely fastened to
+the frame: when dry it became quite tight, and resembled a sort of
+coarse bamboo-work, such as you see on cane-bottomed chairs and sofas.
+
+"And now, Indiana, tell us what sort of fish you are going to catch in
+your ingenious little net," said Louis, who had watched her
+proceedings with great interest. The girl shook her head, and laughed
+till she showed all her white teeth, but quietly proceeded to commence
+a second frame like the first.
+
+Louis put it on his head. No; it could not be meant to be worn there,
+that was plain. He turned it round and round. It must be intended for
+some kind of bird-trap; yes, that must be it, and he cast an inquiring
+glance at Indiana. She blushed, shook her head, and gave another of
+her silent laughs.
+
+"Some game like battledoor and shuttle-cock,"--and snatching up a
+light bass-wood chip, he began tossing the chip up and catching it on
+the netted frame. The little squaw was highly amused, but rapidly went
+on with her work. Louis was now almost angry at the perverse little
+savage persevering in keeping him in suspense. She would not tell him
+till, the other was done:--then there were to be a pair of these
+curious articles!--and he was forced at last to sit quietly down to
+watch the proceeding of the work. It was night before the two were
+completed and furnished with straps and loops. When the last stroke
+was put to them, the Indian girl knelt down at Hector's feet, and
+binding them on, pointed to them with a joyous laugh, and said,
+"Snow-shoe--for walk on snow--good!"
+
+The boys had heard of snow-shoes, but had never seen them, and now
+seemed to understand little of the benefit to be derived from the use
+of them. The young Mohawk quickly transferred the snow-shoes to her
+own feet, and soon proved to them that the broad surface prevented
+those who wore them from sinking into the deep snow.--After many
+trials, Hector began to acknowledge the advantage of walking with the
+snow-shoes, especially on the frozen snow on the ice-covered lake.
+Indiana was well pleased with the approbation her manufactures met
+with, and very soon manufactured for "Nee-chee," as they all now
+called Louis, a similar present. As to Catharine, she declared the
+snow-shoes made her ankles ache, and that she preferred the moccasins
+that her cousin Louis made for her.
+
+During the long bright days of February, they made several excursions
+on the lake, and likewise explored some of the high hills to the
+eastward. On this ridge there were few large trees; but it was thickly
+clothed with scrub-oaks, slender poplars, and here and there fine
+pines, and picturesque free-growing oaks of considerable size and
+great age--patriarchs, they might be termed, among the forest growth.
+Over this romantic range of hill and dale, free as the air they
+breathed, roamed many a gallant herd of deer, unmolested unless during
+certain seasons when the Indians came to hunt over these hills.
+Surprised at the different growth of the oaks on this side the plains,
+Hector could not help expressing his astonishment to Indiana, who told
+him that it was caused by the custom that her people had had from time
+immemorial of setting fire to the bushes in the early part of spring.
+This practice, she said, promoted the growth of the deer-grass, made
+good cover for the deer themselves, and effectually prevented the
+increase of the large timbers, giving a singular aspect to the high
+ridge of hills when contrasted with the more wooded portions to the
+westward. From the lake these eastern hills look verdant, and as if
+covered with tall green fern. In the month of October a rich rosy tint
+is cast upon the leaves of the scrub-oaks by the autumnal frosts, and
+they present a glowing unvaried crimson of the most glorious hue, only
+variegated in spots by a dark feathery evergreen, or a patch of light
+waving poplars turned by the same wizard's wand to golden yellow.
+
+There were many lovely spots,--lofty rounded hills, and deep shady
+dells, with extended table-land, and fine lake views; but, on the
+whole, our young folks preferred the oak openings and the beautiful
+wooded glens of the western side, where they had fixed their home.
+
+There was one amusement they used greatly to enjoy during the cold
+bright days and moonlight nights of midwinter. This was gliding down
+the frozen snow on the steep side of the dell near the spring, seated
+on small hand-sleighs, which carried them down with great velocity.
+Wrapped in their warm furs, with caps fastened closely over their
+ears, what cared they for the cold? Warm and glowing from head to
+foot, with cheeks brightened by delightful exercise, they would remain
+for hours enjoying the amusement of the snow-slide; the bright frost
+gemming the ground with myriads of diamonds, sparkling in their hair,
+or whitening it till it rivalled the snow beneath their feet. Then,
+when tired out with the exercise, they returned to the shanty, stirred
+up a blazing fire, till the smoked rafters glowed in the red light;
+spread their simple fare of stewed rice sweetened with honey, or
+savoury soup of hare or other game; and then, when warmed and fed,
+they kneeled together, side by side, and offered up a prayer of
+gratitude to their Maker, and besought his care over them during the
+dark and silent hours of night.
+
+Had these young people been idle in their habits and desponding in
+their tempers, they must have perished with cold and hunger, instead
+of enjoying many necessaries and eyen some little luxuries in their
+lonely forest home. Fortunately they had been brought up in the early
+practice of every sort of usefulness, to endure every privation with
+cheerful fortitude; not indeed quietly to sit down and wait for better
+times, but vigorously to create those better times by every possible
+exertion that could be brought into action to assist and ameliorate
+their condition.
+
+To be up and doing is the maxim of a Canadian; and it is this that
+nerves his arm to do and bear. The Canadian settler, following in the
+steps of the old Americans, learns to supply all his wants by the
+exercise of his own energy. He brings up his family to rely upon their
+own resources, instead of depending upon his neighbours.
+
+The children of the modern emigrant, though enjoying a higher degree
+of civilization and intelligence, arising from a liberal education,
+might not have fared so well under similar circumstances as did our
+Canadian Crusoes, because, unused to battle with the hardships
+incidental to a life of such privation as they had known, they could
+not have brought so much experience, or courage, or ingenuity to their
+aid. It requires courage to yield to circumstances, as well as to
+overcome them.
+
+Many little useful additions to the interior of their dwelling were
+made by Hector and Louis during the long winter. They made a smoother
+and better table than the first rough one that they put together. They
+also made a rough partition of split cedars, to form a distinct and
+separate sleeping-room for the two girls; but as this division greatly
+circumscribed their sitting and cooking apartment, they resolved, as
+soon as the spring came, to cut and draw in logs for putting up a
+better and larger room to be used as a summer parlour. Indiana and
+Louis made a complete set of wooden trenchers out of butter-nut, a
+fine hard wood of excellent grain, and less liable to warp or crack
+than many others.
+
+Louis's skill as a carpenter was much greater than that of his cousin.
+He not only possessed more judgment, and was more handy, but he had a
+certain taste and neatness in finishing his work, however rough his
+materials and rude his tools. He inherited some of that skill in
+mechanism for which the French have always been remarked. With his
+knife and a nail he would carve a plum-stone into a miniature basket,
+with handle across it, all delicately wrought with flowers and
+checker-work. The shell of a butter-nut would be transformed into a
+boat, with thwarts, and seats, and rudder, with sails of basswood or
+birch-bark. Combs he could cut out of wood or bone, so that Catharine
+could dress her hair or confine it in braids or bands at will. This
+was a source of great comfort to her; and Louis was always pleased
+when he could in any way contribute to his cousin's happiness. These
+little arts Louis had been taught by his father. Indeed, the great
+distance that their little settlement was from any town or village had
+necessarily forced their families to depend on their own ingenuity and
+invention to supply many of their wants. Once or twice a year they saw
+a trading fur-merchant, as I before observed; and those were glorious
+days for Hector and Louis, who were always on the alert to render the
+strangers any service in their power, as by that means they sometimes
+received little gifts from them, and gleaned up valuable information
+as to their craft as hunters and trappers. And then there were
+wonderful tales of marvellous feats and hair-breadth escapes to listen
+to, as they sat with eager looks and open ears round the blazing
+log-fire in the old log-house. Now they would in their turns have
+tales to tell of strange adventures, and all that had befallen them
+since the first day of their wanderings on the Rice Lake Plains.
+
+The long winter passed away unmarked by any very stirring event. The
+Indians had revisited the hunting-grounds; but they confined
+themselves chiefly to the eastern side of the Plains, the lake and the
+islands, and did not come near their dwelling to molest them. The
+latter end of the month of March presented fine sugar-making weather;
+and as they had the use of the big iron pot, they resolved to make
+maple sugar and some molasses. Long Island was decided upon as the
+most eligible place. It had the advantage over Maple Island of having
+a shanty ready built for a shelter during the time they might see fit
+to remain, and a good boiling-place, which would be a comfort to the
+girls, as they need not be exposed to the weather during the process
+of sugaring. The two boys soon cut down some small pines and
+bass-woods, which they hewed out into sugar-troughs Indiana
+manufactured some rough pails of birch-bark. The first favourable day
+for the work they loaded up a hand-sleigh with their vessels, and
+marched forth over the ice to the island, and tapped the trees they
+thought would yield sap for their purpose. And many pleasant days they
+passed during the sugar-making season.
+
+They did not leave the sugar-bush for good till the commencement of
+April, when the sun and wind beginning to unlock the springs that fed
+the lake, and to act upon its surface, taught them that it would not
+be prudent to remain longer on the island. The loud, booming sounds
+that were now frequently heard of the pent-up air beneath striving to
+break forth from its icy prison were warnings not to be neglected.
+Openings began to appear, especially at the entrance of the river and
+between the islands, and opposite to some of the larger creeks blue
+streams, that attracted the water-fowl, ducks, and wild geese, which
+came, guided by that instinct which never errs, from their
+abiding-places in far-off lands. Indiana knew the signs of the wild
+birds' coming and going with a certainty that seemed almost marvellous
+to her simple-minded companions.
+
+How delightful were the first indications of the coming spring! How
+joyously our young Crusoes heard the first tapping of the red-headed
+woodpecker! The low, sweet, warbling note of the early song-sparrow,
+and twittering chirp of the snow-bird, or that neat, Quakerly-looking
+bird that comes to cheer us with the news of sunny days and green
+buds; the low, tender, whispering note of the chiccadee, flitting
+among the pines or in the thick branches of the shore-side trees; the
+chattering note of the little, striped chitmunk, as it pursued its
+fellows over the fallen trees; and the hollow sound of the male
+partridge, heavily striking its wings against his sides to attract the
+notice of the female birds, were among the early spring melodies. For
+such they seemed to our forest dwellers, for they told them
+
+  "That winter, cold winter, was past,
+   And spring, lovely spring, was approaching at last."
+
+They watched for the first song of the robin, [Footnote: _Turdus
+migratorius_, or American robin.] and the full melody of the red
+wood-thrush; [Footnote: _Turdus melodus_, or wood-thrush.] the rushing
+sound of the passenger pigeons, as flocks of these birds darted above
+their heads, sometimes pausing to rest on the dry limb of some
+withered oak, or darting down to feed upon the scarlet berries of the
+spicy winter-green, the acorns that still lay upon the now uncovered
+ground, or the berries of hawthorn and dogwood that still hung on the
+bare bushes. The pines were now putting on their rich, mossy, green
+spring dresses; the skies were deep blue; Nature, weary of her long
+state of inaction, seemed waking into life and light.
+
+On the Plains the snow soon disappears, for the sun and air have
+access to the earth much easier than in the close, dense forest.
+Hector and Louis were soon able to move about with axe in hand, to cut
+the logs for the addition to their house they proposed making. They
+also set to work as soon as the frost was out of the ground to prepare
+their little field for the Indian corn. This kept them quite busy.
+Catharine attended to the house; and Indiana went out fishing and
+hunting, bringing in plenty of small game and fish every day. After
+they had piled and burned up the loose boughs and trunks that
+encumbered the space they had marked out, they proceeded to enclose it
+with a brush fence. This was done by felling the trees that stood in
+the line of the field, and letting them fall so as to form the bottom
+log of the fence, which they then made of sufficient height by piling
+up arms of trees and brushwood. Perhaps in this matter they were too
+particular, as there was no fear of "breachy cattle," or any cattle,
+intruding on the crop; but Hector maintained that deer and bears were
+as much to be guarded against as oxen and cows.
+
+The little enclosure was made secure from any such depredators, and
+was as clean as hands could make it. The two cousins sat on a log,
+contentedly surveying their work, and talking of the time when the
+grain was to be put in. It was about the beginning of the second week
+in May, as near as they could guess from the bursting of the forest
+buds and the blooming of such of the flowers as they were acquainted
+with. Hector's eyes had followed the flight of a large eagle that now,
+turning from the lake, soared away majestically toward the east or Oak
+Hills. But soon his eye was attracted to another object. The loftiest
+part of the ridge was enveloped in smoke. At first he thought it must
+be some mist-wreath hovering over its brow; but soon the dense,
+rolling clouds rapidly spread on each side, and he felt certain that
+it was from fire, and nothing but fire, that those dark volumes arose.
+
+"Louis, look yonder! the hills to the east are on fire!"
+
+"On fire, Hector? you are dreaming!"
+
+"Nay, but look there!"
+
+The hills were now shrouded in one dense, rolling cloud. It moved on
+with fearful rapidity down the shrubby side of the hill, supplied by
+the dry, withered foliage and deer-grass, which was like stubble to
+the flames.
+
+"It is two miles off, or more," said Louis; "and the creek will stop
+its progress long before it comes near us, and the swamp there beyond
+Bare Hill."
+
+"The cedars are as dry as tinder; and as to the creek, it is so narrow
+a burning tree falling across would convey the fire to this side;
+besides, when the wind rises, as it always does when the bush is on
+fire, you know how far the burning leaves will fly. Do you remember
+when the forest was on fire last spring how long it continued to burn
+and how fiercely it raged? It was lighted by the ashes of your
+father's pipe when he was out in the new fallow. The leaves were dry,
+and kindled, and before night the woods were burning for miles."
+
+"It was a grand spectacle, those pine-hills, when the fire got in
+among them," said Louis. "See! see how fast the fires kindle! That
+must be some fallen pine that they have got hold of. Now, look at the
+lighting up of that hill; is it not grand?"
+
+"If the wind would but change, and blow in the opposite direction,"
+said Hector anxiously.
+
+"The wind, mon ami, seems to have little influence; for as long as the
+fire finds fuel from the dry bushes and grass, it drives on, even
+against the wind."
+
+As they spoke the wind freshened, and they could plainly see a long
+line of wicked, bright flames in advance of the dense mass of vapour
+which hung in its rear. On it came, that rolling sea of flame, with
+inconceivable rapidity, gathering strength as it advanced. The demon
+of destruction spread its red wings to the blast, rushing on with
+fiery speed, and soon hill and valley were wrapped in one sheet of
+flame.
+
+"It must have been the work of the Indians," said Louis. "We had
+better make a retreat to the island, in case of the fire crossing the
+valley. We must not neglect the canoe. If the fire sweeps round by the
+swamp, it may come upon us unawares, and then the loss of the canoe
+would prevent escape by the lake. But here are the girls; let us
+consult them."
+
+"It is the Indian burning," said Indiana; "that is the reason there
+are so few big trees, on that hill. They burn it to make the grass
+better for the deer."
+
+Hector had often pointed out to Louis the appearance of fire having
+scorched the bark of the trees where they were at work, but it seemed
+to have been many years back; and when they were digging for the site
+of the root-house [Footnote: Root-houses are built over deep
+excavations below the reach of the frost, or the roots stored would be
+spoiled.] below the bank, which they had just finished, they had met
+with charred wood at the depth of six feet below the soil, which must
+have lain there till the earth had accumulated over it. A period of
+many years must necessarily have passed since the wood had been
+burned, as it was so much decomposed as to crumble beneath the wooden
+shovel they were digging with.
+
+All day they watched the progress of that fiery sea whose waves were
+flame--red, rolling flame. Onward it came with resistless speed,
+overpowering every obstacle, widening its sphere of action, till it
+formed a perfect semicircle about them. As the night drew on, the
+splendour of the scene became more apparent, and the path of the fire
+better defined; but there was no fear of the conflagration spreading
+as it had done in the day-time. The wind had sunk, and the copious
+dews of evening effectually put a stop to the progress of the fire.
+The children could now gaze in security upon the magnificent spectacle
+before them without the excitement produced by its rapid spread during
+the day-time. They lay down to sleep in perfect security that night,
+but with the consciousness that, as the breeze sprung up in the
+morning, they must be on the alert to secure their little dwelling and
+its contents from the devastation that threatened it. They knew they
+had no power to stop its onward course, as they possessed no implement
+better than a rough wooden shovel, which would be found very
+ineffectual in opening a trench or turning the ground up, so as to cut
+off the communication with the dry grass, leaves, and branches which
+are the fuel for supplying the fires on the Plains. The little
+clearing on one side the house they thought would be its safeguard,
+but the fire was advancing on three sides of them.
+
+"Let us hold a council, as the Indians do, to consider what is to be
+done."
+
+"I propose," said Louis, "retreating, bag and baggage, to the nearest
+point of Long Island."
+
+"My French cousin has well spoken," said Hector, mimicking the Indian
+mode of speaking; "but listen to the words of the wise. I propose to
+take all our household stores that are of the most value to the
+island, and lodge the rest safely in our new root-house, first
+removing from its neighbourhood all such light, loose matter as is
+likely to take fire. The earthen roof will save it from destruction.
+As to the shanty, it must take its chance to stand or fall."
+
+"The fence of the little clearing will be burned, no doubt. Well,
+never mind; better that than our precious selves. And the corn,
+fortunately, is not yet sown," said Louis.
+
+Hector's advice met with general approval, and the girls soon set to
+work to secure the property they meant to leave.
+
+It was a fortunate thing that the root-house had been finished, as it
+formed a secure store-house for their goods, and could also be made
+available as a hiding-place from the Indians, in time of need. The
+boys carefully scraped away all the combustible matter from its
+vicinity and that of the house; but the rapid increase of the fire now
+warned them to hurry down to join Catharine and the young Mohawk, who
+had gone off to the lake shore with such things as they required to
+take with them.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+  "I know a lake where the cool waves break
+     And softly fall on the silver sand;
+   And no stranger intrudes on that solitude,
+     And no voices but ours disturb the strand."
+
+  _Irish Song_
+
+
+The breeze had sprung up, and had already brought the fire down as far
+as the creek. The swamp had long been on fire; and now the flames were
+leaping among the decayed timbers, roaring and crackling among the
+pines, and rushing to the tops of the cedars, springing from heap to
+heap of the fallen branches, and filling the air with dense volumes of
+black and suffocating smoke. So quickly did the flames advance that
+Hector and Louis had only time to push off the canoe before the
+heights along the shore were wrapped in smoke and fire. Many a giant
+oak and noble pine fell crashing to the earth, sending up showers of
+red sparks as its burning trunk shivered in its fall. Glad to escape
+from the suffocating vapour, the boys quickly paddled out to the
+island, enjoying the cool, fresh air of the lake. Reposing on the
+grass beneath the trees, they passed the day sheltered from the
+noonday sun, and watched the progress of the fire upon the shore. At
+night the girls slept securely under the canoe, which they raised on
+one side by means of forked sticks stuck in the ground.
+
+It was a grand sight to see the burning Plains at night reflected on
+the water. A thousand flaming torches flickered upon its still
+surface, to which the glare of a gas-lighted city would have been dim
+and dull by contrast.
+
+Louis and Hector would speculate on the probable chances of the shanty
+escaping from the fire, and of the fence remaining untouched. Of the
+safety of the root-house they entertained no fear, as the grass was
+already springing green on the earthen roof; and, below they had taken
+every precaution to secure its safety, by scraping up the earth near
+it. [Footnote: Many a crop of grain and comfortable homestead has been
+saved by turning a furrow round the field; and great conflagrations
+have been effectually stopped by men beating the fire out with spades,
+and hoeing up the fresh earth so as to cut off all communication with
+the dry roots, grass, and leaves that feed its onward progress. Water,
+even could it be got, which is often impossible, is not nearly so
+effectual in stopping the progress of fire; even women and little
+children can assist in such emergencies.]
+
+Catharine lamented for the lovely spring-flowers that would be
+destroyed by the fire.
+
+"We shall have neither huckleberries nor strawberries this summer,"
+she said mournfully; "and the pretty roses and bushes will be
+scorched, and the ground black and dreary."
+
+"The fire passes so rapidly over that it does not destroy many of the
+forest trees, only the dead ones are destroyed; and that, you know,
+leaves more space for the living ones to grow and thrive in," said
+Hector. "I have seen the year after a fire has run in the bush, a new
+and fresh set of plants spring up, and even some that looked withered
+recover; the earth is renewed and manured by the ashes, and it is not
+so great a misfortune as it at first appears."
+
+"But how black and dismal the burned pine-woods look for years!" said
+Louis; "I do not think there is a more melancholy sight in life than
+one of those burned pine-woods. There it stands, year after year, with
+the black, branchless trees pointing up to the blue sky, as if crying
+for vengeance against those that kindled the fire."
+
+"They do, indeed, look ugly," said Catharine, "yet the girdled ones
+look very nearly as ill." [Footnote: The girdled pines are killed by
+barking them round, to facilitate the clearing.]
+
+At the end of two days the fire had ceased to rage, though the dim
+smoke-wreaths to the westward showed where the work of destruction was
+still going on.
+
+As there was no appearance of any Indians on the lake, nor yet at the
+point (Anderson's Point, as it is now called) on the other side, they
+concluded the fire had possibly originated by accident,--some casual
+hunter or trapper having left his camp-fire unextinguished; but as
+they were not very likely to come across the scene of the
+conflagration, they decided on returning back to their old home
+without delay. It was with some feeling of anxiety that they hastened
+to see what evil had befallen their shanty.
+
+"The shanty is burned!" was the simultaneous exclamation of both Louis
+and Hector, as they reached the rising ground that should have
+commanded a view of its roof. "It is well for us that we secured our
+things in the root-house," said Hector.
+
+"Well, if that is safe, who cares? we can soon build up a new house,
+larger and better than the old one," said Louis. "The chief part of
+our fence is gone, too, I see; but that, we can renew at our leisure;
+no hurry, if we get it done a month hence, say I.--Come, ma belle, do
+not look so sorrowful. There is our little squaw will help us to set
+up a capital wigwam while the new house is building."
+
+"But the nice table that you made, Louis, and the benches and
+shelves!"
+
+"Never mind, Cathy; we will have better tables, and benches, and
+shelves too. Never fear, ma chere; the same industrious Louis will
+make things comfortable. I am not sorry the old shanty is down; we
+shall have a famous one put up, twice as large, for the winter. After
+the corn is planted we shall have nothing else to do but to think
+about it."
+
+The next two or three days were spent in erecting a wigwam, with poles
+and birch bark; and as the weather was warm and pleasant, they did not
+feel the inconvenience so much as they would have done had it been
+earlier in the season. The root-house formed an excellent store-house
+and pantry; and Indiana contrived, in putting up the wigwam, to leave
+certain loose folds between the birch-bark lining and outer covering,
+which formed a series of pouches or bags, in which many articles could
+be stowed away out of sight. [Footnote: In this way the winter wigwams
+of the Indians are constructed so as to give plenty of stowing room
+for all their little household matters, materials for work, &c.]
+
+While the girls were busy contriving the arrangements of the wigwam,
+the two boys were not idle. The time was come for planting the corn; a
+succession of heavy thunder-showers had soaked and softened the
+scorched earth, and rendered the labour of moving it much easier than
+they had anticipated. They had cut for themselves wooden trowels, with
+which they raised the hills for the seed. The corn planted, they next
+turned their attention to cutting house-logs; those which they had
+prepared had been burned up, so they had their labour to begin again.
+
+The two girls proved good helps at the raising; and in the course of a
+few weeks they had the comfort of seeing a more commodious dwelling
+than the former one put up. The finishing of this, with weeding the
+Indian corn, renewing the fence, and fishing, and trapping, and
+shooting partridges and ducks and pigeons, fully occupied their time
+this summer. The fruit season was less abundant this year than the
+previous one. The fire had done this mischief, and they had to go far
+a-field to collect fruits during the summer months.
+
+It so happened that Indiana had gone out early one morning with the
+boys, and Catharine was alone. She had gone down to the spring for
+water, and on her return, was surprised at the sight of a squaw and
+her family of three half-grown lad, and an innocent little brown
+papoose. [Footnote: An Indian baby, but "papoose" is not an Indian
+word. It is probably derived from the Indian imitation of the word
+"_babies_."] In their turn the strangers seemed equally astonished at
+Catharine's appearance. The smiling aspect and good-natured laugh of
+the female, however, soon reassured the frightened girl, and she
+gladly gave her the water which she had in her birch dish, on her
+signifying her desire for drink. To this Catharine added some berries
+and dried venison, and a bit of maple sugar, which was received with
+grateful looks by the boys; she patted the brown baby, and was glad
+when the mother released it from its wooden cradle, and fed and nursed
+it. The squaw seemed to notice the difference between the colour of
+her young hostess's fair skin and her own swarthy hue; for she often
+took her hand, stripped up the sleeve of her dress, and compared her
+arm with her own, uttering exclamations of astonishment and curiosity:
+possibly Catharine was the first of a fair-skinned race this poor
+savage had ever seen. After her meal was finished, she set the birchen
+dish on the floor, and restrapping the papoose in its cradle prison,
+she slipped the basswood-bark rope over her forehead, and silently
+signing to her sons to follow her, she departed. That evening a pair
+of ducks were found fastened to the wooden latch of the door, a silent
+offering of gratitude for the refreshment that had been afforded to
+this Indian woman and her children.
+
+Indiana thought, from Catharine's description, that these were Indians
+with whom she was acquainted; she spent some days in watching the lake
+and the ravine, lest a larger and more formidable party should be
+near. The squaw, she said, was a widow, and went by the name of Mother
+Snowstorm, from having been lost in the woods, when a little child,
+during a heavy storm of snow, and nearly starved to death. She was a
+gentle, kind woman, and, she believed, would not do any of them hurt.
+Her sons were good hunters, and, though so young, helped to support
+their mother, and were very good to her and the little one.
+
+I must now pass over a considerable interval of time, with merely a
+brief notice that the crop of corn was carefully harvested, and proved
+abundant, and a source of great comfort. The rice was gathered and
+stored, and plenty of game and fish laid by, with an additional store
+of honey.
+
+The Indians, for some reason, did not pay their accustomed visit to
+the lake this season. Indiana said they might be engaged with war
+among some hostile tribes, or had gone to other hunting-grounds. The
+winter was unusually mild, and it was long before it set in. Yet the
+spring following was tardy, and later than usual. It was the latter
+end of May before vegetation had made any very decided progress.
+
+The little log-house presented a neat and comfortable appearance, both
+within and without. Indiana had woven a handsome mat of bass bark for
+the floor; Louis and Hector had furnished it with seats and a table,
+rough, but still very respectably constructed, considering their only
+tools were a tomahawk, a knife, and wooden wedges for splitting the
+wood into slabs. These Louis afterwards smoothed with great care and
+patience. Their bedsteads were furnished with thick, soft mats, woven
+by Indiana and Catharine from rushes which they cut and dried; but the
+little squaw herself preferred lying on a mat or deerskin on the floor
+before the fire, as she had been accustomed.
+
+A new field had been enclosed, and a fresh crop of corn planted, which
+was now green and flourishing. Peace and happiness dwelt within the
+log-house; but for the regrets that ever attended the remembrance of
+all they had left and lost, no cloud would have dimmed the serenity of
+those who dwelt beneath its humble roof.
+
+The season of flowers had again arrived; the earth, renovated by the
+fire of the former year, bloomed with fresh beauty; June, with its
+fragrant store of roses and lilies, was now far advanced--the
+anniversary of that time when they had left their beloved parents'
+roofs, to become sojourners in the lonely wilderness, had returned.
+They felt they had much to be grateful for. Many privations, it is
+true, and much anxiety they had felt; but they had enjoyed blessings
+beyond what they could have expected, and might, like the psalmist
+when recounting the escapes of the people of God, have said, "Oh that
+men would therefore praise the Lord for his goodness, and the wonders
+that he doeth for the children of men." And now they declared no
+greater evil could befall them than to lose one of their little party,
+for even Indiana had become as a dear and beloved sister; her
+gentleness, her gratitude, and faithful trusting love seemed each day
+to increase. Now, indeed, she was bound to them by a yet more sacred
+tie, for she knelt to the same God, and acknowledged with fervent
+love, the mercies of her Redeemer. She had made great progress in
+learning their language, and had also taught her friends to speak and
+understand much of her own tongue, so that they were now no longer at
+a loss to converse with her on any subject. Thus was this Indian girl
+united to them in bonds of social and Christian love.
+
+Hector, Louis, and Indiana had gone over the hills to follow the track
+of a deer which had paid a visit to the young corn, now sprouting and
+showing symptoms of shooting up to blossom. Catharine usually
+preferred staying at home and preparing the meals against their
+return. She had gathered some fine ripe strawberries, to add to the
+stewed rice, Indian meal cake, and maple sugar, for their dinner. She
+was weary and warm, for the day had been hot and sultry. Seating
+herself on the threshold of the door, she leaned against the
+door-post, and closed her eyes. Perhaps the poor child's thoughts were
+wandering back to her far-off, unforgotten home, or she might be
+thinking of the hunters and their game. Suddenly a vague, undefinable
+feeling of dread stole over her mind. She heard no steps, she felt no
+breath, she saw no form; but there was a strange consciousness that
+she was not alone--that some unseen being was near, some eye was upon
+her. I have heard of sleepers starting from sleep the most profound
+when the noiseless hand of the assassin has been raised to destroy
+them, as if the power of the human eye could be felt through the
+closed lids.
+
+Thus fared it with Catharine. She felt as if some unseen enemy was
+near her, and springing to her feet, she cast a wild, troubled glance
+around. No living being met her eye; and, ashamed of her cowardice,
+she resumed her seat. The tremulous cry of her little gray squirrel, a
+pet which she had tamed and taught to nestle in her bosom, attracted
+her attention.
+
+"What aileth thee, wee dearie?" she said tenderly, as the timid little
+creature crept trembling to her breast. "Thy mistress has seared thee
+by her own foolish fears. See, now, there is neither catamount nor
+weasel here to seize thee, silly one;" and as she spoke, she raised
+her head and flung back the thick clusters of soft fair hair that
+shaded her eyes. The deadly glare of a pair of dark eyes fixed upon
+her met her terrified gaze, gleaming with sullen ferocity from the
+angle of the door-post, whence the upper part of the face alone was
+visible, partly concealed by a mat of tangled, shaggy black hair.
+Paralyzed with fear, the poor girl neither spoke nor moved; she
+uttered no cry; but pressing her hands tightly across her breast, as
+if to still the loud beating of her heart, she sat gazing upon that
+fearful appearance, while, with stealthy step, the savage advanced
+from his lurking-place, keeping, as he did so, his eyes riveted upon
+hers, with such a gaze as the wily serpent is said to fascinate its
+prey. His hapless victim moved not:--whither could she flee to escape
+one whose fleet foot could so easily have overtaken her in the race?
+where conceal herself from him whose wary eye fixed upon her seemed to
+deprive her of all vital energy?
+
+Uttering that singular, expressive guttural which seems with the
+Indian to answer the purpose of every other exclamation, he advanced,
+and taking the girl's ice-cold hands in his, tightly bound them with a
+thong of deer-hide, and led her unresistingly away. By a circuitous
+path through the ravine they reached the foot of the mount, where lay
+a birch canoe, rocking gently on the waters, in which a middle-aged
+female and a young girl were seated. The females asked no questions,
+and expressed no word indicative of curiosity or surprise, as the
+strong arm of the Indian lifted his captive into the canoe, and made
+signs to the elder squaw to push from the shore. When all had taken
+their places, the woman, catching up a paddle from the bottom of the
+little vessel, stood up, and with a few rapid strokes sent it skimming
+over the lake.
+
+The miserable captive, overpowered with the sense of her calamitous
+situation, bowed down her head upon her knees, and concealing her
+agitated face in her garments, wept in silent agony. Visions of horror
+presented themselves to her bewildered brain; all that Indiana had
+described of the cruelty of this vindictive race came vividly before
+her mind. Poor child, what miserable thoughts were thine during that
+brief voyage!
+
+Had the Indians also captured her friends? or was she alone to be the
+victim of their vengeance? What would be the feelings of those beloved
+ones on returning to their home and finding it desolate! Was there no
+hope of release? As these ideas chased each other through her agitated
+mind, she raised her eyes, all streaming with tears, to the faces of
+the Indian and his companions with so piteous a look that any heart
+but the stoical one of an Indian would have softened at its sad
+appeal; but no answering glance of sympathy met hers, no eye gave back
+its silent look of pity--not a nerve or a muscle moved the cold,
+apathetic features of the Indians; and the woe-stricken girl again
+resumed her melancholy attitude, burying her face in her heaving bosom
+to hide its bitter emotions from the heartless strangers.
+
+She was not fully aware that it is part of the Indian's education to
+hide the inward feelings of the heart, to check all those soft and
+tender emotions which distinguish the civilized man from the savage.
+
+It does indeed need the softening influence of that powerful Spirit,
+which was shed abroad into the world to turn the hearts of the
+disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to break down the strongholds
+of unrighteousness, and to teach man that he is by nature the child of
+wrath and victim of sin, and that in his unregenerated nature his
+whole mind is at enmity with God and his fellow-men, and that in his
+flesh dwelleth no good thing. And the Indian has acknowledged that
+power; he has cast his idols of cruelty and revenge, those virtues on
+which he prided himself in the blindness of his heart, to the moles
+and the bats; he has bowed and adored at the foot of the Cross. But it
+was not so in the days whereof I have spoken.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+  "Must this sweet new-blown rose find such a winter
+   Before her spring be past?"
+
+  BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER
+
+
+The little bark touched the stony point of Long Island. The Indian
+lifted his weeping prisoner from the canoe, and motioned to her to
+move forward along the narrow path that led to the camp, about twenty
+yards higher up the bank, where there was a little grassy spot
+enclosed with shrubby trees; the squaws tarried at the lake-shore to
+bring up the paddles and secure the canoe.
+
+It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of an enemy, but doubly
+so when that enemy is a stranger to the language in which we would
+plead for mercy, whose god is not our God, nor his laws those by which
+we ourselves are governed. Thus felt the poor captive as she stood
+alone, mute with terror, among the half-naked, dusky forms with which
+she now found herself surrounded. She cast a hurried glance round that
+strange assembly, if by chance her eye might rest upon some dear
+familiar face; but she saw not the kind but grave face of Hector, nor
+met the bright sparkling eyes of her cousin Louis, nor the soft,
+subdued, pensive features of the Indian girl, her adopted sister. She
+stood alone among those wild, gloomy-looking men; some turned away
+their eyes as if they would not meet her woe-stricken countenance,
+lest they should be moved to pity her sad condition. No wonder that,
+overcome by the sense of her utter forlornness, she hid her face with
+her fettered hands and wept in despair. But the Indian's sympathy is
+not moved by tears and sighs; calmness, courage, defiance of danger,
+and contempt of death, are what he venerates and admires even in an
+enemy.
+
+The Indians beheld her grief unmoved. At length the old man, who
+seemed to be a chief among the rest, motioned to one of the women who
+leaned against the side of the wigwam to come forward and lead away
+the stranger. Catharine, whose senses were beginning to be more
+collected, heard the old man give orders that she was to be fed and
+cared for. Gladly did she escape from the presence of those pitiless
+men, from whose gaze she shrunk with maidenly modesty. And now when
+alone with the women she hesitated not to make use of that natural
+language which requires not the aid of speech to make itself
+understood. Clasping her hands imploringly, she knelt at the feet of
+the Indian woman, her conductress, kissed her dark hands, and bathed
+them with her fast-flowing tears, while she pointed passionately to
+the shore where lay the happy home from which she had been so suddenly
+torn.
+
+The squaw, though she evidently comprehended the meaning of her
+imploring gestures, shook her head, and in plaintive earnest tone
+replied in her own language that she must go with the canoes to the
+other shore, and she pointed to the north as she spoke. She then
+motioned to the young girl--the same that had been Catharine's
+companion in the canoe--to bring a hunting-knife which was thrust into
+one of the folds of the birch-bark of the wigwam. Catharine beheld the
+deadly weapon in the hands of the Indian woman with a pang of agony as
+great as if its sharp edge was already at her throat. So young--so
+young, to die by a cruel bloody death! what had been her crime? How
+should she find words to soften the heart of her murderess? The power
+of utterance seemed denied. She cast herself on her knees and held up
+her hands in silent prayer; not to the dreaded Indian woman, but to
+Him who heareth the prayer of the poor destitute--who alone can order
+the unruly wills and affections of men.
+
+The squaw stretched forth one dark hand and grasped the arm of the
+terror-stricken girl, while the other held the weapon of destruction.
+With a quick movement she severed the thongs that bound the fettered
+wrists of the pleading captive, and with a smile that seemed to light
+up her whole face she raised her from her prostrate position, laid her
+hand upon her young head and with an expression of good-humoured
+surprise lifted the flowing tresses of her sunny hair and spread them
+over the back of her own swarthy hand; then, as if amused by the
+striking contrast, she shook down her own jetty-black hair and twined
+a tress of it with one of the fair-haired girl's, then laughed till
+her teeth shone like pearls within her red lips. Many were the
+exclamations of childish wonder that broke from the other females as
+they compared the snowy arm of the stranger with their own dusky
+skins: it was plain that they had no intention of harming her, and by
+degrees distrust and dread of her singular companions began in some
+measure to subside.
+
+The squaw motioned her to take a seat on a mat beside her, and gave
+her a handful of parched rice and some deer's flesh to eat; but
+Catharine's heart was too heavy. She was suffering from thirst; and on
+pronouncing the Indian word for water, the young girl snatched up a
+piece of birch-bark from the floor of the tent, and gathering the
+corners together, ran to the lake, and soon returned with water in
+this most primitive drinking-vessel, which she held to the lips of her
+guest, and she seemed amused by the long, deep draught with which
+Catharine slaked her thirst. Something like a gleam of hope came over
+Catharine's mind as she marked the look of kindly feeling with which
+she caught the young Indian girl regarding her, and she strove to
+overcome the choking sensation that would from time to time rise to
+her throat as she fluctuated between hope and fear. The position of
+the Indian camp was so placed that it was quite hidden from the shore
+and Catharine could neither see the mouth of the ravine, nor the steep
+side of the mount that her brother and cousin were accustomed to
+ascend and descend in their visits to the lake-shore, nor had she any
+means of making a signal to them even if she had seen them on the
+beach.
+
+The long, anxious, watchful night passed, and soon after sunrise,
+while the morning mists still hung over the lake, the canoes of the
+Indians were launched, and long before noon they were in the mouth of
+the river. Catharine's heart sunk within her as the fast receding
+shores of the lake showed each minute fainter in the distance. At
+mid-day they halted at a fine bend in the river, and landed on a small
+open place where a creek flowing down through the woods afforded them
+cool water; here they found several tents put up and a larger party
+awaiting their return. The river was here a fine, broad, deep, and
+tranquil stream; trees of many kinds fringed the edge, beyond was the
+unbroken forest, whose depths had never been pierced by the step of
+man--so thick and luxuriant was the vegetation that even the Indian
+could hardly have penetrated through its dark, swampy glades: far as
+the eye could reach, that impenetrable, interminable wall of verdure
+stretched away into the far-off distance.
+
+All the remainder of that sad day Catharine sat on the grass under a
+shady tree, her eyes mournfully fixed on the slow-flowing waters, and
+wondering at her own hard fate in being thus torn from her home and
+its dear inmates. Bad as she had thought her separation from her
+father and mother and her brothers, when she first left her home to
+become a wanderer on the Rice Lake Plains, how much more dismal now
+was her situation, snatched from the dear companions who had upheld
+and cheered her on in all her sorrows! Now that she was alone with
+none to love or cherish or console her, she felt a desolation of
+spirit that almost made her forgetful of the trust that had hitherto
+always sustained her in time of trouble or sickness. She looked round,
+and her eye fell on the strange, unseemly forms of men and women who
+cared not for her, and to whom she was an object of indifference or
+aversion; she wept when she thought of the grief her absence would
+occasion to Hector and Louis; the thought of their distress increased
+her own.
+
+The soothing quiet of the scene, with the low, lulling sound of the
+little brook as its tiny wavelets fell tinkling over the mossy roots
+and stones that impeded its course to the river, joined with fatigue
+and long exposure to the sun and air, caused her at length to fall
+asleep. The last rosy light of the setting sun was dyeing the waters
+with a glowing tint when she awoke; a soft blue haze hung upon the
+trees; the kingfisher and dragon-fly, and a solitary loon, were the
+only busy things abroad on the river,--the first darting up and down
+from an upturned root, near the water's edge, feeding its younglings;
+the dragon-fly hawking with rapid whirring sound for insects; and the
+loon, just visible from above the surface of the still stream, sailing
+quietly on companionless like her who watched its movements.
+
+The bustle of the hunters returning with game and fish to the
+encampment roused many a sleepy brown papoose; the fires were renewed,
+the evening was now preparing, and Catharine, chilled by the falling
+dew, crept to the enlivening warmth. And here she was pleased at being
+recognized by one friendly face; it was the mild, benevolent
+countenance of the widow Snowstorm, who, with her three sons, came to
+bid her to share their camp fire and food. The kindly grasp of the
+hand and the beaming smile that were given by this good creature,
+albeit she was ugly and ill-featured, cheered the sad captive's heart.
+She had given her a cup of cold water and such food as her log-cabin
+afforded; in return the good Indian took her to her wigwam and fed,
+warmed, and cherished her with the loving-kindness of a Christian.
+During all her sojourn in the Indian camp, the widow Snowstorm was as
+a tender mother to her, drying her tears and showing her those little
+acts of attention that even the untaught Indians know are grateful to
+the sorrowful and destitute. Catharine often forgot her own griefs to
+repay this worthy creature's kindness, by attending to her little
+babe, and assisting her in her homely cookery or household work. She
+knew that a selfish indulgence in sorrow would do her no good, and
+after the lapse of some days she so well disciplined her own heart as
+to check her tears, at least in the presence of the Indian women, and
+to assume an air of comparative cheerfulness. Once she found Indian
+words enough to ask the Indian widow to convey her back to the lake,
+but she shook her head and bade her not think anything about it; and
+added that in autumn, when the ducks came to the rice-beds, they
+should all return, and then if she could obtain leave from the chief,
+she would restore her to her lodge on the Plains; but signified to her
+that patience was her only present remedy, and that submission to the
+will of the chief was her wisest plan. Comforted by this vague
+promise, Catharine strove to be reconciled to her strange lot and
+still stranger companions. She was surprised at the want of curiosity
+respecting her evinced by the Indians in the wigwam when she was
+brought thither; they appeared to take little notice that a stranger,
+and one so dissimilar to themselves, had been introduced into the
+camp. Catharine learned, by long acquaintance with this people, that
+an outward manifestation of surprise is considered a want of etiquette
+and good-breeding, or rather a proof of weakness and childishness. The
+women, like other females, are certainly less disposed to repress this
+feeling of inquisitiveness than the men; and one of their great
+sources of amusement, when Catharine was among them, was examining the
+difference of texture and colour of her skin and hair, and holding
+long consultations over them. The young girl and her mother, who had
+paddled the canoe the day she was carried away to the island, showed
+her much kindness in a quiet way. The young squaw was grand-daughter
+to the old chief, and seemed to be regarded with considerable respect
+by the rest of the women; she was a gay, lively creature, often
+laughing, and seemed to enjoy an inexhaustible fund of good humour.
+She extended her patronage to the young stranger by making her eat out
+of her own bark-dish and sit beside her on her own mat. She wove a
+chain for her of the sweet-scented grass with which the Indians
+delight in adorning themselves, likewise in perfuming their lodges
+with bunches or strewings upon the floor. She took great pains in
+teaching her how to acquire the proper attitude of sitting, after the
+fashion of the Eastern nations, which position the Indian women assume
+when at rest in their wigwams.
+
+The Indian name of this little damsel signified the "snow-bird." She
+was, like that lively, restless bird, always flitting from tent to
+tent, as garrulous and as cheerful too as that merry little herald of
+the spring.
+
+Once she seemed particularly attracted by Catharine's dress, which she
+examined with critical minuteness, evincing great surprise at the cut
+fringes of dressed doe-skin with which Indiana had ornamented the
+border of the short jacket she had manufactured for Catharine. These
+fringes she pointed out to the notice of the women, and even the old
+chief was called in to examine the dress; nor did the leggings and
+moccasins escape their observation. There was something mysterious
+about her garments. Catharine was at a loss to imagine what caused
+those deep guttural exclamations, somewhat between a grunt and a
+groan, that burst from the lips of the Indians, as they one by one
+examined her dress with deep attention. These people had recognized in
+these things the peculiar fashion and handiwork of the young Mohawk
+girl whom they had exposed to perish by hunger and thirst on Bare
+Hill; and much their interest was excited to learn by what means
+Catharine had become possessed of a dress wrought by the hand of one
+whom they had numbered with the dead. Strange and mysterious did it
+seem to them, and warily did they watch the unconscious object of
+their wonder.
+
+The knowledge she possessed of the language of her friend Indiana
+enabled Catharine to comprehend a great deal of what was said; yet she
+prudently refrained from speaking in the tongue of one to whose whole
+nation she knew these people to be hostile. But she sedulously
+endeavoured to learn their own peculiar dialect; and in this she
+succeeded in an incredibly short time, so that she was soon able to
+express her own wants, and converse a little with the females who were
+about her.
+
+She had noticed that among the tents there was one which stood apart
+from the rest, and was only visited by the old chief and his
+grand-daughter, or by the elder women. At first she imagined it was
+some sick person, or a secret tent set apart for the worship of the
+Great Spirit; but one day, when the chief of the people had gone up
+the river hunting, and the children were asleep, the curtain of skins
+was drawn back, and a female of singular and striking beauty appeared
+in the open space in front. She was habited in a fine tunic of white
+dressed doe-skin, richly embroidered with coloured beads and stained
+quills; a full petticoat of dark cloth bound with scarlet descended to
+her ankles; leggings fringed with deerskin, knotted with bands of
+coloured quills, with richly wrought moccasins on her feet. On her
+head she wore a coronet of scarlet and black feathers; her long
+shining tresses of raven hair descended to her waist, each thick tress
+confined with a braided band of quills, dyed scarlet and blue. She was
+tall and well-formed; her large, liquid, dark eyes wore an expression
+so proud and mournful that Catharine felt her own involuntarily fill
+with tears as she gazed upon this singular being. She would have
+approached nearer to her, but a spell seemed on her; she shrunk back
+timid and abashed beneath that wild, melancholy glance. It was she,
+the Beam of the Morning, the self-made widow of the young Mohawk,
+whose hand had wrought so fearful a vengeance on the treacherous
+destroyer of her brother. She stood there, at the tent-door, arrayed
+in her bridal robes, as on the day when she received her death-doomed
+victim. And when she recalled her fearful deed, shuddering with
+horror, Catharine drew back and shrouded herself within the tent,
+fearing again to fall under the eye of that terrible woman. She
+remembered how Indiana had told her that since that fatal
+marriage-feast she had been kept apart from the rest of the tribe,--she
+was regarded by her people as a sacred character, entitled the
+_Great Medicine,_ a female _brave,_ a being whom they regarded
+with mysterious reverence. She had made this great sacrifice for the
+good of her nation. Indiana said it was believed among her own folk
+that she had loved the young Mohawk passionately, as a tender woman
+loves the husband of her youth; yet she had not hesitated to sacrifice
+him with her own hand. Such was the deed of the Indian heroine--and
+such were the virtues of the unregenerated Greeks and Romans!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+  "Now where the wave, with loud, unquiet song,
+   Dashed o'er the rocky channel, froths along,
+   Or where the silver waters soothed to rest,
+   The tree's tall shadow sleeps upon its breast."
+
+  --COLERIDGE.
+
+
+The Indian camp remained for nearly three weeks on this spot, and then
+early one morning the wigwams were all taken down, and the canoes, six
+in number, proceeded up the river. There was very little variety in
+the scenery to interest Catharine. The river still kept its
+slow-flowing course between low shores thickly clothed with trees,
+without an opening through which the eye might pierce to form an idea
+of the country beyond; not a clearing, not a sight or sound of
+civilized man was there to be seen or heard; the darting flight of the
+wild birds as they flitted across from one side to the other, the
+tapping of the woodpecker, or shrill cry of the blue jay was all that
+was heard, from sunrise to sunset, on that monotonous voyage. After
+many hours, a decided change was perceived in the current, which ran
+at a considerable increase of swiftness, so that it required the
+united energy of both men and women to keep the light vessels from
+drifting down the river again. They were in the rapids, and it was
+hard work to stem the tide and keep the upward course of the waters.
+At length the rapids were passed, and the weary Indian voyagers rested
+for a space on the bosom of a small but tranquil lake. The rising moon
+shed her silvery light upon the calm water, and heaven's stars shone
+down into its quiet depths, as the canoes with their dusky freight
+parted the glittering rays with their light paddles. As they proceeded
+onward the banks rose on either side, still fringed with pines,
+cedars, and oaks. At an angle of the lake the banks on either side ran
+out into two opposite peninsulas, forming a narrow passage or gorge,
+contracting the lake once more into the appearance of a broad river,
+much wider from shore to shore than any other part they had passed
+through since they had left the entrance at the Rice Lake.
+
+Catharine became interested in the change of scenery; her eye dwelt
+with delight on the forms of glorious spreading oaks and lofty pines,
+green cliff-like shores, and low wooded islands; while, as they
+proceeded, the sound of rapid-flowing waters met her ear, and soon the
+white and broken eddies, rushing along with impetuous course, were
+seen by the light of the moon; and while she was wondering if the
+canoes were to stem those rapids, at a signal from the old chief, the
+little fleet was pushed to shore on a low flat of emerald verdure,
+nearly opposite to the last island.
+
+Here, under the shelter of some beautiful spreading black oaks, the
+women prepared to set up their wigwams. They had brought the poles and
+birch-bark covering from the encampment below, and soon all was bustle
+and business, unloading the canoes and raising the tents. Even
+Catharine lent a willing hand to assist the females in bringing up the
+stores and sundry baskets containing fruits and other small wares. She
+then kindly attended to the Indian children--certain dark-skinned
+babes, who, bound upon their wooden cradles, were either set up
+against the trunks of the trees, or swung to some lowly depending
+branch, there to remain helpless and uncomplaining spectators of the
+scene.
+
+Catharine thought these Indian babes were almost as much to be pitied
+as herself, only that they were unconscious of their imprisoned state,
+having from birth been used to no better treatment, and moreover they
+were sure to be rewarded by the tender caresses of loving mothers when
+the season of refreshment and repose arrived but she, alas! was
+friendless and alone, bereft of father, mother, kindred, and friends.
+One Father, one Friend, poor Catharine, thou hadst, even he, the
+Father of the fatherless.
+
+That night, when the women and children were sleeping, Catharine stole
+out of the wigwam, and climbed the precipitous bank beneath the
+shelter of which the lodges had been erected. She found herself upon a
+grassy plain, studded with majestic oaks and pines, so beautifully
+grouped that they might have been planted by the hand of taste upon
+that velvet turf. It was a delightful contrast to those dense dark
+forests through which for so many many miles the waters of the
+Otonabee had flowed on monotonously; here it was all wild and free,
+dashing along like a restive steed rejoicing in its liberty, uncurbed
+and tameless.
+
+Yes, here it was beautiful! Catharine gazed with joy upon the rushing
+river, and felt her own heart expand as she marked its rapid course as
+it bounded murmuring and fretting over its rocky bed. "Happy, glorious
+waters! you are not subject to the power of any living creature; no
+canoe can ascend those surging waves. I would that I too, like thee,
+were free to pursue my onward way; how soon would I flee away and be
+at rest!" Such thoughts passed through the mind of the lonely captive
+girl, as she sat at the foot of a giant oak, and looked abroad over
+those moonlit waters, till oppressed by an overwhelming sense of the
+utter loneliness of the scene, the timid girl with faltering step
+hurried down once more to the wigwams, silently crept to the mat where
+her bed was spread, and soon forgot all her woes and wanderings in
+deep, tranquil sleep.
+
+Catharine wondered that the Indians in erecting their lodges always
+seemed to prefer the low, level, and often swampy grounds by the lakes
+and rivers in preference to the higher and more healthy elevations. So
+disregardful are they of this circumstance, that they do not hesitate
+to sleep where the ground is saturated with moisture. They will then
+lay a temporary flooring of cedar or any other bark beneath their
+feet, rather than remove the tent a few feet higher up, where a drier
+soil may always be found. This arises either from stupidity or
+indolence, perhaps from both, but it is no doubt the cause of much of
+the sickness that prevails among them. With his feet stretched to the
+fire, the Indian cares for nothing else when reposing in his wigwam,
+and it is useless to urge the improvement that might be made in his
+comfort; he listens with a face of apathy, and utters his everlasting
+guttural, which saves him the trouble of a more rational reply.
+
+"Snow-bird" informed Catharine that the lodges would not again be
+removed for some time, but that the men would hunt and fish, while the
+squaws pursued their domestic labours. Catharine perceived that the
+chief of the laborious part of the work fell to the share of the
+females, who were very much more industrious and active than their
+husbands; those, when not out hunting or fishing, were to be seen
+reposing in easy indolence under the shade of the trees, or before the
+tent fires, giving themselves little concern about anything that was
+going on. The squaws were gentle, humble, and submissive; they bore
+without a murmur pain, labour, hunger, and fatigue, and seemed to
+perform every task with patience and good-humour. They made the
+canoes, in which the men sometimes assisted them, pitched the tents,
+converted the skins of the animals which the men shot into clothes,
+cooked the victuals, manufactured baskets of every kind, wove mats,
+dyed the quills of the porcupine, sewed the moccasins, and, in short,
+performed a thousand tasks which it would be difficult to enumerate.
+
+Of the ordinary household work, such as is familiar to European
+females, they of course knew nothing; they had no linen to wash or
+iron, no floors to clean, no milking of cows, nor churning of butter.
+
+Their carpets were fresh cedar boughs spread on the ground, and only
+renewed when they became offensively dirty from the accumulation of
+fish-bones and other offal, which are carelessly flung down during
+meals. Of furniture they had none; their seat the ground, their table
+the same, their beds mats or skins of animals,--such were the domestic
+arrangements of the Indian camp. [Footnote: Much improvement has taken
+place of late years in the domestic economy of the Indians, and some
+of their dwellings are clean and neat even for Europeans.]
+
+In the tent to which Catharine belonged, which was that of the widow
+and her sons, a greater degree of order and cleanliness prevailed than
+in any other; for Catharine's natural love of neatness and comfort
+induced her to strew the floor with fresh cedar or hemlock every day
+or two, and to sweep round the front of the lodge, removing all
+unseemly objects from its vicinity. She never failed to wash herself
+in the river, and arrange her hair with the comb Louis had made for
+her; and she took great care of the little child, which she kept clean
+and well fed. She loved this little creature, for it was soft and
+gentle, meek and playful as a little squirrel; and the Indian mothers
+all looked with kinder eyes upon the white maiden, for the loving
+manner in which she tended their children. The heart of woman is
+seldom cold to those who cherish their offspring, and Catharine began
+to experience the truth that the exercise of human charities is
+equally beneficial to those who give and those who receive; these
+things fall upon the heart as dew upon a thirsty soil, giving and
+creating a blessing. But we will leave Catharine for a short season,
+among the lodges of the Indians, and return to Hector and Louis.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+  "Cold and forsaken, destitute of friends,
+   And all good comforts else, unless some tree
+   Whose speechless chanty doth better ours,
+   With which the bitter east winds made their sport,
+   And sang through hourly, hath invited thee
+   To shelter half a day. Shall she be thus,
+   And I draw in soft slumbers?"
+
+  BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER.
+
+
+It was near sunset before Hector and his companions returned on the
+evening of the eventful day that had found Catharine a prisoner on
+Long Island. They had met with good success in hunting, and brought
+home a fine half-grown fawn, fat and in good order. They were
+surprised at finding the fire nearly extinguished, and no Catharine
+awaiting their return. There, it is true, was the food that she had
+prepared for them, but she was not to be seen. Supposing that she had
+been tired of waiting for them, and had gone out to gather
+strawberries, they did not at first feel anxious, but ate of the rice
+and honey, for they were hungry with long fasting. Then taking some
+Indian meal cake in their hands, they went out to call her in; but no
+trace of her was visible. Fearing she had set off by herself to seek
+them, and had missed her way home again, they hurried back to the
+happy valley,--she was not there; to Pine-tree Point,--no trace of her
+there; to the edge of the mount that overlooked the lake,--she was not
+to be seen: night found them unsuccessful in their search. Sometimes
+they fancied that she had seated herself beneath some tree and fallen
+asleep; but no one imagined the true cause, nothing having been seen
+of the Indians since they had proceeded up the river.
+
+Again they retraced their steps back to the house; but they found her
+not there. They continued their unavailing search till the moon
+setting left them in darkness, and they lay down to rest, but not to
+sleep. The first streak of dawn saw them again hurrying to and fro,
+calling in vain upon the name of the loved and lost companion of their
+wanderings.
+
+Indiana, whose vigilance was untiring--for she yielded not easily to
+grief and despair--now returned with the intelligence that she had
+discovered the Indian trail, through the big ravine to the lake-shore;
+she had found the remains of a wreath of oak leaves which had been
+worn by Catharine in her hair; and she had seen the mark of feet,
+Indian feet, on the soft clay at the edge of the lake, and the
+furrowing of the shingles by the pushing off of a canoe. Poor Louis
+gave way to transports of grief and despair; he knew the wreath, it
+was such as Catharine often made for herself, and Mathilde, and petite
+Louise, and Marie; his mother had taught her to make them; they were
+linked together by the stalks, and formed a sort of leaf chain. Louis
+placed the torn relic in his breast, and sadly turned away to hide his
+grief from Hector and the Indian girl.
+
+Indiana now proposed searching the island for further traces, but
+advised wariness in so doing. They saw, however, neither smoke nor
+canoes. The Indians had departed while they were searching the ravines
+and flats round Mount Ararat, and the lake told no tales, The
+following day they ventured to land on Long Island, and on going to
+the north side saw evident traces of a temporary encampment having
+been made, but no trace of any violence having been committed. It was
+Indiana's opinion that, though a prisoner, Catharine was unhurt, as
+the Indians rarely killed women and children, unless roused to do so
+by some signal act on the part of their enemies, when an exterminating
+spirit of revenge induced them to kill and spare not; but where no
+offence had been offered, they were not likely to take the life of a
+helpless, unoffending female. The Indian is not cruel for the wanton
+love of blood, but to gratify revenge for some injury done to himself
+or to his tribe. But it was difficult to still the terrible
+apprehensions that haunted the minds of Louis and Hector. They spent
+much time in searching the northern shores and the distant islands, in
+the vain hope of finding her, as they still thought the camp might
+have been moved to the opposite side of the lake.
+
+Inconsolable for the loss of their beloved companion, Hector and Louis
+no longer took interest in what was going on; they hardly troubled
+themselves to weed the Indian corn, in which they had taken such great
+delight; all now seemed to them flat, stale, and unprofitable; they
+wandered listlessly to and fro, silent and sad; the sunshine had
+departed from their little dwelling; they ate little, and talked less,
+each seeming absorbed in his own painful reveries.
+
+In vain the gentle Indian girl strove to revive their drooping
+spirits; they seemed insensible to her attentions, and often left her
+for hours alone. They returned one evening about the usual hour of
+sunset, and missed their meek, uncomplaining guest from the place she
+was wont to occupy. They called, but there was none to reply,--she too
+was gone. They hurried to the shore just time enough to see the canoe
+diminishing to a mere speck upon the waters, in the direction of the
+mouth of the river; they called to her, in accents of despair, to
+return, but the wind wafted back no sound to their ears and soon the
+bark was lost to sight, and they sat them down disconsolately on the
+shore.
+
+"What is she doing?" said Hector. "It is cruel to abandon us thus."
+
+"She has gone up the river, in the hope of bringing us some tidings of
+Catharine," said Louis.
+
+"How came you to think that such is her intention?"
+
+"I heard her say the other day that she would go and bring her back,
+or die."
+
+"What! do you think she would risk the vengeance of the old chief
+whose life she attempted to take?"
+
+"She is a brave girl; she does not fear pain or death to serve those
+she loves."
+
+"How can she, unprotected and alone, dare such perils? Why did she not
+tell us? We would have shared her danger."
+
+"She feared for our lives more than for her own; that poor Indian girl
+has a noble heart. I care not now what befalls us; we have lost all
+that made life dear to us," said Louis gloomily, sinking his head
+between his knees.
+
+"Hush, Louis; you are older than I, and ought to bear these trials
+with more courage. It was our own fault Indiana's leaving us; we left
+her so much alone to pine after her lost companion, she seemed to
+think that we did not care for her. Poor Indiana, she must have felt
+lonely and sad."
+
+"I tell you what we will do, Hec,--make a log canoe. I found an old
+battered one lying on the shore, not far from Pine-tree Point. We have
+an axe and a tomahawk,--what should hinder us from making one like
+it?"
+
+"True! we will set about it to-morrow."
+
+"I wish it were morning, that we might set to work to cut down a good
+pine for the purpose."
+
+"As soon as it is done, we will go up the river; anything is better
+than this dreadful suspense and inaction."
+
+The early dawn saw the two cousins busily engaged chopping at a tree
+of suitable dimensions. They worked hard all that day, and the next,
+and the next, before the canoe was hollowed out; but, owing to their
+inexperience and the bluntness of their tools, their first attempt
+proved abortive--it was too heavy at one end, and did not balance well
+in the water.
+
+Louis, who had been quite sure of success, was disheartened; not so
+Hector.
+
+"Do not let us give it up: my maxim is perseverance; let us try again,
+and again--ay, and a fourth and a fifth time. I say, never give it up;
+that is the way to succeed at last."
+
+"You have ten times my patience, Hec."
+
+"Yes; but you are more ingenious than I, and are excellent at starting
+an idea."
+
+"We are a good pair then for partnership."
+
+"We will begin anew and this time I hope we shall profit by our past
+blunders."
+
+"Who would imagine that it is now more than a month since we lost
+Catharine?"
+
+"I know it--long, long, weary month," replied Louis; and he struck his
+axe sharply into the bark of the pine as he spoke, and remained silent
+for some minutes. The boys, wearied by chopping down the tree, rested
+from their work, and sat down on the side of the condemned canoe to
+resume their conversation. Suddenly Louis grasped Hector's arm, and
+pointed to a bark canoe that appeared making for the westernmost point
+of the island. Hector started to his feet, exclaiming, "It is Indiana
+returned!"
+
+"Nonsense! Indiana!--it is no such thing. Look you, it is a stout man
+in a blanket coat."
+
+"The Indians?" asked Hector, inquiringly.
+
+"I do not think he looks like an Indian; but let us watch. What is he
+doing?"
+
+"Fishing. See now, he has just caught a fine bass--another--he has
+great luck--now he is pushing the canoe ashore."
+
+"That man does not move like an Indian--hark! he is whistling. I ought
+to know that tune. It sounds like the old _chanson_ my father used to
+sing;" and Louis, raising his voice, began to sing the words of an old
+French Canadian song, which we will give in the English, as we heard
+it sung by an old lumberer,--
+
+  "Down by those banks where the pleasant waters flow,
+   Through the wild woods we'll wander, and we'll chase the buffalo.
+   And we'll chase the buffalo."
+
+"Hush, Louis! you will bring the man over to us," said Hector.
+
+"The very thing I am trying to do, mon ami. This is our country, and
+that may be his; but we are lords here, and two to one, so I think he
+will not be likely to treat us ill. I am a man now, and so are you,
+and he is but one; so he must mind how he affronts us," replied Louis,
+laughing.
+
+"Hark, if he is not singing now! ay, and the very chorus of the old
+song"--and Louis raised his voice to its highest pitch as he repeated,--
+
+  "'Through the wild woods we'll wander,
+   And we'll chase the buffalo
+   --And we'll chase the buffalo.'
+
+"What a pity I have forgotten the rest of that dear old song. I used
+to listen with open ears to it when I was a boy. I never thought to
+hear it again, and to hear it here of all places in the world!"
+
+"Come, let us go on with our work," said Hector, with something like
+impatience in his voice, and the strokes of his axe fell once more in
+regular succession on the log; but Louis's eye was still on the
+mysterious fisher, whom he could discern lounging on the grass and
+smoking his pipe. "I do not think he sees or hears us," said Louis to
+himself, "but I think I'll manage to bring him over soon;" and he set
+himself busily to work to scrape up the loose chips and shavings, and
+soon began to strike fire with his knife and flint.
+
+"What are you about, Louis?" asked Hector.
+
+"Lighting a fire."
+
+"It is warm enough without a fire, I am sure."
+
+"I know that; but I want to attract the notice of yonder tiresome
+fisherman."
+
+"And perhaps bring a swarm of savages down upon us, who may be lurking
+in the bushes of the island."
+
+"Pooh, pooh! Hec; there are no savages. I am weary of this
+place--anything is better than this horrible solitude." And Louis
+fanned the flame into a rapid blaze, and heaped up the light dry
+branches till it soared up among the bushes. Louis watched the effect
+of his fire, and rubbed his hands gleefully as the bark canoe was
+pushed off from the island, and a few vigorous strokes of the paddle
+sent it dancing over the surface of the calm lake.
+
+Louis waved his cap above his head with a cheer of welcome as the
+vessel lightly glided into the little cove, near the spot where the
+boys were chopping, and a stout-framed, weather-beaten man, in a
+blanket coat, also faded and weather-beaten, with a red worsted sash
+and worn moccasins, sprang upon one of the timbers of Louis's old
+raft, and gazed with a keen eye upon the lads. Each party silently
+regarded the other. A few rapid interrogations from the stranger,
+uttered in the broad _patois_ of the Lower Province, were answered in
+a mixture of broken French and English by Louis.
+
+A change like lightning passed over the face of the old man as he
+cried out--"Louis Perron, son of my ancient compagnon!"
+
+"Oui! oui!"--with eyes sparkling through tears of joy, Louis threw
+himself into the broad breast of Jacob Morelle, his father's friend
+and old lumbering comrade.
+
+"Hector, son of la belle Catharine Perron!" and Hector, in his turn,
+received the affectionate embrace of the warm-hearted old man.
+
+"Who would have thought of meeting with the children of my old comrade
+here at the shore of the Rice Lake? Oh! what a joyful meeting!"
+
+Jacob had a hundred questions to ask--Where were their parents? did
+they live on the Plains now? how long was it since they had left the
+Cold Springs? were there any more little ones? and so forth.
+
+The boys looked sorrowfully at each other. At last the old man stopped
+for want of breath, and remarked their sad looks.
+
+Hector told the old lumberer how long they had been separated from
+their families, and by what sad accident they had been deprived of the
+society of their beloved sister. When they brought their narrative
+down to the disappearance of Catharine, the whole soul of the old
+trapper seemed moved; he started from the log on which they were
+sitting, and with one of his national asseverations, declared "that
+he, her father's old friend, would go up the river and bring her back
+in safety, or leave his gray scalp behind him among the wigwams."
+
+"It is too late, Jacob, to think of starting to-day," said Hector.
+"Come home with us, and eat some food, and rest a bit."
+
+"No need of that, my son I have a lot of fish here in the canoe; and
+there is an old shanty on the island yonder, if it be still
+standing--the Trapper's Fort I used to call it some years ago. We will
+go off to the island and look for it."
+
+"No need for that," replied Louis, "though I can tell you the old
+place is still in good repair, for we used it this very spring as a
+boiling-house for our maple sap. We have a better place of our own
+nearer at hand--just two or three hundred yards over the brow of
+yonder hill. So come with us, and you shall have a good supper, and
+bed to lie upon."
+
+"And you have all these, boys!" said Jacob opening his merry black
+eyes, as they came in sight of the little log-house and the field of
+green corn.
+
+The old man praised the boys for their industry and energy. "Ha! here
+is old Wolfe too," as the dog roused himself from the hearth, and gave
+one of his low grumbling growls. He had grown dull and dreamy, and
+instead of going out as usual with the young hunters, he would lie for
+hours dozing before the dying embers of the fire. He pined for the
+loving hand that used to pat his sides, caress his shaggy neck, and
+pillow his great head upon her lap, or suffer him to put his huge paws
+on her shoulders, while he licked her hands and face; but she was
+gone, and the Indian girl was gone, and the light of the shanty had
+gone with them. Old Wolfe seemed dying of sorrow.
+
+That evening, as Jacob sat on the three-legged stool smoking his short
+Indian pipe, he again would have the whole story of their wanderings
+over, and the history of all their doings and contrivances.
+
+"And how far do you think you are from the Cold Springs?"
+
+"At least twenty miles, perhaps fifty; for it is a long, long time now
+since we left home--three summers ago."
+
+"Well, boys, you must not reckon distance by the time you have been
+absent," said the old man. "Now, I know the distance through the
+woods, for I have passed through them on the Indian trail, and by my
+reckoning, as the bee flies, it cannot be more than seven or eight
+miles--no, nor that either."
+
+The boys opened their eyes. "Jacob, is this possible? So near, and yet
+to us the distance has been as great as though it were a hundred miles
+or more."
+
+"I tell you, boys, that is the provoking part of it. I remember, when
+I was out on the St. John lumbering, missing my comrades, and I was
+well-nigh starving, when I chanced to come back to the spot where we
+parted; and I verily believe I had not been two miles distant the
+whole eight days that I was moving round and round, and backward and
+forward, just in a circle, because, d'ye see, I followed the sun, and
+that led me astray the whole time."
+
+"Was that when you well-nigh roasted the bear?" asked Louis, with a
+sly glance at Hector.
+
+"Well, no--that was another time; your father was out with me then."
+And old Jacob, knocking the ashes out of his pipe, settled himself to
+recount the adventure of the bear. Hector, who had heard Louis's
+edition of the roast bear, was almost impatient at being forced to
+listen to old Jacob's long-winded history, which included about a
+dozen other stories, all tagged on to this, like links of a lengthened
+chain; and he was not sorry when the old lumberer, taking his red
+night-cap out of his pocket, at last stretched himself out on a
+buffalo skin he had brought up from the canoe, and soon was soundly
+sleeping.
+
+The morning was yet gray when the old man shook himself from his
+slumber; and, after having roused up a good fire, which, though the
+latter end of July, at that dewy hour was not unwelcome, he lighted
+his pipe, and began broiling a fish for his breakfast; and was thus
+engaged when Hector and Louis wakened.
+
+"I have been turning over in my mind about your sister," said he, "and
+have come to the resolution of going up the river alone without any
+one to accompany me. I know the Indians: they are a suspicious people;
+they deal much in stratagems; and they are apt to expect treachery in
+others. Perhaps they have had some reason; for the white men have not
+always kept good faith with them, which I take to be the greater
+shame, as they have God's laws to guide and teach them to be true and
+just in their dealing, which the poor benighted heathen have not, the
+more's the pity. Now, d'ye see, if the Indians see two stout lads with
+me, they will say to themselves there may be more left behind,
+skulking in ambush. So, boys, I go to the camp alone; and, God
+willing, I will bring back your sister, or die in the attempt. I shall
+not go empty-handed; see, I have here scarlet cloth, beads, and powder
+and shot. I carry no fire-water: it is a sin and a shame to tempt
+these poor wretches to their own destruction; it makes fiends of them
+at once."
+
+It was to no purpose that Hector and Louis passionately besought old
+Jacob to let them share the dangers of the expedition; the old man was
+firm, and would not be moved from his purpose.
+
+"Look you, boys," he said, "if I do not return by the beginning of the
+rice-harvest, you may suppose that evil has befallen me and the girl.
+Then I would advise you to take care for your own safety; for if they
+do not respect my gray head, neither will they spare your young ones.
+In such case make yourselves a good canoe--a dug-out [Footnote:
+Log-canoe] will do--and go down the lake till you are stopped by the
+rapids; [Footnote: Heeley's Falls, on the Trent] make a portage there;
+but as your craft is too weighty te carry far, e'en leave her and chop
+out another, and go down to the falls; [Footnote: Crook's Rapids.]
+then, if you do not like to be at any further trouble, you may make
+out your journey to the bay [Footnote: Bay Quinte] on foot, coasting
+along the river; there you will fall in with settlers who know old
+Jacob Morelle, ay, and your two fathers, and they will put you in the
+way of returning home. If I were to try ever so to put you on the old
+Indian trail in the woods, though I know it myself right well, you
+might be lost, and maybe never return home again. I leave my traps and
+my rifle with you; I shall not need them. If I come back I may claim
+the things; if not, they are yours. So now I have said my say, had my
+_talk_, as the Indians say. Farewell. But first let us pray to
+Him who alone can bring this matter to a safe issue." And the old man
+devoutly kneeled down, and prayed for a blessing on his voyage and on
+those he was leaving; and then hastened down to the beach, and the
+boys, with full hearts, watched the canoe till it was lost to their
+sight on the wide waters of the lake.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+  "Where wild in woods the lordly savage ran."
+
+  --DRYDEN
+
+
+The setting sun was casting long shadows of oak and weeping elm
+athwart the waters of the river; the light dip of the paddle had
+ceased on the water, the baying of hounds and life-like stirring
+sounds from the lodges came softened to the listening ear. The hunters
+had come in with the spoils of a successful chase; the wigwam tires
+are flickering and crackling, sending up their light columns of thin
+blue smoke among the trees; and now a goodly portion of venison is
+roasting on the forked sticks before the fires. Each lodge has its own
+cooking utensils. That jar embedded in the hot embers contains
+sassafras tea, an aromatic beverage in which the squaws delight when
+they are so fortunate as to procure a supply. This has been brought
+from the Credit, far up in the west, by a family who have come down on
+a special mission from some great chief to his brethren on the
+Otonabee, and the squaws have cooked some in honour of the guests.
+That pot that sends up such a savoury steam is venison-pottage, or
+soup, or stew, or any name you choose to give the Indian mess that is
+concocted of venison, wild rice, and herbs. Those tired hounds that
+lie stretched before the fire have been out, and now they enjoy the
+privilege of the fire, some praise from the hunters, and receive
+withal an occasional reproof from the squaws, if they approach their
+wishful noses too close to the tempting viands.
+
+The elder boys are shooting at a mark on yonder birch-tree, the girls
+are playing or rolling on the grass, the "Snow-Bird" is seated on the
+floor of the wigwam braiding a necklace of sweet grass, which she
+confines in links by means of little bands of coloured quills,
+Catharine is working moccasins beside her. A dark shadow falls across
+her work from the open tent door; an exclamation of surprise and
+displeasure from one of the women makes Catharine raise her eyes to
+the doorway. There, silent, pale, and motionless, the mere shadow of
+her former self, stands Indiana; a gleam of joy lights for an instant
+her large lustrous eyes. Amazement and delight at the sight of her
+beloved friend for a moment deprive Catharine of the power of speech,
+then terror for the safety of her friend takes the place of her joy at
+seeing her. She rises regardless of the angry tones of the Indian
+woman's voice, and throws her arms about Indiana, as if to shield her
+from threatened danger, and sobs her welcome in her arms.
+
+"Indiana, dear sister! how came you hither, and for what purpose?"
+
+"To free you, and then die," was the soft, low, tremulous answer.
+"Follow me."
+
+Catharine, wondering at the calm and fearless manner with which the
+young Mohawk waved back the dusky matron who approached as if with the
+design of laying hands upon her unwelcome guest, followed with beating
+heart till they stood in the entrance of the lodge of the Bald Eagle.
+It was filled with the hunters, who were stretched on skins on the
+floor, reposing in quiet after the excitement of the chase.
+
+The young Mohawk bent her head down and crossed her arms over her
+breast, an attitude of submission, as she stood in the opening of the
+lodge; but she spoke no word till the old chief, waving back the men
+who, starting to their feet, were gathering round him as if to shield
+him from danger, and sternly regarding her, demanded from whence she
+came and for what purpose.
+
+"To submit myself to the will of my Ojebwa father," was the meek
+reply. "May the daughter of the Bald Eagle's enemy speak to her great
+father?"
+
+"Say on," was the brief reply; "the Bald Eagle's ears are open."
+
+"The Bald Eagle is a mighty chief, the conqueror of his enemies, and
+the father of his people," replied the Mohawk girl, and again was
+silent.
+
+"The Mohawk squaw speaks well; let her say on."
+
+"The heart of the Mohawk is an open flower; it can be looked upon by
+the eye of the Great Spirit. She speaks the words of truth. The Ojebwa
+chief slew his enemies: they had done his good heart wrong; he
+punished them for the wrong they wrought; he left none living in the
+lodges of his enemies save one young squaw, the daughter of a brave,
+the grand-daughter of the Black Snake. The Bald Eagle loves even an
+enemy that is not afraid to raise the war-whoop or fling the tomahawk
+in battle. The young girl's mother was a brave." She paused, while her
+proud eyes were fixed on the face of her aged auditor. He nodded
+assent, and she resumed, while a flush of emotion kindled her pale
+cheek and reddened her lips:--
+
+"The Bald Eagle brought the lonely one to his lodge; he buried the
+hatchet and the scalping-knife, he bade his squaws comfort her: but
+her heart was lonely, she pined for the homes of her fathers. She
+said, I will revenge my father, my mother, and my brothers and
+sisters; and her heart burned within her. But her hand was not strong
+to shed blood; the Great Spirit was about my Ojebwa father. She
+failed, and would have fled, for an arrow was in her flesh. The people
+of the Bald Eagle took her; they brought her down the great river to
+the council hill; they bound her with thongs, and left her to die. She
+prayed, and the Great Spirit heard her prayer and sent her help. The
+white man came; his heart was soft: he unbound her, he gave water to
+cool her hot lips, he led her to his lodge. The white squaw (and she
+pointed to Catharine) was there; she bound up her wounds, she laid her
+on her own bed, she gave her meat and drink, and tended her with love.
+She taught her to pray to the Good Spirit, and told her to return good
+for evil, to be true and just, kind and merciful. The hard heart of
+the young girl became soft as clay when moulded for the pots, and she
+loved her white sister and brothers, and was happy. The Bald Eagle's
+people came when my white brothers were at peace; they found a
+trembling fawn within the lodge; they led her away; they left tears
+and loneliness where joy and peace had been. The Mohawk squaw could
+not see the hearth of her white brothers desolate. She took the canoe;
+she came to the lodge of the great father of his tribe, and she says
+to him, Give back the white squaw to her home on the Rice Lake, and
+take in her stead the rebellious daughter of the Ojebwa's enemy, to
+die or be his servant; she fears not now the knife or the tomahawk,
+the arrow or the spear: her life is in the hand of the great chief."
+She sank on her knees as she spoke these last words, and bowing down
+her head on her breast remained motionless as a statue.
+
+There was silence for some minutes, and then the old man rose and
+said:--
+
+"Daughter of a brave woman, thou hast spoken long, and thou hast
+spoken well; the ears of the Bald Eagle have been opened. The white
+squaw shall be restored to her brother's lodge; but thou remainest. I
+have spoken."
+
+Catharine, in tears, cast her arms round her disinterested friend and
+remained weeping: how could she accept this great sacrifice? She, in
+her turn, pleaded for the life and liberty of the Mohawk, but the
+chief turned a cold ear to her passionate and incoherent pleading. He
+was weary--he was impatient of further excitement--he coldly motioned
+to them to withdraw; and the friends in sadness retired to talk over
+all that had taken place since that sad day when Catharine was taken
+from her home. While her heart was joyful at the prospect of her own
+release, it was clouded with fears for the uncertain fate of her
+beloved friend.
+
+"They will condemn me to a cruel death," said Indiana; "but I can
+suffer and die for my white sister."
+
+That night the Indian girl slept sweetly and tranquilly beside
+Catharine. But Catharine could not sleep; she communed with her own
+heart in the still watches of the night; it seemed as if a new life
+had been infused within her. She no longer thought and felt as a
+child; the energies of her mind had been awakened, ripened into
+maturity, as it were, and suddenly expanded. When all the inmates of
+the lodges were profoundly sleeping, Catharine arose: a sudden thought
+had entered into her mind, and she hesitated not to put her design
+into execution. There was no moon, but a bright arch of light spanned
+the forest to the north; it was mild and soft as moonlight, but less
+bright, and cast no shadow across her path; it showed her the sacred
+tent of the widow of the murdered Mohawk. With noiseless step she
+lifted aside the curtain of skins that guarded it, and stood at the
+entrance. Light as was her step, it awakened the sleeper; she raised
+herself on her arm, and looked up with a dreamy and abstracted air as
+Catharine, stretching forth her hand, in tones low and tremulous, thus
+addressed her in the Ojebwa tongue:--
+
+"The Great Spirit sends me to thee, O woman of much sorrow; he asks of
+thee a great deed of mercy and goodness. Thou hast shed blood, and he
+is angry. He bids thee to save the life of an enemy--the blood of thy
+murdered husband flows in her veins. See that thou disobey not the
+words that he commands."
+
+She dropped the curtain and retired as she had come, with noiseless
+step, and lay down again in the tent beside Indiana. Her heart beat as
+though it would burst its way through her bosom. What had she
+done?--what dared? She had entered the presence of that terrible woman
+alone, at the dead hour of night! she had spoken bold and presumptuous
+words to that strange being whom even her own people hardly dared to
+approach uncalled for! Sick with terror at the consequences of her
+temerity, Catharine cast her trembling arms about the sleeping Indian
+girl, and, hiding her head in her bosom, wept and prayed till sleep
+came over her wearied spirit. It was late when she awoke. She was
+alone; the lodge was empty. A vague fear seized her: she hastily arose
+to seek her friend. It was evident that some great event was in
+preparation. The Indian men had put on the war-paint, and strange and
+ferocious eyes were glancing from beneath their shaggy locks. A stake
+was driven in the centre of the cleared space in front of the chief's
+lodge: there, bound, she beheld her devoted friend; pale as ashes, but
+with a calm, unshaken countenance, she stood. There was no sign of
+woman's fear in her fixed dark eye, which quailed not before the sight
+of the death-dooming men who stood round her, armed with their
+terrible weapons of destruction. Her thoughts seemed far away: perhaps
+they were with her dead kindred, wandering in that happy land to which
+the Indian hopes to go after life; or, inspired with the new hope
+which had been opened to her, she was looking to Him who has promised
+a crown of life to such as believe in his name. She saw not the look
+of agony with which Catharine regarded her; and the poor girl, full of
+grief, sunk down at the foot of a neighbouring tree, and, burying her
+face between her knees, wept and prayed-oh, how fervently! A hope
+crept to her heart--even while the doom of Indiana seemed
+darkest--that some good might yet accrue from her visit to the wigwam
+of the Great Medicine squaw. She knew that the Indians have great
+belief in omens, and warnings, and spirits both good and evil; she
+knew that her mysterious appearance at the tent of the Mohawk's widow
+would be construed by her into spiritual agency; and her heart was
+strengthened by this hope. Yet just now there seems little reason to
+encourage hope: the war-whoop is given, the war-dance is begun--first
+slow, and grave, and measured; now louder, and quicker, and more wild
+become both sound and movement. But why is it hushed again? See, a
+strange canoe appears on the river; anon an old weather-beaten man,
+with firm step, appears on the greensward, and approaches the area of
+the lodge.
+
+The Bald Eagle greets him with friendly courtesy, the dance ceases and
+the death-song is hushed; a treaty is begun. It is for the deliverance
+of the captives. The chief points to Catharine--she is free; his white
+brother may take her--she is his. But the Indian law of justice must
+take its course: the condemned, who raised her hand against an Ojebwa
+chief, must die. In vain are the tempting stores of scarlet cloth and
+beads for the women, with powder and shot, laid before the chief: the
+arrows of six warriors are fitted to the string, and again the dance
+and song commence, as if, like the roll of the drum and, clangour of
+the trumpet, they were necessary to the excitement of strong and
+powerful feelings, and the suppression of all tenderer emotions.
+
+And now a wild and solemn voice is heard, unearthly in its tones,
+rising above the yells of those savage men. At the sound every cheek
+becomes pale: it strikes upon the ear as some funeral wail. Is it the
+death-song of the captive girl bound to that fearful stake? No; for
+she stands unmoved, with eyes raised heavenward, and lips apart,--
+
+   "In still but brave despair."
+
+Shrouded in a mantle of dark cloth, her long black hair unbound and
+streaming over her shoulders, appears the Mohawk widow, the daughter
+of the Ojebwa chief. The gathering throng fall back as she approaches,
+awed by her sudden appearance among them. She stretches out a hand on
+which dark stains are visible--it is the blood of her husband,
+sacrificed by her on that day of fearful deeds: it has never been
+effaced. In the name of the Great Spirit she claims the captive
+girl--the last of that devoted tribe--to be delivered over to her
+will. Her right to this remnant of her murdered husband's family is
+acknowledged. A knife is placed in her hand, while a deafening yell of
+triumph bursts from the excited squaws, as this their great high
+priestess, as they deem her, advances to the criminal. But it is not
+to shed the heart's blood of the Mohawk girl, but to sever the thong
+that bind her to the deadly stake, for which that glittering blade is
+drawn, and to bid her depart in peace whithersoever she would go.
+
+Then, turning to the Bald Eagle, she thus addresses him: "At the dead
+of night, when the path of light spanned the sky, a vision stood
+before mine eyes. It came from the Great and Good Spirit, and bade me
+to set free the last of a murdered race, whose sun had gone down in
+blood shed by my hand and by the hands of my people. The vision told
+me that if I did this my path should henceforth be peace, and that I
+should go to the better land and be at rest if I did this good deed."
+She then laid her hands on the head of the young Mohawk, blessed her,
+and, enveloping herself in the dark mantle, slowly retired back to her
+solitary tent once more.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+  "Hame, hame, hame,
+     Hame I soon shall be--
+   Hame, hame, hame,
+     In mine own countrie"
+
+  --_Scotch Ballad_
+
+
+Old Jacob and Catharine, who had been mute spectators of the scene so
+full of interest to them, now presented themselves before the Ojebwa
+chief and besought leave to depart. The presents were again laid
+before him, and this time were graciously accepted. Catharine, in
+distributing the beads and cloth, took care that the best portion
+should fall to the grand-daughter of the chief, the pretty,
+good-humoured "Snow-bird." The old man was not insensible to the noble
+sacrifice which had been made by the devoted Indiana, and he signified
+his forgiveness of her fault by graciously offering to adopt her as
+his child, and to give her in marriage to one of his grandsons, an
+elder brother of the "Snow-bird;" but the young girl modestly but
+firmly refused this mark of favour, for her heart yearned for those
+whose kindness had saved her from death, and who had taught her to
+look beyond the things of this world to a brighter and a better state
+of being. She said "she would go with her white sister, and pray to
+God to bless her enemies, as the Great Spirit had taught her to do."
+
+It seems a lingering principle of good in human nature that the
+exercise of mercy and virtue opens the heart to the enjoyment of
+social happiness. The Indians, no longer worked up by excitement to
+deeds of violence, seemed disposed to bury the hatchet of hatred, and
+the lodge was now filled with mirth and the voice of gladness,
+feasting, and dancing. A covenant of peace and good-will was entered
+upon by old Jacob and the chief, who bade Catharine tell her brothers
+that from henceforth they should be free to hunt the deer, fish, or
+shoot the wild-fowl of the lake whenever they desired to do so, "he,
+the Bald Eagle, had said so."
+
+On the morrow, with the first dawn of day, the old trapper was astir;
+the canoe was ready, with fresh cedar boughs strewed at the bottom. A
+supply of parched rice and dried fish had been presented by the Indian
+chief for the voyage, that his white brother and the young girls might
+not suffer from want. At sunrise the old man led his young charges to
+the lodge of the Bald Eagle, who took a kindly farewell of them. The
+"Snow-bird" was sorrowful, and her bright, laughing eyes were dimmed
+with tears at parting with Catharine. She was a gentle, loving thing,
+as soft and playful as the tame fawn that nestled its velvet head
+against her arm. She did not let Catharine depart without many tokens
+of her regard, the work of her own hands,--bracelets of porcupine
+quills cut in fine pieces, and strung in fanciful patterns, moccasins
+richly wrought, and tiny bark dishes and boxes, such as might have
+graced a lady's work-table, so rare was their workmanship.
+
+Just as they were about to step into the canoe, the "Snow-bird"
+reappeared, bearing a richly worked bark box, "From the Great
+Medicine," she said in a low voice, "to the daughter of the Mohawk
+brave." The box contained a fine tunic, soft as a lady's glove,
+embroidered and fringed, and a fillet of scarlet and blue feathers,
+with the wings and breast of the war-bird as shoulder ornaments. It
+was a token of reconciliation and good-will worthy of a generous
+heart.
+
+The young girl pressed the gifts to her bosom and to her lips
+reverentially, and the hand that brought them to her heart, as she
+said in her native tongue, "Tell the Great Medicine I kiss her in my
+heart, and pray that she may have peace and joy till she departs for
+the spirit land."
+
+With joyful heart they bade adieu to the Indian lodges, and rejoiced
+in being once more afloat on the bosom of the great river. To
+Catharine the events of the past hours seemed like a strange
+bewildering dream. She longed for the quiet repose of home; and how
+gladly did she listen to that kind old man's plans for restoring
+Hector, Louis, and herself to the arms of their beloved parents. How
+often did she say to herself, "Oh that I had wings like a dove, for
+then would I flee away and be at rest!"--in the shelter of that dear
+mother's arms whom she now pined for with a painful yearning of the
+heart that might well be called home-sickness. But in spite of anxious
+wishes, the little party were compelled to halt for the night some few
+miles above the lake. There is on the eastern bank of the Otonabee a
+pretty, rounded knoll, clothed with wild cherries, hawthorns, and
+pine-trees, just where a creek half hidden by alder and cranberry
+bushes works its way below the shoulder of the little eminence. This
+creek grows broader and becomes a little stream, through which the
+hunters sometimes paddle their canoes, as a short cut to the lower
+part of the lake near Crook's Rapids.
+
+To this creek old Jacob steered his little craft, and bidding the
+girls collect a few dry sticks and branches for an evening fire on the
+sheltered side of the little bank, he soon lighted the pile into a
+cheerful blaze by the aid of birch bark, the hunter's tinder--a sort
+of fungus that is found in the rotten oak and maple trees--and a knife
+and flint. He then lifted the canoe, and having raised it on its side,
+by means of two small stakes which he cut from a bush hard by, he
+spread down his buffalo robe on the dry grass.
+
+"There is a tent fit for a queen to sleep under, _mes cheres filles_,"
+he said, eying his arrangements for their night shelter with great
+satisfaction.
+
+He baited his line, and in a few minutes had a dish of splendid bass
+ready for the fire. Catharine selected a large flat block of limestone
+on which the fish when broiled was laid; but old Jacob opened his wide
+mouth and laughed when she proceeded to lay her bush table with large
+basswood leaves for platters. Such nicety he professed was unusual on
+a hunter's table. He was too old a forester to care how his food was
+dished, so that he had wherewithal to satisfy his hunger.
+
+Many were the merry tales he told and the songs he sung, to while away
+the time, till the daylight faded from the sky, and the deep blue
+heavens were studded with bright stars, which were mirrored in
+countless hosts deep deep down in that calm waveless river, while
+thousands of fire-flies lighted up the dark recesses of the forest's
+gloom. High in the upper air the hollow booming of the night-hawk was
+heard at intervals; and the wild cry of the night-owl from a dead
+branch, shouting to its fellow, woke the silence of that lonely river
+scene.
+
+The old trapper, stretched before the crackling fire, smoked his pipe
+or hummed some French _voyageur's_ song. Beneath the shelter of the
+canoe soundly slept the two girls; the dark cheek of the Indian girl
+pillowed on the arm of her fairer companion, her thick tresses of
+raven hair mingling with the silken ringlets of the white maiden. They
+were a lovely pair--one fair as morning, the other dark as night.
+
+How gaily did they spring from their low bed, wakened by the early
+song of the forest birds! The light curling mist hung in fleecy
+volumes on the river, like a flock of sheep at rest; the tinkling
+sound of the heavy dew-drops fell in mimic showers upon the stream.
+See that red squirrel, how lightly he runs along that fallen trunk!
+how furtively he glances with his sharp bright eye at the intruders on
+his silvan haunts! Hark! there is a rustling among the leaves; what
+strange creature works its way to the shore? A mud turtle: it turns,
+and now is trotting along the little sandy ridge to some sunny spot,
+where, half buried, it may lie unseen near the edge of the river. See
+that musk-rat, how boldly he plunges into the stream, and, with his
+oar-like tail, stems the current till he gains in safety the sedges on
+the other side.
+
+What gurgling sound is that?--it attracts the practised ear of the old
+hunter. What is that object which floats so steadily down the middle
+of the stream, and leaves so bright a line in its wake?--it is a noble
+stag. Look at the broad chest with which he breasts the water so
+gallantly; see how proudly he carries his antlered head! He has no
+fear in those lonely solitudes--he has never heard the crack of the
+hunter's rifle--he heeds not the sharp twang of that bow-string, till
+the arrow rankles in his neck, and the crimson flood dyes the water
+around him. He turns, but it is only to present a surer mark for the
+arrow from the old hunter's bow. And now the noble beast turns to bay,
+and the canoe is rapidly launched by the hand of the Indian girl. Her
+eye flashes with the excitement; her whole soul is in the chase; she
+stands up in the canoe, and steers it full upon the wounded buck,
+while a shower of blows is dealt upon his head and neck with the
+paddle. Catharine buries her face in her hands: she cannot bear to
+look upon the sufferings of the noble animal. She will never make a
+huntress; her heart is cast in too soft a mould. See they have towed
+the deer ashore, and Jacob is in all his glory. The little squaw is an
+Indian at heart--see with what expertness she helps the old man. And
+now the great business is completed, and the venison is stowed away at
+the bottom of the canoe. They wash their hands in the river, and come
+at Catharine's summons to their breakfast.
+
+The sun is now rising high above the pine-trees; the morning mist is
+also rising and rolling off like a golden veil as it catches those
+glorious rays; the whole earth seems wakening into new life: the dew
+has brightened every leaf and washed each tiny flower-cup: the pines
+and balsams give out their resinous fragrance: the aspens flutter and
+dance in the morning breeze, and return a mimic shower of dew-drops to
+the stream; the shores become lower and flatter; the trees less lofty
+and more mossy; the stream expands, and wide beds of rushes spread out
+on either side; what beds of snowy water-lilies: how splendid the rose
+tint of those perseicarias that glow so brightly in the morning sun;
+the rushes look like a green meadow, but the treacherous water lies
+deep below their grassy leaves; the deer delights in these verdant
+aquatic fields: and see what flocks of redwings rise from among them
+as the canoe passes near--their bright shoulder-knots glance like
+flashes of lightning in the sunbeams.
+
+This low swampy island, filled with drift-wood; these gray hoary
+trees, half choked and killed with gray moss and lichens, those
+straggling alders and black ash, look melancholy; they are like
+premature old age, gray-headed youths. That island divides the channel
+of the river: the old man takes the nearest, the left hand. And now
+they are upon the broad Rice Lake, and Catharine wearies her eye to
+catch the smoke of the shanty rising among the trees: one after
+another the islands steal out into view; the capes, bays, and shores
+of the northern side are growing less distinct. Yon hollow bay, where
+the beaver has hidden till now, backed by that bold sweep of hills
+that look in the distance as if only covered with green ferns, with
+here and there a tall tree, stately as a pine or oak,--that is the
+spot where Louis saw the landing of the Indians: now a rising
+village--Gore's Landing. On yon lofty hill now stands the village
+church,--its white tower rising amongst the trees forms a charming
+object from the lake; and there, a little higher up, not far from the
+plank road, now stand pretty rural cottages: one of these belongs to
+the spirited proprietor of the village that bears his name. That
+tasteful garden before the white cottage, to the right, is Colonel
+Brown's, and there are pretty farms and cultivated spots; but silence
+and loneliness reigned there at the time of which I write.
+
+Where those few dark pines rise above the oak groves like the spires
+of churches in a crowded city, is Mount Ararat. The Indian girl steers
+straight between the islands for that ark of refuge, and Catharine's
+eyes are dimmed with grateful tears as she pictures to herself the
+joyful greeting in store for her. In the overflowings of her gladness
+she seizes the old man's rugged hand and kisses it, and flings her
+arms about the Indian girl and presses her to her heart, when the
+canoe has touched the old well-remembered landing-place, and she finds
+herself so near, so very near her lost home. How precious are such
+moments--how few we have in life! They are created from our very
+sorrows; without our cares our joys would be less lively. But we have
+no time to moralize. Catharine flies with the speed of a young fawn to
+climb the cliff-like shoulder of that steep bank; and now; out of
+breath, she stands at the threshold of her log-house. How neat and
+nice it looks compared with the Indians' tents! The little field of
+corn is green and flourishing. There is Hector's axe in a newly-cut
+log: it is high noon; the boys ought to have been there taking their
+mid-day meal, but the door is shut. Catharine lifts the wooden latch,
+and steps in. The embers are nearly burned out to a handful of gray
+ashes. Old Wolfe is not there--all is silent; and Catharine sits down
+to still the beating of her heart, and await the coming of her slower
+companions, and gladdens her mind with the hope that her brother and
+Louis will soon be home. Her eye wanders over every old familiar
+object. All things seem much as she had left them; only, the maize is
+in the ear, and the top feather waves gracefully in the summer breeze.
+It promises an abundant crop. But that harvest is not to be gathered
+by the hands of the young planters: it was left to the birds of the
+air and the beasts of the field--to those humble reapers who sow not,
+neither do they gather into barns, for the heavenly Father feedeth
+them. While the two girls busied themselves in preparing a fine roast
+of venison, old Jacob stalked away over the hills to search for the
+boys, and it was not long before he returned with Hector and Louis.
+
+I must not tell tales, or I might say what tears of joy were mingled
+with the rapturous greetings with which Louis embraced his beloved
+cousin; or I might tell that the bright flush that warmed the dusky
+cheek of the young Indian and the light that danced in her soft black
+eyes owed their origin to the kiss that was pressed on her red lips by
+her white brother. Nor will we say whose hand held hers so long in
+his, while Catharine related the noble sacrifice made for her sake,
+and the perils encountered by the devoted Indiana, whose eyes were
+moistened with tears as the horrors of that fearful trial were
+described; or who stole out alone over the hills, and sat him down in
+the hush and silence of the summer night to think of the acts of
+heroism displayed by that untaught Indian girl, and to dream a dream
+of youthful love: with these things, my young readers, we have nothing
+to do.
+
+"And now, my children," said old Jacob, looking round the little
+dwelling, "have you made up your minds to live and die here on the
+shores of this lake, or do you desire again to behold your fathers'
+home? Do your young hearts yearn after the hearth of your childhood?"'
+
+"After our fathers' home!" was Louis's emphatic reply. "After the home
+of our childhood!" was Catharine's earnest answer. Hector's lips
+echoed his sister's words, while a furtive troubled glance fell upon
+the orphan stranger; but her timid eye was raised to his young face
+with a trusting look, as if she would have said, "Thy home shall be my
+home, thy God my God."
+
+"Well, I believe, if my old memory fails me not, I can strike the
+Indian trail that used to lead to the Cold Springs over the pine
+hills. It will not be difficult for an old trapper to find his way."
+
+"For my part, I shall not leave this lovely spot without regret," said
+Hector. "It would be a glorious place for a settlement--all that one
+could desire--hill and valley, and plain, wood, and water. I will try
+and persuade my father to leave the Cold Springs, and come and settle
+hereabouts. It would be delightful--would it not, Catharine?--especially
+now we are friends with the Indians."
+
+With their heads full of pleasant schemes for the future, our young
+folks laid them down that night to rest. In the morning they rose,
+packed up such portable articles as they could manage to carry, and
+with full hearts sat down to take their last meal in their home--in
+that home which had sheltered them so long--and then, with one accord,
+they knelt down upon its hearth, so soon to be left in loneliness, and
+breathed a prayer to Him who had preserved them thus far in their
+eventful lives; and then they journeyed forth once more into the
+wilderness. There was one, however, of their little band they left
+behind this was the faithful old dog Wolfe. He had pined during the
+absence of his mistress, and only a few days before Catharine's return
+he had crept to the seat she was wont to occupy, and there died. Louis
+and Hector buried him, not without great regret beneath the group of
+birch-trees on the brow of the slope near the corn-field.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+"I will arise, and go to my father."--St. Luke.
+
+
+It is the hour of sunset; the sonorous sound of the cattle-bells is
+heard, as they slowly emerge from the steep hill-path that leads to
+Maxwell and Louis Perron's little clearing; the dark shadows are
+lengthening that those wood-crowned hills cast over that sunny spot, an
+oasis in the vast forest desert that man, adventurous, courageous man, has
+hewed for himself in the wilderness. The little flock are feeding among
+the blackened stumps of the uncleared chopping: those timbers have lain
+thus untouched for two long years; the hand was wanting that should have
+given help in logging and burning them up. The wheat is ripe for the
+sickle, and the silken beard of the corn is waving like a fair girl's
+tresses in the evening breeze. The tinkling fall of the cold spring in
+yonder bank falls soothingly on the ear. Who comes from that low-roofed
+log-cabin to bring in the pitcher of water--that pale, careworn, shadowy
+figure that slowly moves along the green pasture, as one without hope or
+joy; her black hair shared with silver, her cheek pale as wax, and her
+hand so thin it looks as though the light might be seen through if she
+held it towards the sun? It is the heart-broken mother of Catharine and
+Hector Maxwell. Her heart has been pierced with many sorrows; she cannot
+yet forget the children of her love, her first-born girl and boy. Who
+comes to meet her, and with cheerful voice chides her for the tear that
+seems ever to be lingering on that pale cheek,--yet the premature furrows
+on that broad, sunburnt, manly brow speak, too, of inward care? It is the
+father of Hector and Catharine. Those two fine, healthy boys, in homespun
+blouses, that are talking so earnestly as they lean across the rail-fence
+of the little wheat field, are Kenneth and Donald; their sickles are on
+their arms--they have been reaping. They hear the sudden barking of Bruce
+and Wallace, the hounds, and turn to see what causes the agitation they
+display.
+
+An old man draws near; he has a knapsack on his shoulders, which he casts
+down on the corner of the stoup; he is singing a line of an old French
+ditty; he raps at the open door. The Highlander bids him welcome, but
+starts with glad surprise as his hand is grasped by the old trapper.
+
+"Hah, Jacob Morelle, it is many a weary year since your step turned this
+way." The tear stood in the eye of the soldier as he spoke.
+
+"Can you receive me and those I have with me for the night?" asked the
+old man; in a husky voice--his kind heart was full. "A spare corner, a
+shake-down, will do; we travellers in the bush are no wise nice."
+
+"The best we have, and kindly welcome, Jacob. How many are ye in all?"
+
+"There are just four, besides myself,--young people. I found them where
+they had been long living, on a lonely lake, and I persuaded them to come
+with me."
+
+The strong features of the Highlander worked convulsively, as he drew his
+faded blue bonnet over his eyes. "Jacob, did ye ken that we lost our
+eldest bairns some three summers since?" he faltered in a broken voice.
+
+"The Lord, in his mercy, has restored them to you, Donald, by my hand,"
+said the trapper.
+
+"Let me see, let me see my children! To Him be the praise and the glory,"
+ejaculated the pious father, raising his bonnet reverently from his head;
+"and holy and blessed be His name for ever! I thought not to have seen
+this day. O Catharine, my dear wife, this joy will kill you!"
+
+In a moment his children were enfolded in his arms. It is a mistaken idea
+that joy kills; it is a life restorer. Could you, my young readers, have
+seen how quickly the bloom of health began to reappear on the faded cheek
+of that pale mother, and how soon that dim eye regained its bright
+sparkle, you would have said joy does not kill.
+
+"But where is Louis, dear Louis, our nephew, where is he?"
+
+Louis, whose impetuosity was not to be restrained by the caution of old
+Jacob, had cleared the log-fence at a bound, had hastily embraced his
+cousins Kenneth and Donald, and in five minutes more had rushed into his
+father's cottage, and wept his joy in the arms of father, mother, and
+sisters by turns, before old Jacob had introduced the impatient Hector and
+Catharine to their father.
+
+"But while joy is in our little dwelling, who is this that sits apart
+upon that stone by the log-fence, her face bent sadly down upon her knees,
+her long raven hair shading her features as with a veil?" asked the
+Highlander Maxwell, pointing as he spoke to the spot where, unnoticed and
+unsharing in the joyful recognition, sat the poor Indian girl. There was
+no paternal embrace for her, no tender mother's kiss imprinted on that
+dusky cheek and pensive brow; she was alone and desolate in the midst of
+that scene of gladness.
+
+"It is my Indian sister," said Catharine; "she also must be your child."
+
+Hector hurried to Indiana, and taking her by the hand led her to his
+parents, and bade them be kind to and cherish the young stranger, to whom
+they all owed so much.
+
+Time passes on--years, long years have gone by since the return of the
+lost children to their homes, and many changes have those years effected.
+The log-houses have fallen to decay--a growth of young pines, a waste of
+emerald turf with the charred logs that once formed part of the enclosure,
+now scarcely serve to mark out the old settlement; no trace or record
+remains of the first breakers of the bush--another race occupy the ground.
+The traveller as he passes along on that smooth turnpike road that leads
+from Coburg to Cold Springs, and from thence to Gore's Landing, may notice
+a green waste by the roadside on either hand, and fancy that thereabouts
+our Canadian Crusoes' home once stood: he sees the lofty wood-crowned
+hill, and in spring time--for in summer it is hidden by the luxuriant
+foliage--the little forest creek; and he may, if thirsty, taste of the
+pure, fresh, icy water, as it still wells out from a spring in the
+steep bank, rippling through the little cedar-trough that Louis Perron
+placed there for the better speed of his mother when filling her water
+jug. All else is gone. And what wrought the change a few words will
+suffice to tell. Some travelling fur merchants brought the news to
+Donald Maxwell that a party of Highlanders had made a settlement above
+Montreal, and among them were some of his kindred. The old soldier
+resolved to join them, and it was not hard to prevail upon his
+brother-in-law to accompany him, for they were all now weary of living
+so far from their fellow-men; and bidding farewell to the little
+log-houses at Cold Springs, they now journeyed downwards to the new
+settlement, where they were gladly received, their long experience of
+the country making their company a most valuable acquisition to the
+new-come colonists.
+
+Not long after, the Maxwells took possession of a grant of land, and
+cleared and built for themselves and their family. Hector, now a fine
+industrious young man, presented at the baptismal font, as a candidate
+for baptism, the Indian girl, and then received at the altar his
+newly-baptized bride. Catharine and Louis were married on the same day
+as Hector and Indiana. They lived happy and prosperous lives; and
+often, by their firesides, would delight their children by recounting
+the history of their wanderings on the Rice Lake Plains.
+
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[About this edition: _Lost in the Woods_ was originally published in
+1852 under the title _The Canadian Crusoes: A Tale of the Rice Lake
+Plains_. After several editions, it was republished in 1882 under its
+present title, as _Lost in the Backwoods_.]
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Lost in the Backwoods, by Catherine Parr Traill
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+Project Gutenberg's Lost in the Backwoods, by Catherine Parr Traill
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+Title: Lost in the Backwoods
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+Author: Catherine Parr Traill
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+Produced by Avinash Kothare, Tom Allen, Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks
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+
+LOST IN THE BACKWOODS.
+
+A TALE OF THE CANADIAN FOREST.
+
+
+
+
+BY MRS. TRAILL
+
+
+
+
+
+Preface
+
+
+The interesting tale contained in this volume of romantic adventure in
+the forests of Canada, was much appreciated and enjoyed by a large circle
+of young readers when first published, under the title of "The Canadian
+Crusoes." After being many years out of print, it will now, we hope and
+believe, with a new and more descriptive title, prove equally attractive
+to our young friends of the present time.
+
+EDINBURGH, 1882.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+
+  "The morning had shot her bright streamers on high,
+   O'er Canada, opening all pale to the sky,
+   Still dazzling and white was the robe that she wore,
+   Except where the ocean wave lashed on the shore"
+
+  _Jacobite Song_
+
+There lies, between the Rice Lake and the Ontario, a deep and fertile
+valley, surrounded by lofty wood-crowned hills, clothed chiefly with
+groves of oak and pine, the sides of the hills and the alluvial
+bottoms display a variety of noble timber trees of various kinds, as
+the useful and beautiful maple, beech, and hemlock. This beautiful and
+highly picturesque valley is watered by many clear streams, whence it
+derives its appropriate appellation of "Cold Springs."
+
+At the period my little history commences, this now highly cultivated
+spot was an unbroken wilderness,--all but two clearings, where dwelt
+the only occupiers of the soil,--which previously owned no other
+possessors than the wandering hunting tribes of wild Indians, to whom
+the right of the hunting grounds north of Rice Lake appertained,
+according to their forest laws.
+
+I speak of the time when the neat and flourishing town of Cobourg, now
+an important port on Lake Ontario, was but a village in embryo,--if it
+contained even a log-house or a block-house, it was all that it
+did,--and the wild and picturesque ground upon which the fast
+increasing village of Port Hope is situated had not yielded one forest
+tree to the axe of the settler. No gallant vessel spread her sails to
+waft the abundant produce of grain and Canadian stores along the
+waters of that noble sheet of water; no steamer had then furrowed its
+bosom with her iron paddles, bearing the stream of emigration towards
+the wilds of our northern and western forests, there to render a
+lonely trackless desert a fruitful garden. What will not time and the
+industry of man, assisted by the blessing of a merciful God, effect?
+To him be the glory and honour; for we are taught that "unless the
+Lord build the house, their labour is but lost that build it: without
+the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain."
+
+But to my tale. And first it will be necessary to introduce to the
+acquaintance of my young readers the founders of our little settlement
+at Cold Springs.
+
+Duncan Maxwell was a young Highland soldier, a youth of eighteen, at
+the famous battle of Quebec, where, though only a private, he received
+the praise of his colonel for his brave conduct. At the close of the
+battle Duncan was wounded; and as the hospital was full at the time,
+he was billeted in the house of a poor French Canadian widow in the
+Quebec suburb. Here, though a foreigner and an enemy, he received much
+kind attention from his excellent hostess and her family, consisting
+of a young man about his own age, and a pretty black-eyed lass not
+more than sixteen. The widow Perron was so much occupied with other
+lodgers--for she kept a sort of boarding-house--that she had not much
+time to give to Duncan, so that he was left a great deal to her son
+Pierre, and a little to Catharine, her daughter.
+
+Duncan Maxwell was a fine, open-tempered, frank lad, and he soon won
+the regard of Pierre and his sister. In spite of the prejudices of
+country, and the difference of language and national customs, a steady
+and increasing friendship grew up between the young Highlander and the
+children of his hostess; therefore it was not without feelings of deep
+regret that they heard the news that the regiment to which Duncan
+belonged was ordered for embarkation to England, and Duncan was so far
+convalescent as to be pronounced quite well enough to join it. Alas
+for poor Catharine! she now found that parting with her patient was a
+source of the deepest sorrow to her young and guileless heart; nor was
+Duncan less moved at the separation from his gentle nurse. It might be
+for years, and it might be for ever, he could not tell; but he could
+not tear himself away without telling the object of his affections how
+dear she was to him, and to whisper a hope that he might yet return
+one day to claim her as his bride; and Catharine, weeping and
+blushing, promised to wait for that happy day, or to remain single for
+his sake.
+
+They say the course of true love never did run smooth; but with the
+exception of this great sorrow, the sorrow of separation, the love of
+our young Highland soldier and his betrothed knew no other
+interruption, for absence served only to strengthen the affection
+which was founded on gratitude and esteem.
+
+Two long years passed, however, and the prospect of reunion was yet
+distant, when an accident, which disabled Duncan from serving his
+country, enabled him to retire with the usual little pension, and
+return to Quebec to seek his affianced. Some changes had taken place
+during that short period: the widow Perron was dead; Pierre, the gay,
+lively-hearted Pierre, was married to a daughter of a lumberer; and
+Catharine, who had no relatives in Quebec, had gone up the country
+with her brother and his wife, and was living in some little
+settlement above Montreal with them.
+
+Thither Duncan followed, and shortly afterwards was married to his
+faithful Catharine. On one point they had never differed, both being
+of the same religion.
+
+Pierre had seen a good deal of the fine country on the shores of Lake
+Ontario; he had been hunting with some friendly Indians between the
+great waters and the Rice Lake; and he now thought if Duncan and
+himself could make up their minds to a quiet life in the woods, there
+was not a better spot than the hill pass between the plains and the
+big lake to fix themselves upon. Duncan was of the same opinion when
+he saw the spot. It was not rugged and bare like his own Highlands,
+but softer in character, yet his heart yearned for the hill country.
+In those days there was no obstacle to taking possession of any tract
+of land in the unsurveyed forests; therefore Duncan agreed with his
+brother-in-law to pioneer the way with him, get a dwelling put up, and
+some ground prepared and "seeded down," and then to return for their
+wives, and settle as farmers. Others had succeeded, had formed little
+colonies, and become the heads of villages in due time; why should not
+they? And now behold our two backwoodsmen fairly commencing their
+arduous life: it was nothing, after all, to Pierre, by previous
+occupation a hardy lumberer, or the Scottish soldier, accustomed to
+brave all sorts of hardships in a wild country, himself a mountaineer,
+inured to a stormy climate and scanty fare from his earliest youth.
+But it is not my intention to dwell upon the trials and difficulties
+courageously met and battled with by our settlers and their young
+wives.
+
+There was in those days a spirit of resistance among the first
+settlers on the soil, a spirit to do and bear, that is less commonly
+met with now. The spirit of civilization is now so widely diffused,
+that her comforts are felt even in the depths of the forest, so that
+the newly come emigrant feels comparatively few of the physical evils
+that were endured by the earlier inhabitants.
+
+The first seed-wheat that was cast into the ground by Duncan and
+Pierre was brought with infinite trouble a distance of fifty miles in
+a little skiff, navigated along the shores of Lake Ontario by the
+adventurous Pierre, and from the nearest landing-place transported on
+the shoulders of himself and Duncan to their homestead. A day of great
+labour but great joy it was when they deposited their precious freight
+in safety on the shanty floor. They were obliged to make two journeys
+for the contents of the little craft. What toil, what privation they
+endured for the first two years! and now the fruits of it began to
+appear.
+
+No two creatures could be more unlike than Pierre and Duncan. The
+Highlander, stern, steady, persevering, cautious, always giving ample
+reasons for his doing or his not doing. The Canadian, hopeful, lively,
+fertile in expedients, and gay as a lark; if one scheme failed,
+another was sure to present itself. Pierre and Duncan were admirably
+suited to be friends and neighbours. The steady perseverance of the
+Scot helped to temper the volatile temperament of the Frenchman. They
+generally contrived to compass the same end by different means, as two
+streams descending from opposite hills will meet in one broad river in
+the same valley.
+
+Years passed on: the farm, carefully cultivated, began to yield its
+increase; food and warm clothing were not wanting in the homestead.
+Catharine had become, in course of time, the happy mother of four
+healthy children; her sister-in-law had exceeded her in these welcome
+contributions to the population of a new colony.
+
+Between the children of Pierre and Catharine the most charming harmony
+prevailed; they grew up as one family, a pattern of affection and
+early friendship. Though different in tempers and dispositions, Hector
+Maxwell, the eldest son of the Scottish soldier, and his cousin, young
+Louis Perron, were greatly attached: they, with the young Catharine
+and Mathilde, formed a little coterie of inseparables; their
+amusements, tastes, pursuits, occupations, all blended and harmonized
+delightfully; there were none of those little envyings and bickerings
+among them that pave the way to strife and disunion in after-life.
+
+Catharine Maxwell and her cousin Louis were more like brother and
+sister than Hector and Catharine; but Mathilde was gentle and
+dove-like, and formed a contrast to the gravity of Hector and the
+vivacity of Louis and Catharine.
+
+Hector and Louis were fourteen--strong, vigorous, industrious, and
+hardy, both in constitution and habits. The girls were turned of
+twelve. It is not with Mathilde that our story is connected, but with
+the two lads and Catharine. With the gaiety and _naivete_ of the
+Frenchwoman, Catharine possessed, when occasion called it into action,
+a thoughtful and well-regulated mind, abilities which would well have
+repaid the care of mental cultivation; but of book-learning she knew
+nothing beyond a little reading, and that but imperfectly, acquired
+from her father's teaching. It was an accomplishment which he had
+gained when in the army, having been taught by his colonel's son, a
+lad of twelve years of age, who had taken a great fancy to him, and
+had at parting given him a few of his school-books, among which was a
+Testament without cover or title-page. At parting, the young gentleman
+recommended its daily perusal to Duncan. Had the gift been a Bible,
+perhaps the soldier's obedience to his priest might have rendered it a
+dead letter to him; but as it fortunately happened, he was unconscious
+of any prohibition to deter him from becoming acquainted with the
+truths of the gospel. He communicated the power of perusing his books
+to his children Hector and Catharine, Duncan and Kenneth, in
+succession, with a feeling of intense reverence; even the labour of
+teaching was regarded as a holy duty in itself, and was not undertaken
+without deeply impressing the obligation he was conferring upon them
+whenever they were brought to the task. It was indeed a precious boon,
+and the children learned to consider it as a pearl beyond all price in
+the trials that awaited them in their eventful career. To her
+knowledge of religious truths young Catharine added an intimate
+acquaintance with the songs and legends of her father's romantic
+country; often would her plaintive ballads and old tales, related in
+the hut or the wigwam to her attentive auditors, wile away heavy
+thoughts.
+
+It was a lovely sunny day in the flowery month of June. Canada had not
+only doffed that "dazzling white robe" mentioned in the songs of her
+Jacobite emigrants, but had assumed the beauties of her loveliest
+season; the last week in May and the first three of June being
+parallel to the English May, full of buds and flowers and fair promise
+of ripening fruits.
+
+The high sloping hills surrounding the fertile vale of Cold Springs
+were clothed with the blossoms of the gorgeous scarlet castilegia
+coccinea, or painted-cup; the large, pure, white blossoms of the
+lily-like trillium grandiflorum; the delicate and fragile lilac
+geranium, whose graceful flowers woo the hand of the flower-gatherer
+only to fade almost within his grasp: the golden cypripedium or
+moccasin flower, so singular, so lovely in its colour and formation,
+waved heavily its yellow blossoms as the breeze shook the stems; and
+there, mingling with a thousand various floral beauties, the azure
+lupine claimed its place, shedding almost a heavenly tint upon the
+earth. Thousands of roses were blooming on the more level ground,
+sending forth their rich fragrance, mixed with the delicate scent of
+the feathery ceanothus (New Jersey tea). The vivid greenness of the
+young leaves of the forest, the tender tint of the springing corn, was
+contrasted with the deep dark fringe of waving pines on the hills, and
+the yet darker shade of the spruce and balsams on the borders of the
+creeks, for so our Canadian forest rills are universally termed. The
+bright glancing wings of the summer red-bird, the crimson-headed
+woodpecker, the gay blue-bird, and noisy but splendid plumed jay might
+be seen among the branches; the air was filled with beauteous sights
+and soft murmuring sounds.
+
+Under the shade of the luxuriant hop-vines that covered the rustic
+porch in front of the little dwelling, the light step of Catharine
+Maxwell might be heard mixed with the drowsy whirring of the big
+wheel, as she passed to and fro guiding the thread of yarn in its
+course. And now she sang snatches of old mountain songs, such as she
+had learned from her father; and now, with livelier air, hummed some
+gay French tune to the household melody of her spinning-wheel, as she
+advanced and retreated with her thread, unconscious of the laughing
+black eyes that were watching her movements from among the embowering
+foliage that shielded her from the morning sun.
+
+"Come, ma belle cousine," for so Louis delighted to call her. "Hector
+and I are waiting for you to go with us to the 'Beaver Meadow.' The
+cattle have strayed, and we think we shall find them there. The day is
+delicious, the very flowers look as if they wanted to be admired and
+plucked, and we shall find early strawberries on the old Indian
+clearing."
+
+Catharine cast a longing look abroad, but said, "I fear I cannot go
+to-day; for see, I have all these rolls of wool to spin up, and my
+yarn to wind off the reel and twist; and then, my mother is away."
+
+"Yes, I left her with mamma," replied Louis, "and she said she would
+be home shortly, so her absence need not stay you. She said you could
+take a basket and try and bring home some berries for sick Louise.
+Hector is sure he knows a spot where we shall get some fine ones, ripe
+and red." As he spoke Louis whisked away the big wheel to one end of
+the porch, gathered up the hanks of yarn and tossed them into the open
+wicker basket, and the next minute the large, coarse, flapped straw
+hat, that hung upon the peg in the porch, was stuck not very
+gracefully on Catharine's head and tied beneath her chin, with a merry
+rattling laugh, which drowned effectually the small lecture that
+Catharine began to utter by way of reproving the light-hearted boy.
+
+"But where is Mathilde?"
+
+"Sitting like a dear good girl, as she is, with sick Louise's head in
+her lap, and would not disturb her for all the fruit and flowers in
+Canada. Marie cried sadly to go with us, but I promised her and Louise
+lots of flowers and berries if we get them, and the dear children were
+as happy as queens when I left."
+
+"But stay, cousin, you are sure my mother gave her consent to my
+going? We shall be away chief part of the day. You know it is a long
+walk to the Beaver Meadow and back again," said Catharine, hesitating
+as Louis took her hand to lead her out from the porch.
+
+"Yes, yes, ma belle," said the giddy boy quickly; "so come along, for
+Hector is waiting at the barn. But stay, we shall be hungry before we
+return, so let us have some cakes and butter, and do not forget a tin
+cup for water."
+
+Nothing doubting, Catharine, with buoyant spirits, set about her
+little preparations, which were soon completed; but just as she was
+leaving the little garden enclosure, she ran back to kiss Kenneth and
+Duncan, her young brothers. In the farm-yard she found Hector with his
+axe on his shoulder. "What are you taking the axe for, Hector? you
+will find it heavy to carry," said his sister.
+
+"In the first place, I have to cut a stick of blue beech to make a
+broom for sweeping the house, sister of mine, and that is for your
+use, Miss Kate, and in the next place, I have to find, if possible, a
+piece of rock elm or hickory for axe handles: so now you have the
+reason why I take the axe with me."
+
+The children left the clearing and struck into one of the deep defiles
+that lay between the hills, and cheerfully they laughed and sung and
+chattered, as they sped on their pleasant path, nor were they loath to
+exchange the glowing sunshine for the sober gloom of the forest shade.
+What handfuls of flowers of all hues, red, blue, yellow, and white,
+were gathered, only to be gazed at, carried for a while, then cast
+aside for others fresher and fairer. And now they came to cool rills
+that flowed, softly murmuring, among mossy limestone, or blocks of red
+or gray granite, wending their way beneath twisted roots and fallen
+trees; and often Catharine lingered to watch the eddying dimples of
+the clear water, to note the tiny bright fragments of quartz or
+crystallized limestone that formed a shining pavement below the
+stream. And often she paused to watch the angry movements of the red
+squirrel, as, with feathery tail erect, and sharp scolding note, he
+crossed their woodland path, and swiftly darting up the rugged bark of
+some neighbouring pine or hemlock, bade the intruders on his quiet
+haunts defiance; yet so bold in his indignation, he scarcely
+condescended to ascend beyond their reach. The long-continued, hollow
+tapping of the large red-headed woodpecker, or the singular
+subterranean sound caused by the drumming of the partridge striking
+his wings upon his breast to woo his gentle mate, and the soft
+whispering note of the little tree-creeper, as it flitted from one
+hemlock to another, collecting its food between the fissures of the
+bark, were among the few sounds that broke the noontide stillness of
+the woods; but to such sights and sounds the lively Catharine and her
+cousin were not indifferent. And often they wondered that Hector
+gravely pursued his onward way, and seldom lingered as they did to
+mark the bright colours of the flowers, or the sparkling of the forest
+rill, or the hurrying to and fro of the turkeys among the luxuriant
+grass.
+
+"What makes Hec so grave?" said Catharine to her companion, as they
+seated themselves upon a mossy trunk to await his coming up; for they
+had giddily chased each other till they had far outrun him.
+
+"Hector, sweet coz, is thinking perhaps of how many bushels of corn or
+wheat this land would grow if cleared, or he may be examining the soil
+or the trees, or is looking for his stick of blue beech for your
+broom, or the hickory for his axe handles, and never heeding such
+nonsense as woodpeckers, and squirrels, and lilies, and moss, and
+ferns; for Hector is not a giddy thing like his cousin Louis, or--"
+
+"His sister Kate," interrupted Catharine merrily. "But when shall we
+come to the Beaver Meadow?"
+
+"Patience, ma belle, all in good time. Hark! was not that the ox-bell?
+No; Hector whistling." And soon they heard the heavy stroke of his axe
+ringing among the trees; for he had found the blue beech, and was
+cutting it to leave on the path, that he might take it home on their
+return: he had also marked some hickory of a nice size for his axe
+handles, to bring home at some future time.
+
+The children had walked several miles, and were not sorry to sit down
+and rest till Hector joined them.
+
+He was well pleased with his success, and declared he felt no fatigue.
+"As soon as we reach the old Indian clearing, we shall find
+strawberries," he said, "and a fresh cold spring, and then we will
+have our dinner."
+
+"Come, Hector,--come, Louis," said Catharine, jumping up, "I long to
+be gathering the strawberries; and see, my flowers are faded, so I
+will throw them away, and the basket shall be filled with fresh fruit
+instead, and we must not forget petite Marie and sick Louise, or dear
+Mathilde. Ah, how I wish she were here at this minute! But there is
+the opening to the Beaver Meadow."
+
+And the sunlight was seen streaming through the opening trees as they
+approached the cleared space, which some called the "Indian clearing,"
+but is now more generally known as the little Beaver Meadow. It was a
+pleasant spot, green, and surrounded with light bowery trees and
+flowering shrubs, of a different growth from those that belong to the
+dense forest. Here the children found, on the hilly ground above, fine
+ripe strawberries, the earliest they had seen that year, and soon all
+weariness was forgotten while pursuing the delightful occupation of
+gathering the tempting fruit; and when they had refreshed themselves,
+and filled the basket with leaves and fruit, they slaked their thirst
+at the stream which wound its way among the bushes. Catharine
+neglected not to reach down flowery bunches of the fragrant
+whitethorn, and the high-bush cranberry, then radiant with nodding
+umbels of snowy blossoms, or to wreathe the handle of the little
+basket with the graceful trailing runners of the lovely twin-flowered
+plant, the Linnaea borealis, which she always said reminded her of the
+twins Louise and Marie, her little cousins. And now the day began to
+wear away, for they had lingered long in the little clearing; they had
+wandered from the path by which they entered it, and had neglected, in
+their eagerness to look for the strawberries, to notice any particular
+mark by which they might regain it. Just when they began to think of
+returning, Louis noticed a beaten path, where there seemed recent
+prints of cattle hoofs on a soft spongy soil beyond the creek.
+
+"Come, Hector," said he gaily, "this is lucky; we are on the
+cattle-path; no fear but it will lead us directly home, and that by a
+nearer track."
+
+Hector was undecided about following it; he fancied it bent too much
+towards the setting sun; but his cousin overruled his objection. "And
+is not this our own creek?" he said. "I have often heard my father say
+it had its rise somewhere about this old clearing."
+
+Hector now thought Louis might be right, and they boldly followed the
+path among the poplars, thorns, and bushes that clothed its banks,
+surprised to see how open the ground became, and how swift and clear
+the stream swept onward.
+
+"Oh, this dear creek," cried the delighted Catharine, "how pretty it
+is! I shall often follow its course after this; no doubt it has its
+source from our own Cold Springs."
+
+And so they cheerfully pursued their way, till the sun, sinking behind
+the range of westerly hills, soon left them in gloom; but they
+anxiously hurried forward when the stream wound its noisy way among
+steep stony banks, clothed scantily with pines and a few scattered
+silver-barked poplars. And now they became bewildered by two paths
+leading in opposite directions; one upward among the rocky hills, the
+other through the opening gorge of a deep ravine.
+
+Here, overcome with fatigue, Catharine seated herself on a large block
+of granite, near a great bushy pine that grew beside the path by the
+ravine, unable to proceed; and Hector, with a grave and troubled
+countenance, stood beside her, looking round with an air of great
+perplexity. Louis, seating himself at Catharine's feet, surveyed the
+deep gloomy valley before them, and sighed heavily. The conviction
+forcibly struck him that they had mistaken the path altogether. The
+very aspect of the country was different; the growth of the trees, the
+flow of the stream, all indicated a change of soil and scene. Darkness
+was fast drawing its impenetrable veil around them; a few stars were
+stealing out, and gleaming down as if with pitying glance upon the
+young wanderers, but they could not light up their pathway or point
+their homeward track. The only sounds, save the lulling murmur of the
+rippling stream below, were the plaintive note of the whip-poor-will,
+from a gnarled oak that grew near them, and the harsh grating scream
+of the night hawk, darting about in the higher regions of the air,
+pursuing its noisy congeners, or swooping down with that peculiar
+hollow rushing sound, as of a person blowing into some empty vessel,
+when it seizes with wide-extended bill its insect prey.
+
+Hector was the first to break the silence. "Cousin Louis, we were
+wrong in following the course of the stream; I fear we shall never
+find our way back tonight."
+
+Louis made no reply; his sad and subdued air failed not to attract the
+attention of his cousins.
+
+"Why, Louis, how is this? you are not used to be cast down by
+difficulties," said Hector, as he marked something like tears
+glistening in the dark eyes of his cousin.
+
+Louis's heart was full; he did not reply, but cast a troubled glance
+upon the weary Catharine, who leaned heavily against the tree beneath
+which she sat.
+
+"It is not," resumed Hector, "that I mind passing a summer's night
+under such a sky as this, and with such a dry grassy bed below me; but
+I do not think it is good for Catharine to sleep on the bare ground in
+the night dews,--and then they will be so anxious at home about our
+absence."
+
+Louis burst into tears, and sobbed out,--"And it is all my doing that
+she came out with us; I deceived her, and my aunt will be angry and
+much alarmed, for she did not know of her going at all. Dear
+Catharine, good cousin Hector, pray forgive me!"
+
+But Catharine was weeping too much to reply to his passionate
+entreaties; and Hector, who never swerved from the truth, for which he
+had almost a stern reverence, hardly repressed his indignation at what
+appeared to him a most culpable act of deceit on the part of Louis.
+
+The sight of her cousin's grief and self-abasement touched the tender
+heart of Catharine; for she was kind and dove-like in her disposition,
+and loved Louis, with all his faults. Had it not been for the painful
+consciousness of the grief their unusual absence would occasion at
+home, Catharine would have thought nothing of their present adventure;
+but she could not endure the idea of her high-principled father taxing
+her with deceiving her kind indulgent mother and him. It was this
+humiliating thought which wounded the proud heart of Hector, causing
+him to upbraid his cousin in somewhat harsh terms for his want of
+truthfulness, and steeled him against the bitter grief that wrung the
+heart of the penitent Louis, who, leaning his wet cheek on the
+shoulder of Catharine, sobbed as if his heart would break, heedless of
+her soothing words and affectionate endeavours to console him.
+
+"Dear Hector," she said, turning her soft pleading eyes on the stern
+face of her brother, "you must not be so very angry with poor Louis.
+Remember it was to please me, and give me the enjoyment of a day of
+liberty with you and himself in the woods, among the flowers and trees
+and birds, that he committed this fault."
+
+"Catharine, Louis told an untruth, and acted deceitfully. And look at
+the consequences: we shall have forfeited our parents' confidence, and
+may have some days of painful privation to endure before we regain our
+home, if we ever do find our way back to Cold Springs," replied
+Hector.
+
+"It is the grief and anxiety our dear parents will endure this night,"
+answered Catharine, "that distresses my mind; but," she added, in more
+cheerful tones, "let us not despair, no doubt to-morrow we shall be
+able to retrace our steps."
+
+With the young there is ever a magical spell in that little word
+_to-morrow_,--it is a point which they pursue as fast as it recedes
+from them; sad indeed is the young heart that does not look forward
+with hope to the future!
+
+The cloud still hung on Hector's brow, till Catharine gaily exclaimed,
+"Come, Hector! come Louis! we must not stand idling thus; we must
+think of providing some shelter for the night: it is not good to rest
+upon the bare ground exposed to the night dews.--See, here is a nice
+hut, half made," pointing to a large upturned root which some fierce
+whirlwind had hurled from the lofty bank into the gorge of the dark
+glen.
+
+"Now you must make haste, and lop off a few pine boughs, and stick
+them into the ground, or even lean them against the roots of this old
+oak, and there, you see, will be a capital house to shelter us. To
+work, to work, you idle boys, or poor wee Katty must turn squaw and
+build her own wigwam," she playfully added, taking up the axe which
+rested against the feathery pine beneath which Hector was leaning.
+Now, Catharine cared as little as her brother and cousin about passing
+a warm summer's night under the shade of the forest trees, for she was
+both hardy and healthy; but her woman's heart taught her that the
+surest means of reconciling the cousins would be by mutually
+interesting them in the same object,--and she was right. In
+endeavouring to provide for the comfort of their dear companion, all
+angry feelings were forgotten by Hector, while active employment
+chased away Louis's melancholy.
+
+Unlike the tall, straight, naked trunks of the pines of the forest,
+those of the plains are adorned with branches often to the very
+ground, varying in form and height, and often presenting most
+picturesque groups, or rising singly among scattered groves of the
+silver-barked poplar or graceful birch trees; the dark mossy greenness
+of the stately pine contrasting finely with the light waving foliage
+of its slender, graceful companions.
+
+Hector, with his axe, soon lopped boughs from one of the adjacent
+pines, which Louis sharpened with his knife and, with Catharine's
+assistance, drove into the ground, arranging them in such a way as to
+make the upturned oak, with its roots and the earth which adhered to
+them, form the back part of the hut, which when completed formed by no
+means a contemptible shelter. Catharine then cut fern and deer grass
+with Louis's _couteau de chasse_, which he always carried in a sheath
+at his girdle, and spread two beds,--one, parted off by dry boughs and
+bark, for herself, in the interior of the wigwam; and one for her
+brother and cousin, nearer the entrance. When all was finished to her
+satisfaction she called the two boys, and, according to the custom of
+her parents, joined them in the lifting up of their hands as an
+evening sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving. Nor were these
+simple-hearted children backward in imploring help and protection from
+the Most High. They earnestly prayed that no dangerous creature might
+come near to molest them during the hours of darkness and
+helplessness, no evil spirit visit them, no unholy or wicked thoughts
+intrude into their minds; but that holy angels and heavenly thoughts
+might hover over them, and fill their hearts with the peace of God
+which passeth all understanding. And the prayer of the poor wanderers
+was heard; they slept in peace, unharmed, in the vast solitude. So
+passed their first night on the Plains.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+
+"Fear not: ye are of more value than many sparrows."--_St. Luke_.
+
+The sun had risen in all the splendour of a Canadian summer morning
+when the sleepers arose from their leafy beds. In spite of the novelty
+of their situation, they had slept as soundly and tranquilly as if
+they had been under the protecting care of their beloved parents, on
+their little palliasses of corn straw; but they had been cared for by
+Him who neither slumbereth nor sleepeth, and they waked full of
+youthful hope, and in fulness of faith in His mercy into whose hands
+they had commended their souls and bodies before they retired to rest.
+
+While the children slept in peace and safety, what terrors had filled
+the minds of their distracted parents! what a night of anguish and
+sorrow had they passed!
+
+When night had closed in without bringing back the absent children,
+the two fathers, lighting torches of fat pine, went forth in search of
+the wanderers. How often did they raise their voices in hopes their
+loud halloos might reach the hearing of the lost ones! How often did
+they check their hurried steps to listen for some replying call! But
+the sighing breeze in the pine tops, or sudden rustling of the leaves
+caused by the flight of the birds startled by the unusual glare of the
+torches, and the echoes of their own voices, were the only sounds that
+met their anxious ears. At daybreak they returned, sad and dispirited,
+to their homes, to snatch a morsel of food, endeavour to cheer the
+drooping hearts of the weeping mothers, and hurry off, taking
+different directions. But, unfortunately, they had little clue to the
+route which Hector and Louis had taken, there being many cattle-paths
+through the woods. Louis's want of truthfulness had caused this
+uncertainty, as he had left no intimation of the path he purposed
+taking when he quitted his mother's house. He had merely said he was
+going with Hector in search of the cattle, giving no hint of his
+intention of asking Catharine to accompany them; he had but told his
+sick sister that he would bring home strawberries and flowers, and
+that he would soon return. Alas! poor, thoughtless Louis! how little
+did you think of the web of woe you were then weaving for yourself,
+and all those to whom you and your companions were so dear! Children,
+think twice ere ye deceive once.
+
+Catharine's absence would have been quite unaccountable but for the
+testimony of Duncan and Kenneth, who had received her sisterly
+caresses before she joined Hector at the barn; and much her mother
+marvelled what could have induced her good, dutiful Catharine to have
+left her work and forsaken her household duties to go rambling away
+with the boys, for she never left the house when her mother was absent
+from it without her express permission. And now she was gone,--lost to
+them perhaps for ever. There stood the wheel she had been turning;
+there hung the untwisted hanks of yarn, her morning task; and there
+they remained week after week, and month after month, untouched,--a
+melancholy memorial to the hearts of the bereaved parents of their
+beloved.
+
+It were indeed a fruitless task to follow the agonized fathers in
+their vain search for their children, or to paint the bitter anguish
+that filled their hearts as day passed after day, and still no tidings
+of the lost ones. As hope faded, a deep and settled gloom stole over
+the sorrowing parents, and reigned throughout the once cheerful and
+gladsome homes. At the end of a week the only idea that remained was,
+that one of these three casualties had befallen the lost
+children,--death, a lingering death by famine; death, cruel and
+horrible, by wolves or bears; or, yet more terrible, with tortures by
+the hands of the dreaded Indians, who occasionally held their councils
+and hunting-parties on the hills about the Rice Lake, which was known
+only by the elder Perron as the scene of many bloody encounters
+between the rival tribes of the Mohawks and Chippewas. Its localities
+were scarcely ever visited by the settlers, lest haply they should
+fall into the hands of the bloody Mohawks, whose merciless disposition
+made them in those days a by-word even to the less cruel Chippewas and
+other Indian nations.
+
+It was not in the direction of the Rice Lake that Maxwell and his
+brother-in-law sought their lost children; and even if they had done
+so, among the deep glens and hill passes of what is now commonly
+called the Plains, they would have stood little chance of discovering
+the poor wanderers. After many days of fatigue of body and distress of
+mind, the sorrowing parents sadly relinquished the search as utterly
+hopeless, and mourned in bitterness of spirit over the disastrous fate
+of their first-born and beloved children. "There was a voice of woe,
+and lamentation, and great mourning; Rachel weeping for her children,
+and refusing to be comforted, because they were not."
+
+The miserable uncertainty that involved the fate of the lost ones was
+an aggravation to the sufferings of the mourners. Could they but have
+been certified of the manner of their deaths, they fancied they should
+be more contented; but, alas! this fearful satisfaction was withheld
+
+  "Oh, were their tale of sorrow known,
+    'Twere something to the breaking heart;
+   The pangs of doubt would then be gone,
+     And fancy's endless dreams depart."
+
+But let us quit the now mournful settlement of Cold Springs, and see
+how it really fared with the young wanderers.
+
+When they awoke, the valley was filled with a white creamy mist, that
+arose from the bed of the stream (now known as Cold Creek), and gave
+an indistinctness to the whole landscape, investing it with an
+appearance perfectly different to that which it had worn by the
+bright, clear light of the moon. No trace of their footsteps remained
+to guide them in retracing their path, so hard and dry was the stony
+ground that it left no impression on its surface. It was with some
+difficulty they found the creek, which was concealed from sight by a
+lofty screen of gigantic hawthorns, high-bush cranberries, poplars,
+and birch trees. The hawthorn was in blossom, and gave out a sweet
+perfume, not less fragrant than the "May," which makes the lanes and
+hedgerows of "merrie old England" so sweet and fair in May and June.
+
+At length their path began to grow more difficult. A tangled mass of
+cedars, balsams, birch, black ash, alders, and _tamarack_ (Indian
+name for the larch), with a dense thicket of bushes and shrubs, such
+as love the cool, damp soil of marshy ground, warned our travellers
+that they must quit the banks of the friendly stream, or they might
+become entangled in a trackless swamp. Having taken copious and
+refreshing draughts from the bright waters, and bathed their hands and
+faces, they ascended the grassy bank, and, again descending, found
+themselves in one of those long valleys, enclosed between lofty
+sloping banks, clothed with shrubs and oaks, with here and there a
+stately pine. Through this second valley they pursued their way, till,
+emerging into a wider space, they came among those singularly
+picturesque groups of rounded gravel-hills, where the Cold Creek once
+more met their view, winding its way towards a grove of evergreens,
+where it was again lost to the eye.
+
+This lovely spot was known as Sackville's Mill-dike. The hand of man
+had curbed the free course of the wild forest stream, and made it
+subservient to his will, but could not destroy the natural beauties of
+the scene.
+
+Fearing to entangle themselves in the swamp, they kept the hilly
+ground, winding their way up to the summit of the lofty ridge of the
+oak hills, the highest ground they had yet attained; and here it was
+that the silver waters of the Rice Lake in all its beauty burst upon
+the eyes of the wondering and delighted travellers. There it lay, a
+sheet of liquid silver, just emerging from the blue veil of mist that
+hung upon its surface and concealed its wooded shores on either side.
+All feeling of dread, and doubt, and danger was lost for the time in
+one rapturous glow of admiration at the scene so unexpected and so
+beautiful as that which they now gazed upon from the elevation they
+had gained. From this ridge they looked down the lake, and the eye
+could take in an extent of many miles, with its verdant wooded
+islands, which stole into view one by one as the rays of the morning
+sun drew up the moving curtain of mist that enveloped them; and soon
+both northern and southern shores became distinctly visible, with all
+their bays, and capes, and swelling oak and pine crowned hills.
+
+And now arose the question, "Where are we? What lake is this? Can it
+be the Ontario, or is it the Rice Lake? Can yonder shores be those of
+the Americans, or are they the hunting-grounds of the dreaded
+Indians?" Hector remembered having often heard his father say that the
+Ontario was like an inland sea, and the opposite shores not visible
+unless in some remarkable state of the atmosphere, when they had been
+occasionally discerned by the naked eye; while here they could
+distinctly see objects on the other side, the peculiar growth of the
+trees, and even flights of wild fowl winging their way among the rice
+and low bushes on its margin. The breadth of the lake from shore to
+shore could not, they thought, exceed three or four miles; while its
+length, in an easterly direction, seemed far greater,--beyond what
+the eye could take in. [Footnote: The length of the Rice Lake, from
+its head-waters near Black's Landing to the mouth of the Trent, is
+said to be twenty-five miles; its breadth, from north to south, varies
+from three to six.]
+
+They now quitted the lofty ridge, and bent their steps towards the
+lake. Wearied with their walk, they seated themselves beneath the
+shade of a beautiful feathery pine, on a high promontory that
+commanded a magnificent view down the lake.
+
+"How pleasant it would be to have a house on this delightful bank,
+overlooking the lake!" said Louis. "Only think of the fish we could
+take, and the ducks and wild fowl we could shoot; and it would be no
+very hard matter to hollow out a log canoe, such a one as I have heard
+my father say he has rowed in across many a lake and broad river
+below, when he was lumbering."
+
+"Yes, it would, indeed, be a pleasant spot to live upon," said Hector,
+"though I am not quite sure that the land is as good just here as it
+is at Cold Springs; but all those flats and rich valleys would make
+fine pastures, and produce plenty of grain, too, if cultivated."
+
+"You always look to the main chance, Hec," said Louis, laughing;
+"well, it was worth a few hours' walking this morning to look upon so
+lovely a sheet of water as this. I would spend two nights in a
+wigwam,--would not you, ma belle?--to enjoy such a sight."
+
+"Yes, Louis," replied his cousin, hesitating as she spoke; "it is very
+pretty, and I did not mind sleeping in the little hut; but then I
+cannot enjoy myself as much as I should have done had my father and
+mother been aware of my intention of accompanying you. Ah, my dear,
+dear parents!" she added, as the thought of the anguish the absence of
+her companions and herself would cause at home came over her. "How I
+wish I had remained at home! Selfish Catharine! foolish, idle girl!"
+
+Poor Louis was overwhelmed with grief at the sight of his cousin's
+tears; and as the kind-hearted but thoughtless boy bent over her to
+soothe and console her, his own tears fell upon the fair locks of the
+weeping girl, and dropped on the hand he held between his own.
+
+"If you cry thus, cousin," he whispered, "you will break poor Louis's
+heart, already sore enough with thinking of his foolish conduct."
+
+"Be not cast down, Catharine," said her brother cheeringly; "we may
+not be so far from home as you think. As soon as you are rested, we
+will set out again, and we may find something to eat; there must be
+strawberries on these sunny banks."
+
+Catharine soon yielded to the voice of her brother, and drying her
+eyes, proceeded to descend the sides of the steep valley that lay to
+one side of the high ground where they had been sitting.
+
+Suddenly darting down the bank, she exclaimed, "Come, Hector! come,
+Louis! here indeed is provision to keep us from starving;" for her eye
+had caught the bright red strawberries among the flowers and herbage
+on the slope--large ripe strawberries, the very finest she had ever
+seen.
+
+"There is, indeed, ma belle," said Louis, stooping as he spoke to
+gather up, not the fruit, but a dozen fresh partridge's eggs from the
+inner shade of a thick tuft of grass and herbs that grew beside a
+fallen tree. Catharine's voice and sudden movements had startled the
+ruffed grouse [Footnote: The Canadian partridge is a species of
+grouse, larger than the English or French partridge. We refer our
+young readers to the finely arranged specimens in the British Museum
+(open to the public), where they may discover "Louis's partridge."]
+from her nest, and the eggs were soon transferred to Louis's straw
+hat, while a stone flung by the steady hand of Hector stunned the
+parent bird. The boys laughed exultingly as they displayed their
+prizes to the astonished Catharine, who, in spite of hunger, could not
+help regretting the death of the mother bird. Girls and women rarely
+sympathize with men and boys in their field sports, and Hector laughed
+at his sister's doleful looks as he handed over the bird to her.
+
+"It was a lucky chance," said he, "and the stone was well aimed, but
+it is not the first partridge that I have killed in this way. They are
+so stupid you may even run them down at times; I hope to get another
+before the day is over.
+
+"Well, there is no fear of starving to-day, at all events," he added,
+as he inspected the contents of his cousin's hat; "twelve nice fresh
+eggs, a bird, and plenty of fruit."
+
+"But how shall we cook the bird and the eggs? We have no means of
+getting a fire made," said Catharine.
+
+"As to the eggs," said Louis, "we can eat them raw; it is not for
+hungry wanderers like us to be over-nice about our food."
+
+"They would satisfy us much better were they boiled, or roasted in the
+ashes," observed Hector.
+
+"True. Well, a fire, I think, can be got with a little trouble."
+
+"But how?" asked Hector.
+
+"Oh, there are many ways, but the readiest would be a flint with the
+help of my knife."
+
+"A flint?"
+
+"Yes, if we could get one: but I see nothing but granite, which
+crumbles and shivers when struck--we could not get a spark. However, I
+think it's very likely that one of the round pebbles I see on the
+beach yonder may be found hard enough for the purpose."
+
+To the shore they bent their steps as soon as the little basket had
+been well filled with strawberries; and descending the precipitous
+bank, fringed with young saplings; birch, ash, and poplars, they
+quickly found themselves beside the bright waters of the lake. A flint
+was soon found among the water-worn stones that lay thickly strewn
+upon the shore, and a handful of dry sedge, almost as inflammable as
+tinder, was collected without trouble: though Louis, with the
+recklessness of his nature, had coolly proposed to tear a strip from
+his cousin's apron as a substitute for tinder,--a proposal that
+somewhat raised the indignation of the tidy Catharine, whose ideas of
+economy and neatness were greatly outraged, especially as she had no
+sewing implements to assist in mending the rent. Louis thought nothing
+of that; it was a part of his character to think only of the present,
+little of the past, and to let the future provide for itself. Such was
+Louis's great failing, which had proved a fruitful source of trouble
+both to himself and others. In this respect he bore a striking
+contrast to his more cautious companion, who possessed much of the
+gravity of his father. Hector was as heedful and steady in his
+decisions as Louis was rash and impetuous.
+
+After many futile attempts, and some skin knocked off their knuckles
+through awkward handling of the knife and flint, a good fire was at
+last kindled, as there was no lack of dry wood on the shore. Catharine
+then triumphantly produced her tin pot, and the eggs were boiled,
+greatly to the satisfaction of all parties, who were by this time
+sufficiently hungry, having eaten nothing since the previous evening
+more substantial than the strawberries they had taken during the time
+they were gathering them in the morning.
+
+Catharine had selected a pretty, cool, shady recess, a natural bower,
+under the overhanging growth of [Illustration: THE FIRST BREAKFAST.]
+cedars, poplars, and birch, which were wreathed together by the
+flexible branches of the wild grape vine and bitter-sweet, which
+climbed to a height of fifteen feet [Footnote: _Celastrus
+scandens_,--bitter-sweet or woody nightshade. This plant, like the
+red-berried bryony of England, is highly ornamental. It possesses
+powerful properties as a medicine, and is in high reputation among the
+Indians.] among the branches of the trees, which it covered as with a
+mantle. A pure spring of cold, delicious water welled out from beneath
+the twisted roots of an old hoary-barked cedar, and found its way
+among the shingle on the beach to the lake, a humble but constant
+tributary to its waters. Some large blocks of water-worn stone formed
+convenient seats and a natural table, on which the little maiden
+arranged the forest fare; and never was a meal made with greater
+appetite or taken with more thankfulness than that which our wanderers
+ate that morning. The eggs (part of which they reserved for another
+time) were declared to be better than those that were daily produced
+from the little hen-house at Cold Springs. The strawberries, set out
+in little pottles made with the shining leaves of the oak, ingeniously
+pinned together by Catharine with the long spurs of the hawthorn, were
+voted delicious, and the pure water most refreshing, that they drank,
+for lack of better cups, from a large mussel-shell which Catharine had
+picked up among the weeds and pebbles on the beach.
+
+Many children would have wandered about weeping and disconsolate,
+lamenting their sad fate, or have imbittered the time by useless
+repining, or, perhaps, by venting their uneasiness in reviling the
+principal author of their calamity--poor, thoughtless Louis; but such
+were not the dispositions of our young Canadians. Early accustomed to
+the hardships incidental to the lives of the settlers in the bush,
+these young people had learned to bear with patience and cheerfulness
+privations that would have crushed the spirits of children more
+delicately nurtured. They had known every degree of hunger and
+nakedness: during the first few years of their lives they had often
+been compelled to subsist for days and weeks upon roots and herbs,
+wild fruits, and game which their fathers had learned to entrap, to
+decoy, and to shoot. Thus Louis and Hector had early been initiated
+into the mysteries of the chase. They could make dead-falls, and pits,
+and traps, and snares; they were as expert as Indians in the use of
+the bow; they could pitch a stone or fling a wooden dart at partridge,
+hare, and squirrel with almost unerring aim; and were as swift of foot
+as young fawns. Now it was that they learned to value in its fullest
+extent this useful and practical knowledge, which enabled them to face
+with fortitude the privations of a life so precarious as that to which
+they were now exposed.
+
+It was one of the elder Maxwell's maxims,--Never, let difficulties
+overcome you, but rather strive to conquer them; let the head direct
+the hand, and the hand, like a well-disciplined soldier, obey the head
+as chief. When his children expressed any doubts of not being able to
+accomplish any work they had begun, he would say, "Have you not hands,
+have you not a head, have you not eyes to see, and reason to guide
+you? As for impossibilities, they do not belong to the trade of a
+soldier,--he dare not see them." Thus were energy and perseverance
+early instilled into the, minds of his children. They were now called
+upon to give practical proofs of the precepts that had been taught
+them in childhood. Hector trusted to his axe, and Louis to his
+_couteau de chasse_ and pocket-knife,--the latter was a present from
+an old forest friend of his father's, who had visited them the
+previous winter, and which, by good luck, Louis had in his pocket,--a
+capacious pouch, in which were stored many precious things, such as
+coils of twine and string, strips of leather, with odds and ends of
+various kinds--nails, bits of iron, leather, and such miscellaneous
+articles as find their way most mysteriously into boys' pockets in
+general, and Louis Perron's in particular, who was a wonderful
+collector of such small matters.
+
+The children were not easily daunted by the prospect of passing a few
+days abroad on so charming a spot, and at such a lovely season, where
+fruits were so abundant; and when they had finished their morning
+meal, so providentially placed within their reach, they gratefully
+acknowledged the mercy of God in this thing.
+
+Having refreshed themselves by bathing their hands and faces in the
+lake, they cheerfully renewed their wanderings, though something loath
+to leave the cool shade and the spring for an untrodden path among the
+hills and deep ravines that furrow the shores of the Rice Lake in so
+remarkable a manner; and often did our weary wanderers pause to look
+upon the wild glens and precipitous hills, where the fawn and the shy
+deer found safe retreats, unharmed by the rifle of the hunter, where
+the osprey and white-headed eagle built their nests, unheeded and
+unharmed. Twice that day, misled by following the track of the deer,
+had they returned to the samespot,--a deep and lovely glen, which had
+once been a watercourse, but was now a green and shady valley. This
+they named the Valley of the Rock, from a remarkable block of red
+granite that occupied a central position in the narrow defile; and
+here they prepared to pass their second night on the Plains. A few
+boughs cut down and interlaced with the shrubs round a small space
+cleared with Hector's axe, formed shelter, and leaves and grass,
+strewed on the ground, formed a bed--though not so smooth, perhaps, as
+the bark and cedar boughs that the Indians spread within their summer
+wigwams for carpets and couches, or the fresh heather that the
+Highlanders gather on the wild Scottish hills.
+
+While Hector and Louis were preparing the sleeping chamber, Catharine
+busied herself in preparing the partridge for their supper. Having
+collected some thin peelings from the rugged bark of a birch tree that
+grew on the side of the steep bank to which she gave the appropriate
+name of the "Birken Shaw," she dried it in her bosom, and then beat it
+fine upon a big stone, till it resembled the finest white paper. This
+proved excellent tinder, the aromatic oil contained in the bark of the
+birch being highly inflammable. Hector had prudently retained the
+flint that they had used in the morning, and a fire was now lighted in
+front of the rocky stone, and a forked stick, stuck in the ground, and
+bent over the coals, served as a spit, on which, gipsy-fashion, the
+partridge was suspended,--a scanty meal, but thankfully partaken of,
+though they knew not how they should breakfast next morning. The
+children felt they were pensioners on God's providence not less than
+the wild denizens of the wilderness around them.
+
+When Hector--who by nature was less sanguine than his sister or
+cousin--expressed some anxiety for their provisions for the morrow,
+Catharine, who had early listened with trusting piety of heart to the
+teaching of her father, when he read portions from the holy Word of
+God, gently laid her hand upon her brother's head, which rested on her
+knees, as he sat upon the grass beside her, and said, in a low and
+earnest tone, "'Consider the fowls of the air: they sow not, neither
+do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth
+them. Are ye not much better than they?' Surely, my brother, God
+careth for us as much as for the wild creatures that have no sense to
+praise and glorify his holy name. God cares for the creatures he has
+made, and supplies them with knowledge where they shall find food when
+they hunger and thirst. So I have heard my father say; and surely our
+father knows, for is he not a wise man, Hector?"
+
+"I remember," said Louis thoughtfully, "hearing my mother repeat the
+words of a good old man she knew when she lived in Quebec. 'When you
+are in trouble, Mathilde,' he used to say to her, 'kneel down and ask
+God's help, nothing doubting but that he has the power as well as the
+will to serve you, if it be for your good; for he is able to bring all
+things to pass. It is our own want of faith that prevents our prayers
+from being heard.' And, truly, I think the wise old man was right," he
+added.
+
+It was strange to hear grave words like these from the lips of the
+giddy Louis. Possibly they had the greater weight on that account. And
+Hector, looking up with a serious air, replied, "Your mother's friend
+was a good man, Louis. Our want of trust in God's power must displease
+him. And when we think of all the great and glorious things he has
+made,--that blue sky, those sparkling stars, the beautiful moon that
+is now shining down upon us, and the hills and waters, the mighty
+forest, and little creeping plants and flowers that grow at our
+feet,--it must, indeed, seem foolish in his eyes that we should doubt
+his power to help us, who not only made all these things but ourselves
+also."
+
+"True," said Catharine; "but then, Hector, we are not as God made us;
+for the wicked one cast bad seed in the field where God had sown the
+good."
+
+"Let us, however, consider what we shall do for food; for you know God
+helps those that help themselves," said Louis. "Let us consider a
+little. There must be plenty of fish in the lake, both small and
+great."
+
+"But how are we to get them out of it?" rejoined Catharine. "I doubt
+the fish will swim at their ease there, while we go hungry."
+
+"Do not interrupt me, ma chere. Then, we see the track of deer, and
+the holes of the wood-chuck; we hear the cry of squirrels and
+chitmunks, and there are plenty of partridges, and ducks, and quails,
+and snipes;--of course, we have to contrive some way to kill them.
+Fruits there are in abundance, and plenty of nuts of different kinds.
+At present we have plenty of fine strawberries, and huckleberries will
+be ripe soon in profusion, and bilberries too, and you know how
+pleasant they are; as for raspberries, I see none; but by-and-by there
+will be May-apples (_Podophyllum peltatum_)--I see great quantities
+of them in the low grounds; grapes, high-bush cranberries, haws as
+large as cherries, and sweet too, squaw-berries, wild-plums,
+choke-cherries, and bird-cherries. As to sweet acorns, there will be
+bushels and bushels of them for the roasting, as good as chestnuts, to
+my taste, and butter-nuts, and hickory-nuts with many other good
+things." And here Louis stopped for want of breath to continue his
+catalogue of forest dainties.
+
+"Yes, and there are bears, and wolves, and raccoons too, that will eat
+us for want of better food," interrupted Hector slyly. "Nay, Katty, do
+not shudder, as if you were already in the clutches of a big bear.
+Neither bear nor wolf shall make mincemeat of thee, my girl, while
+Louis and thy brother are near to wield an axe or a knife in thy
+defence."
+
+"Nor catamount spring upon thee, ma belle cousine," added Louis
+gallantly, "while thy bold cousin Louis can scare him away."
+
+"Well, now that we know our resources, the next thing is to consider
+how we are to obtain them, my dears," said Catharine. "For fishing,
+you know, we must have a hook and line, a rod, or a net. Now, where
+are these to be met with?"
+
+Louis nodded his head sagaciously. "The line I think I can provide;
+the hook is more difficult, but I do not despair even of that. As to
+the rod, it can be cut from any slender sapling on the shore. A net,
+ma chere, I could make with very little trouble, if I had but a piece
+of cloth to sew over a hoop."
+
+Catharine laughed. "You are very ingenious, no doubt, Monsieur Louis;
+but where are you to get the cloth and the hoop, and the means of
+sewing it on?"
+
+Louis took up the corner of his cousin's apron with a provoking look.
+
+"My apron, sir, is not to be appropriated for any such purpose. You
+seem to covet it for everything."
+
+"Indeed, ma petite, I think it very unbecoming and very ugly, and
+never could see any good reason why you, and mamma, and Mathilde
+should wear such frightful things."
+
+"It is to keep our gowns clean, Louis, when we are milking, and
+scrubbing, and doing all sorts of household duties," said Catharine.
+
+"Well, ma belle, you have neither cows to milk nor house to clean,"
+replied the annoying boy; "so there can be little want of the apron. I
+could turn it to fifty useful purposes."
+
+"Pooh, nonsense," said Hector impatiently; "let the child alone, and
+do not tease her about her apron."
+
+"Well, then, there is another good thing I did not think of
+before--water mussels. I have heard my father and old Jacob the
+lumberer say that, roasted in their shells in the ashes, with a
+seasoning of salt and pepper, they are good eating when nothing better
+is to be got."
+
+"No doubt, if the seasoning can be procured," said Hector; "but, alas
+for the salt and the pepper!"
+
+"Well, we can eat them with the best of all sauces--hunger. And then,
+no doubt, there are crayfish in the gravel under the stones; but we
+must not mind a pinch to our fingers in taking them."
+
+"To-morrow, then, let us breakfast on fish," said Hector. "You and I
+will try our luck, while Kate gathers strawberries; and if our line
+should break, we can easily cut those long locks from Catharine's head
+and twist them into lines." And Hector laid his hands upon the long
+fair hair that hung in shining curls about his sister's neck.
+
+"Cut my curls! This is even worse than cousin Louis's proposal of
+making tinder and fishing-nets of my apron," said Catharine, shaking
+back the bright tresses which, escaping from the snood that bound
+them, fell in golden waves over her shoulders.
+
+"In truth, Hec, it were a sin and a shame to cut her pretty curls,
+that become her so well," said Louis. "But we have no scissors, ma
+belle, so you need fear no injury to your precious locks."
+
+"For the matter of that, Louis, we could cut them with your _couteau
+de chaise_. I could tell you a story that my father told me, not long
+since, of Charles Stuart, the second king of that name in England. You
+know he was the granduncle of the young chevalier, Charles Edward,
+that my father talks of, and loves so much."
+
+"I know all about him," said Catharine, nodding sagaciously; "let us
+hear the story of his granduncle. But I should like to know what my
+hair and Louis's knife can have to do with King Charles."
+
+"Wait a bit, Kate, and you shall hear--that is, if you have patience,"
+said her brother. "Well then, you must know, that after some great
+battle, the name of which I forget, [Footnote: Battle of Worcester] in
+which the king and his handful of brave soldiers were defeated by the
+forces of the Parliament (the Roundheads, as they were called), the
+poor young king was hunted like a partridge upon the mountains, a
+large price was set on his head, to be given to any traitor who should
+slay him or bring him prisoner to Oliver Cromwell." He was obliged to
+dress himself in all sorts of queer clothes, and hide in all manner of
+strange, out-of-the-way places, and keep company with rude and humble
+men, the better to hide his real rank from the cruel enemies that
+sought his life. Once he hid along with a gallant gentleman,
+[Footnote: Colonel Careless.] one of his own brave officers, in the
+branches of a great oak. Once he was hid in a mill; and another time
+he was in the house of one Pendril, a woodman. The soldiers of the
+Parliament, who were always prowling about, and popping in unawares
+wherever they suspected the poor king to be hidden, were at one time
+in the very room where he was standing beside the fire."
+
+"Oh!" exclaimed Catharine, "that was frightful. And did they take him
+prisoner?"
+
+"No; for the wise woodman and his brothers, fearing lest the soldiers
+should discover that he was a cavalier and a gentleman, by the long
+curls that the king's men all wore in those days, and called
+_lovelocks_, begged of his majesty to let his hair be cropped close to
+his head."
+
+"That was very hard, to lose his nice curls."
+
+"I dare say the young king thought so too; but it was better to lose
+his hair than his head. So, I suppose, the men told him; for he
+suffered them to cut it all close to his head, laying down his head on
+a rough deal table, or a chopping-block, while his faithful friends
+with a large knife trimmed off the curls."
+
+"I wonder if the young king thought at that minute of his poor father,
+who, you know, was forced by wicked men to lay down his head upon a
+block to have it cut from his shoulders, because Cromwell, and others
+as hard-hearted as himself, willed that he should die."
+
+"Poor king!" said Catharine, sighing; "I see that it is better to be
+poor children, wandering on these plains under God's own care, than to
+be kings and princes at the mercy of bad and sinful men."
+
+"Who told your father all these things, Hec?" said Louis.
+
+"It was the son of his brave colonel, who knew a great deal about the
+history of the Stuart kings, for our colonel had been with Prince
+Charles, the young chevalier, and fought by his side when he was in
+Scotland. He loved him dearly, and after the battle of Culloden, where
+the prince lost all, and was driven from place to place, and had not
+where to lay his head, he went abroad in hopes of better times. But
+those times did not come for the poor prince; and our colonel, after a
+while, through the friendship of General Wolfe, got a commission in
+the army that was embarking for Quebec, and at last commanded the
+regiment to which my father belonged. He was a kind man, and my father
+loved both him and his son, and grieved not a little when he parted
+from him."
+
+"Well," said-Catharine, "as you have told me such a nice story, Mister
+Hec, I shall forgive the affront about my curls."
+
+"Well, then, to-morrow we are to try our luck at fishing, and if we
+fail, we will make us bows and arrows to kill deer or small game; I
+fancy we shall not be over-particular as to its quality. Why should
+not we be able to find subsistence as well as the wild Indians?"
+
+"True," said Hector; "the wild men of the wilderness, and the animals
+and birds, all are fed by the things that He provideth; then wherefore
+should His white children fear?"
+
+"I have often heard my father tell of the privations of the lumberers,
+when they have fallen short of provisions, and of the contrivances of
+himself and old Jacob Morelle when they were lost for several days,
+nay, weeks I believe it was. Like the Indians, they made themselves
+bows and arrows, using the sinews of the deer, or fresh thongs of
+leather, for bow-strings; and when they could not get game to eat,
+they boiled the inner bark of the slippery elm to jelly, or birch
+bark, and drank the sap of the sugar maple when they could get no
+water but melted snow only, which is unwholesome: at last they even
+boiled their own moccasins."
+
+"Indeed, Louis, that must have been a very unsavoury dish," said
+Catharine.
+
+"That old buck-skin vest would have made a famous pot of soup of
+itself," added Hector, "or the deer-skin hunting shirt."
+
+"They might have been reduced even to that," said Louis, laughing,
+"but for the good fortune that befell them in the way of a
+half-roasted bear."
+
+"Nonsense, Cousin Louis; bears do not run about ready roasted in the
+forest, like the lambs in the old nursery tale."
+
+"Kate, this was a fact; at least it was told as one by old Jacob, and
+my father did not deny it. Shall I tell you about it? After passing
+several hungry days, with no better food to keep them alive than the
+scrapings of the inner bark of the poplars and elms, which was not
+very substantial for hearty men, they encamped one night in a thick
+dark swamp,--not the sort of place they would have chosen, but they
+could not help themselves, having been enticed into it by the tracks
+of a deer or a moose,--and night came upon them unawares, so they set
+to work to kindle a fire with spunk, and a flint and knife; rifle they
+had none, or maybe they would have had game to eat.
+
+"Old Jacob fixed upon a huge hollow pine that lay across their path,
+against which he soon piled a glorious heap of boughs and arms of
+trees, and whatever wood he could collect, and lighted up a fine fire.
+The wood was dry pine and cedar and birch, and it blazed away, and
+crackled and burned like a pine-torch. By-and-by they heard a most
+awful growling close to them. 'That's a big bear, as I live,' said old
+Jacob, looking all about, thinking to see one come out from the thick
+bush. But Bruin was nearer to him than he thought; for presently a
+great black bear burst out from the butt-end of the great burning log,
+and made towards Jacob. Just then the wind blew the flame outward, and
+it caught the bear's thick coat, and he was all in a blaze in a
+moment. No doubt the heat of the fire had penetrated to the hollow of
+the log, where he had lain himself snugly up for the winter, and
+wakened him. Jacob seeing the huge black brute all in a flame of fire,
+roared with fright; the bear roared with pain and rage; and my father
+roared with laughing to see Jacob's terror. But he did not let the
+bear laugh at him, for he seized a thick pole that he had used for
+closing in the brands and logs, and soon demolished the bear, who was
+so blinded with the fire and smoke that he made no fight; and they
+feasted on roast bear's flesh for many days, and got a capital skin to
+cover them beside."
+
+"What, Louis! after the fur was all singed?" said Catharine.
+
+"Kate, you are too particular," said Louis; "a story never loses, you
+know."
+
+Hector laughed heartily at the adventure, and enjoyed the dilemma of
+the bear in his winter quarters; but Catharine was somewhat shocked at
+the levity displayed by her cousin and brother when recounting the
+terror of old Jacob and the sufferings of the poor bear."
+
+"You boys are always so unfeeling," she said gravely.
+
+"Indeed, Kate," said her brother, "the day may come when the sight of
+a good piece of roast bear's flesh will be no unwelcome sight. If we
+do not find our way back to Cold Springs before the winter sets in, we
+may be reduced to as bad a state as poor Jacob and my uncle were in
+the pine swamps on the banks of the St. John."
+
+"Ah!" said Catharine, trembling, "that would be too bad to happen."
+
+"Courage, ma belle; let us not despair for the morrow. Let us see what
+tomorrow will do for us; meantime, we will not neglect the blessings
+we still possess. See, our partridge is ready; let us eat our supper,
+and be thankful; and for grace let us say, 'Sufficient unto the day is
+the evil thereof.'"
+
+Long exposure to the air had sharpened their appetites. The hungry
+wanderers needed no further invitation. The scanty meal, equally
+divided, was soon despatched.
+
+It is a common saying, but excellent to be remembered by any wanderers
+in our forest wilds, that those who travel by the sun travel in a
+circle, and usually find themselves at night in the same place from
+whence they started in the morning; so it was with our wanderers. At
+sunset they found themselves once more in the ravine, beside the big
+stone, in which they had rested at noon. They had imagined themselves
+miles distant from it: they were grievously disappointed. They had
+encouraged each other with the confident hope that they were drawing
+near to the end of their bewildering journey: they were as far from
+their home as ever, without the slightest clue to guide them to the
+right path. Despair is not a feeling which takes deep root in the
+youthful breast. The young are always hopeful; so confident in their
+own wisdom and skill in averting or conquering danger; so trusting; so
+willing to believe that there is a peculiar Providence watching over
+them. Poor children! they had indeed need of such a belief to
+strengthen their minds and encourage them to fresh exertions, for new
+trials were at hand.
+
+The broad moon had already flooded the recesses of the glen with
+light, and all looked fresh and lovely in the dew which glittered on
+tree and leaf, on herb and flower. Catharine, who, though weary with
+her fatiguing wanderings, could not sleep, left the little hut of
+boughs her companions had put up near the granite rock in the valley
+for her accommodation, and ascended the western bank, where the last
+jutting spur of its steep side formed a lofty cliff-like promontory,
+at the extreme verge of which the roots of one tall spreading oak
+formed a most inviting seat, from whence the traveller looked down
+into a level tract, which stretched away to the edge of the lake.
+
+This flat had been the estuary of the mountain stream which had once
+rushed down between the hills, forming a narrow gorge; but now all was
+changed: the waters had ceased to flow, the granite bed was overgrown
+and carpeted with deer-grass and flowers of many hues, wild fruits and
+bushes, below, while majestic oaks and pines towered above. A sea of
+glittering foliage lay beneath Catharine's feet; in the distance the
+eye of the young girl rested on a belt of shining waters, which girt
+in the shores like a silver zone; beyond, yet more remote to the
+northward, stretched the illimitable forest.
+
+Never had Catharine looked upon a scene so still or so fair to the
+eye; a holy calm seemed to shed its influence over her young mind, and
+peaceful tears stole down her cheeks. Not a sound was there abroad,
+scarcely a leaf stirred; she could have stayed for hours there gazing
+on the calm beauty of nature, and communing with her own heart, when
+suddenly a stirring rustling sound caught her ear; it came from a
+hollow channel on one side of the promontory, which was thickly
+overgrown with the shrubby dogwood, wild roses, and bilberry bushes.
+Imagine the terror which seized the poor girl on perceiving the head
+of a black elk breaking through the covert of the bushes. With a
+scream and a bound, which the most deadly fear alone could have
+inspired, Catharine sprung from the supporting trunk of the oak, and
+dashed down the precipitous side of the ravine; now clinging to the
+bending sprays of the flexile dogwood, now to some fragile birch or
+poplar--now trusting to the yielding heads of the sweet-scented
+ceanothus, or filling her hands with sharp thorns from the roses that
+clothed the bank,--flowers, grass, all were alike clutched at in her
+rapid and fearful descent.
+
+A loose fragment of granite on which she had unwittingly placed her
+foot rolled from under her; unable to regain her balance she fell
+forwards, and was precipitated through the bushes into the ravine
+below, conscious only of unspeakable terror and an agonizing pain in
+one of her ankles which rendered her quite powerless. The noise of the
+stones she had dislodged in her fall, and her piteous cries, brought
+Louis and Hector to her side, and they bore her in their arms to the
+hut of boughs, and laid her down upon her bed of leaves and grass and
+young pine boughs. When Catharine was able to speak, she related to
+Louis and Hector the cause of her fright. She was sure it must have
+been a wolf by his sharp teeth, long jaws, and grizzly coat. The last
+glance she had had of him had filled her with terror; he was standing
+on a fallen tree, with his eyes fixed upon her. She could tell them no
+more that happened; she never felt the ground she was on, so great was
+her fright.
+
+Hector was half disposed to scold his sister for rambling over the
+hills alone; but Louis was full of tender compassion for _la belle
+cousine_, and would not suffer her to be chidden. Fortunately, no
+bones had been fractured, though the sinews of her ankle were severely
+sprained; but the pain was intense, and after a sleepless night, the
+boys found, to their grief and dismay, that Catharine was unable to
+put her foot to the ground. This was an unlooked-for aggravation of
+their misfortunes; to pursue their wanderings was for the present
+impossible; rest was their only remedy, excepting the application of
+such cooling medicaments as circumstances would supply them with. Cold
+water constantly applied to the swollen joint, was the first thing
+that was suggested; but, simple as was the lotion, it was not easy to
+obtain it in sufficient quantities. They were full a quarter of a mile
+from the lake shore, and the cold springs near it were yet further
+off; and then the only vessel they had was the tin pot, which hardly
+contained a pint; at the same time the thirst of the fevered sufferer
+was intolerable, and had also to be provided for. Poor Catharine, what
+unexpected misery she now endured!
+
+The valley and its neighbouring hills abounded in strawberries; they
+were now ripening in abundance; the ground was scarlet in places with
+this delicious fruit: they proved a blessed relief to the poor
+sufferer's burning thirst. Hector and Louis were unwearied in
+supplying her with them.
+
+Louis, ever fertile in expedients, crushed the cooling fruit and
+applied them to the sprained foot; rendering the application still
+more grateful by spreading them upon the large smooth leaves of the
+sapling oak: these he bound on with strips of the leathery bark of the
+moose-wood, [Footnote: "_Dirca palustris_," moose-wood American
+mezereon, leather-wood. From the Greek, _dirka_, a fountain or wet
+place, its usual place of growth.] which he had found growing in great
+abundance near the entrance of the ravine. Hector, in the meantime,
+was not idle. After having collected a good supply of ripe
+strawberries, he climbed the hills in search of birds' eggs and small
+game. About noon he returned with the good news of having discovered a
+spring of fine water in an adjoining ravine, beneath a clump of
+bass-wood and black cherry trees; he had also been so fortunate as to
+kill a woodchuck, having met with many of their burrows in the
+gravelly sides of the hills. The woodchuck seems to be a link between
+the rabbit and badger; its colour is that of a leveret: it climbs like
+the raccoon, and burrows like the rabbit; its eyes are large, full,
+and dark, the lip cleft, the soles of the feet naked, claws sharp,
+ears short; it feeds on grasses, grain, fruit, and berries. The flesh
+is white, oily, and, in the summer, rank, but is eaten in autumn by
+the Indians and woodsmen; the skin is not much valued. They are easily
+killed by dogs, though, being expert climbers, they often baffle their
+enemies, clinging to the bark beyond their reach. A stone or stick
+well aimed soon kills them; but they sometimes bite sharply.
+
+The woodchuck proved a providential supply; and Hector cheered his
+companions with the assurance that they could not starve, as there
+were plenty of these creatures to be found. They had seen one or two
+about Cold Springs, but they are less common in the deep forest lands
+than on the drier, more open plains.
+
+"It is a great pity we have no larger vessel to bring our water from
+the spring," said Hector, looking at the tin pot; "one is so apt to
+stumble among stones and tangled underwood. If we had only one of our
+old bark dishes we could get a good supply at once."
+
+"There is a fallen birch not far from this," said Louis. "I have here
+my trusty knife; what is there to hinder us from constructing a vessel
+capable of holding water, a gallon if you like?"
+
+"How can you sew it together, cousin?" asked Catharine; "you have
+neither deer sinews nor war-tap." The Indian name for the flexible
+roots of the _tamarack_, or swamp larch, which they make use of in
+manufacturing their birch baskets and canoes.
+
+"I have a substitute at hand, ma belle;" and Louis pointed to the
+strips of leather-wood he had collected for binding the dressings on
+her foot.
+
+When an idea once struck Louis, he never rested till he worked it out
+in some way. In a few minutes he was busily employed, stripping sheets
+of the ever-useful birch-bark from the birch tree that had fallen at
+the foot of the "Wolf's Crag;" for so the children had named the
+memorable spot where poor Catharine's accident had occurred.
+
+The rough outside coatings of the bark, which are of silvery
+whiteness, but ragged from exposure to the action of the weather in
+the larger and older trees, he peeled off, and then cutting the bark
+so that the sides lapped well over and the corners were secured from
+cracks, he proceeded to pierce holes opposite to each other, and with
+some trouble managed to stitch them tightly together, by drawing
+strips of the moose or leather-wood through and through. The first
+attempt, of course, was but rude and ill-shaped, but it answered the
+purpose, and only leaked a little at the corners for want of a sort of
+flap, which he had forgotten to allow in cutting out the bark,--this
+flap in the Indian baskets and dishes turns up, and keeps all tight
+and close,--a defect he remedied in his subsequent attempts. In spite
+of its deficiencies, Louis's water-jar was looked upon with great
+admiration, and highly commended by Catharine, who almost forgot her
+sufferings while watching her cousin's proceedings.
+
+Louis was elated by his own successful ingenuity, and was for running
+off directly to the spring. "Catharine shall now have cold water to
+bathe her poor ankle with, and to quench her thirst," he said,
+joyfully springing to his feet, ready for a start up the steep bank;
+but Hector quietly restrained his lively cousin, by suggesting the
+possibility of his not finding the "fountain in the wilderness," as
+Louis termed the spring, or losing himself altogether.
+
+"Let us both go together then," cried Louis. Catharine cast on her
+cousin an imploring glance.
+
+"Do not leave me, dear Louis--Hector, do not let me be left alone."
+Her sorrowful appeal stayed the steps of the volatile Louis.
+
+"Go you, Hector, as you know the way.--I will not leave you, Kate,
+since I was the cause of all you have suffered; I will abide by you,
+in joy or in sorrow, till I see you once more safe in your own dear
+mother's arms."
+
+Comforted by this assurance, Catharine quickly dashed away the
+gathering tears from her cheeks, and chid her own foolish fears.
+
+"But you know, dear cousin," she said, "I am so helpless; and then the
+dread of that horrible wolf makes a coward of me."
+
+After some little time had elapsed, Hector returned. The bark vessel
+had done its duty to admiration; it only wanted a very little
+improvement to make it complete. The water was cold and pure. Hector
+had spent a little time in deepening the mouth of the spring, and
+placing some stones about it. He described the ravine as being much
+deeper and wider and more gloomy than the one they occupied. The sides
+and bottom were clothed with magnificent oaks. It was a grand sight,
+he said, to stand on the jutting spurs of this great ravine, and look
+down upon the tops of the trees that lay below, tossing their rounded
+heads like the waves of a big sea. There were many lovely
+flowers-vetches of several kinds, blue, white, and pencilled, twining
+among the grass; a beautiful white-belled flower, that was like the
+"morning glory" _(Convolvulus major),_ and scarlet cups [Footnote:
+_Erichroma,_ or painted cup.] in abundance, with roses in profusion.
+The bottom of this ravine was strewed in places with huge blocks of
+black granite, cushioned with thick green moss; it opened out into a
+wide flat, similar to the one at the mouth of the valley of the "Big
+Stone."
+
+Both Hector and his sister had insensibly imbibed a love of the grand
+and picturesque, by listening with untiring interest to their father's
+animated and enthusiastic descriptions of his Highland home, and the
+wild mountainous scenery that surrounded it. Though brought up in
+solitude and uneducated, there was nothing vulgar or rude in the minds
+or manners of these young people. Simple and untaught they were, but
+they were guileless, earnest, and unsophisticated; and if they lacked
+the knowledge that is learned from books, they possessed much that was
+useful and practical, which had been taught by experience and
+observation in the school of necessity.
+
+For several days the pain and fever arising from her sprain rendered
+any attempt at removing Catharine from the valley of the "Big Stone"
+impracticable. The ripe fruit began to grow less abundant in their
+immediate vicinity; neither woodchuck, partridge, nor squirrel had
+been killed; and our poor wanderers now endured the agonizing pains of
+hunger. Continual exposure to the air by night and by day contributed
+not a little to increase the desire for food. It is true, there was
+the yet untried lake, "bright, boundless, and free," gleaming in
+silvery splendour, but in practice they knew nothing of the fisher's
+craft, though, as a matter of report, they were well acquainted with
+its mysteries, and had often listened with delight to the feats
+performed by their respective fathers in the art of angling, spearing,
+and netting.
+
+"I have heard my father say that so bold and numerous were the fish in
+the lakes and rivers he used to fish in, that they could be taken by
+the hand with a crooked pin and coarse thread, or wooden spear; but
+that was in the Lower Province. And oh, what glorious tales I have
+heard him tell of spearing fish by torchlight!"
+
+"The fish may be wiser or not so numerous in this lake," said Hector,
+"however, if Kate can bear to be moved, we will go down to the shore
+and try our luck. But what can we do? we have neither hook nor line
+provided."
+
+Louis nodded his head, and sitting down on a projecting root of a
+scrub oak, produced from the depths of his capacious pocket a bit of
+tin, which he carefully selected from among a miscellaneous hoard of
+treasures. "Here," said he, holding it up to the view as he
+spoke,--"here is the slide of an old powder-flask, which I picked up
+from among some rubbish my sister had thrown out the other day."
+
+"I fear you will make nothing of that," said Hector; "a bit of bone
+would be better. If you had a file now, you might do something."
+
+"Stay a moment, Monsieur Hec; what do you call this?" and Louis
+triumphantly handed out of his pocket the very instrument in question,
+a few inches of a broken, rusty file; very rusty, indeed, it was, but
+still it might be made to answer in such ingenious hands as those of
+our young French Canadian.
+
+"I well remember, Katty, how you and Mathilde laughed at me for
+treasuring up this old thing months ago.--Ah, Louis, Louis, you little
+knew the use it was to be put to then," he added thoughtfully,
+apostrophizing himself; "how little do we know what is to befall us in
+our young days!"
+
+"God knows it all," said Hector gravely; "we are under his good
+guidance."
+
+"You are right, Hec; let us trust in his mercy, and he will take good
+care of us. Come, let us go to the lake," Catharine added, and she
+sprang to her feet, but as quickly sank down upon the grass, and
+regarded her companions with a piteous look, saying, "I cannot walk
+one step; alas, alas! what is to become of me? I am only a useless
+burden to you. If you leave me here I shall fall a prey to some savage
+beast; and you cannot carry me with you in your search for food."
+
+"Dry your tears, sweet cousin; you shall go with us. Do you think that
+Hector or Louis would abandon you in your helpless state, to die of
+hunger or thirst, or to be torn by wolves or bears? We will carry you
+by turns; the distance to the lake is nothing, and you are not so very
+heavy, ma belle cousine; see, I could dance with you in my arms, you
+are so light a burden,"--and Louis gaily caught the suffering girl up
+in his arms, and with rapid steps struck into the deer-path that wound
+through the ravine towards the lake. But when they reached a pretty,
+rounded knoll (where Wolf Tower now stands), Louis was fain to place
+his cousin on a flat stone beneath a big oak that grew beside the
+bank, and fling himself on the flowery ground at her feet, while he
+drew a long breath, and gathered the fruit that grew among the long
+grass to refresh himself after his fatigue. And then, while resting on
+the "Elfin Knowe," as Catharine called the hill, he employed himself
+with manufacturing a rude sort of a fish-hook, with the aid of his
+knife, the bit of tin, and the rusty file. A bit of twine was next
+produced: boys have always a bit of string in their pockets; and
+Louis, as I have before hinted, was a provident hoarder of such small
+matters. The string was soon attached to the hook, and Hector was not
+long in cutting a sapling that answered well the purpose of a
+fishing-rod; and thus equipped they proceeded to the lake shore,
+Hector and Louis carrying the crippled Catharine by turns. When there,
+they selected a sheltered spot beneath a grove of overhanging cedars
+and birches, festooned with wild vines, which, closely woven, formed a
+natural bower, quite impervious to the rays of the sun. A waterfall
+dashing from the upper part of the bank fell headlong in spray and
+foam, and quietly spread itself among the round shingly fragments that
+formed the beach of the lake. Beneath this pleasant bower Catharine
+could repose and watch her companions at their novel employment, or
+bathe her feet and infirm ankle in the cool streamlet that rippled in
+tiny wavelets over its stony bed.
+
+If the amusement of fishing prove pleasant and exciting when pursued
+for pastime only, it may readily be conceived that its interest must
+be greatly heightened when its object is satisfying a craving degree
+of hunger. Among the sunny spots on the shore, innumerable swarms of
+the flying grasshopper or field crickets were sporting, and one of
+these proved an attractive bait. The line was no sooner cast into the
+water than the hook was seized, and many were the brilliant specimens
+of sun-fish that our eager fishermen cast at Catharine's feet, all
+gleaming with gold and azure scales. Nor was there any lack of perch,
+or that delicate fish commonly known in these waters as the pink
+roach.
+
+Tired at last with their easy sport, the hungry boys next proceeded to
+the grateful task of scaling and dressing their fish. This they did
+very expeditiously, as soon as the more difficult part of kindling a
+fire on the beach had been accomplished with the help of the flint,
+knife, and dried rushes. The fish were then suspended, Indian fashion,
+on forked, sticks stuck in the ground and inclined at a suitable angle
+towards the glowing embers,--a few minutes sufficed to cook them.
+
+"Truly," said Catharine, when the plentiful repast was set before her,
+"God hath, indeed, spread a table for us here in the wilderness;" so
+miraculous did this ample supply of delicious food seem in the eyes of
+this simple child of nature.
+
+They had often heard tell of the facility with which the fish could be
+caught, but they had known nothing of it from their own experience, as
+the streams and creeks about Cold Springs afforded them but little
+opportunity for exercising their skill as anglers; so that, with the
+rude implements with which they were furnished, the result of their
+morning success seemed little short of divine interference in their
+behalf. Happy and contented in the belief that they were not forgotten
+by their heavenly Father, these poor "children in the wood" looked up
+with gratitude to that beneficent Being who suffereth not even a
+sparrow to fall unheeded.
+
+Upon Catharine, in particular, these things made a deep impression;
+and there, as she sat in the green shade, soothed by the lulling sound
+of the flowing waters, and the soft murmuring of the many-coloured
+insects that hovered among the fragrant leaves which thatched her
+sylvan bower, her young heart was raised in humble and holy
+aspirations to the great Creator of all things living. A peaceful calm
+diffused itself over her mind, as with hands meekly folded across her
+breast, the young girl prayed with the guileless fervour of a trusting
+and faithful heart.
+
+The sun was just sinking in a flood of glory behind the dark
+pine-woods at the head of the lake, when Hector and Louis, who had
+been carefully providing fish for the morrow (which was the Sabbath),
+came loaded with their finny prey carefully strung upon a willow-wand,
+and found Catharine sleeping in her bower. Louis was loath to break
+her tranquil slumbers, but her careful brother reminded him of the
+danger to which she was exposed, sleeping in the dew by the
+water-side. "Moreover," he added, "we have some distance to go, and we
+have left the precious axe and the birch-bark vessel in the valley."
+
+These things were too valuable to be lost, so they roused the sleeper,
+and slowly recommenced their toilsome way, following the same path
+that they had made in the morning. Fortunately, Hector had taken the
+precaution to bend down the flexile branches of the dogwood and break
+the tops of the young trees that they had passed between on their
+route to the lake; and by this clue they were enabled with tolerable
+certainty to retrace their way, nothing doubting of arriving in time
+at the wigwam of boughs by the rock in the valley.
+
+Their progress was, however, slow, burdened with the care of the lame
+girl, and laden with the fish. The purple shades of twilight soon
+clouded the scene, deepened by the heavy masses of foliage, which cast
+greater obscurity upon their narrow path; for they had now left the
+oak-flat and entered the gorge of the valley. The utter loneliness of
+the path, the grotesque shadows of the trees that stretched in long
+array across the steep banks on either side, taking now this, now that
+wild and fanciful shape, awakened strange feelings of dread in the
+mind of these poor forlorn wanderers; like most persons bred up in
+solitude, their imaginations were strongly tinctured with
+superstitious fears. Here, then, in the lonely wilderness, far from
+their beloved parents and social hearth, with no visible arm to
+protect them from danger, none to encourage or to cheer them, they
+started with terror-blanched cheeks at every fitful breeze that
+rustled the leaves or waved the branches above them.
+
+The gay and lively Louis, blithe as any wild bird in the bright
+sunlight, was the most easily oppressed by this strange superstitious
+fear, when the shades of evening were closing round, and he would
+start with ill-disguised terror at every sound or shape that met his
+ear or eye, though the next minute he was the first to laugh at his
+own weakness. In Hector the feeling was of a graver, more solemn cast,
+recalling to his mind all the wild and wondrous tales with which his
+father was wont to entertain the children as they crouched round the
+huge log-fire of an evening. It is strange the charm these marvellous
+tales possess for the youthful mind: no matter how improbable or how
+often told, year after year they will be listened to with the same
+ardour, with an interest that appears to grow with repetition. And
+still, as they slowly wandered along, Hector would repeat to his
+breathless auditors those Highland legends that were as familiar to
+their ears as household words; and still they listened with fear and
+wonder, and deep awe, till at each pause he made the deep-drawn breath
+and half-repressed shudder might be heard. And now the little party
+paused irresolutely, fearing to proceed: they had omitted to notice
+some landmark in their progress; the moon had not long been up, and
+her light was as yet indistinct; so they sat them down on a little
+grassy spot on the bank, and rested till the moon should lighten their
+path.
+
+Louis was confident they were not far from the "Big Stone," but
+careful Hector had his doubts, and Catharine was weary. The children
+had already conceived a sort of home feeling for the valley and the
+mass of stone that had sheltered them for so many nights; and soon the
+dark mass came in sight, as the broad full light of the now risen moon
+fell upon its rugged sides: they were nearer to it than they had
+imagined.
+
+"Forward for the 'Big Stone' and the wigwam," cried Louis.
+
+"Hush!" said Catharine, "look there!" raising her hand with a warning
+gesture.
+
+"Where? what?"
+
+"The wolf! the wolf!" gasped out the terrified girl. There, indeed,
+upon the summit of the block, in the attitude of a sentinel or
+watcher, stood the gaunt-figured animal; and as she spoke, a long wild
+cry, the sound of which seemed as if it came midway between the earth
+and the tops of the tall pines on the lofty ridge above them, struck
+terror into their hearts, as with speechless horror they gazed upon
+the dark outline of the terrible beast. There it stood, with its head
+raised, its neck stretched outward, and ears erect, as if to catch the
+echo that gave back those dismal sounds; another minute and he was
+gone to join his companions, and the crashing of branches and the rush
+of many feet on the high bank above was followed by the prolonged cry
+of a poor fugitive animal,--a doe, or fawn, perhaps,--in the very
+climax of mortal agony; and then the lonely recesses of the forest
+took up that fearful death-cry, the far-off shores of the lake and the
+distant islands prolonged it, and the terrified children clung
+together in fear and trembling.
+
+A few minutes over, and all was still. The chase had turned across the
+hills to some distant ravine; the wolves were all gone--not even the
+watcher was left; and the little valley lay once more in silence, with
+all its dewy roses and sweet blossoms glittering in the moonlight. But
+though around them all was peace and loveliness, it was long ere
+confidence was restored to the hearts of the panic-stricken and
+trembling children. They beheld a savage enemy in every mass of leafy
+shade, and every rustling bough struck fresh terror into their excited
+minds. They might have exclaimed, with the patriarch Jacob, "How
+dreadful is this place!"
+
+With hand clasped in hand, they sat them down among the thick covert
+of the bushes; for now they feared to move forward, lest the wolves
+should return. Sleep was long a stranger to their watchful eyes, each
+fearing to be the only one left awake, and long and painful was their
+vigil. Yet nature, overtasked, at length gave way, and sleep came down
+upon their eyelids--deep, unbroken sleep, which lasted till the broad
+sunlight, breaking through the leafy curtains of their forest-bed, and
+the sound of waving boughs and twittering birds, once more awakened
+them to life and light, recalling them from happy dreams of home and
+friends to an aching sense of loneliness and desolation. This day they
+did not wander far from the valley, but took the precaution, as
+evening drew on, to light a large fire, the blaze of which they
+thought would keep away any beast of prey. They had no want of food,
+as the fish they had caught the day before proved an ample supply. The
+huckleberries were ripening too, and soon afforded them a
+never-failing source of food; there was also an abundance of
+bilberries, the sweet fruit of which proved a great treat, besides
+being very nourishing.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+
+  "Oh for a lodge in the vast wilderness,
+   The boundless contiguity of shade!"
+
+A fortnight had now passed, and Catharine still suffered so much from
+pain and fever that they were unable to continue their wanderings; all
+that Hector and his cousin could do was to carry her to the bower by
+the lake, where she reclined whilst they caught fish. The painful
+longing to regain their lost home had lost nothing of its intensity;
+and often would the poor sufferer start from her bed of leaves and
+boughs to wring her hands and weep, and call in piteous tones upon
+that dear father and mother who would have given worlds, had they been
+at their command, to have heard but one accent of her beloved voice,
+to have felt one loving pressure from that fevered hand. Hope, the
+consoler, hovered over the path of the young wanderers, long after she
+had ceased to whisper comfort to the desolate hearts of the mournful
+parents.
+
+Of all that suffered by this sad calamity, no one was more to be
+pitied than Louis Perron. Deeply did the poor boy lament the
+thoughtless folly which had involved his cousin Catharine in so
+terrible a misfortune. "If Kate had not been with me," he would say,
+"we should not have been lost; for Hector is so cautious and so
+careful, he would not have left the cattle-path. But we were so
+heedless, we thought only of flowers and insects, of birds and such
+trifles, and paid no heed to our way." Louis Perron, such is life. The
+young press gaily onward, gathering the flowers, and following the gay
+butterflies that attract them in the form of pleasure and amusement:
+they forget the grave counsels of the thoughtful, till they find the
+path they have followed is beset with briers and thorns; and a
+thousand painful difficulties that were unseen, unexpected, overwhelm
+and bring them to a sad sense of their own folly; and, perhaps, the
+punishment of their errors does not fall upon themselves alone, but
+upon the innocent, who have unknowingly been made participators in
+their fault.
+
+By the kindest and tenderest attention to all her comforts, Louis
+endeavoured to alleviate his cousin's sufferings, and soften her
+regrets; nay, he would often speak cheerfully and even gaily to her,
+when his own heart was heavy and his eyes ready to overflow with
+tears.
+
+"If it were not for our dear parents and the dear children at home,"
+he would say, "we might spend our time most happily upon these
+charming plains; it is much more delightful here than in the dark,
+thick woods; see how brightly the sunbeams come down and gladden the
+ground, and cover the earth with fruit and flowers. It is pleasant to
+be able to fish and hunt, and trap the game. Yes, if they were all
+here, we would build us a nice log-house, and clear up these bushes on
+the flat near the lake. This 'Elfin Knowe,' as you call it, Kate,
+would be a nice spot to build upon. See these glorious old oaks--not
+one should be cut down; and we would have a boat and a canoe, and
+voyage across to yonder islands. Would it not be charming, ma belle?"
+and Catharine, smiling at the picture drawn so eloquently, would enter
+into the spirit of the project, and say,--
+
+"Ah! Louis, that would be pleasant."
+
+"If we had but my father's rifle now," said Hector, "and old Wolfe."
+
+"Yes, and Fanchette, dear little Fanchette, that trees the partridges
+and black squirrels," said Louis.
+
+"I saw a doe and a half-grown fawn beside her this very morning, at
+break of day," said Hector. "The fawn was so little fearful, that if I
+had had a stick in my hand I could have killed it. I came within ten
+yards of the spot where it stood. I know it would be easy to catch one
+by making a dead-fall." A sort of trap in which game is taken in the
+woods, or on the banks of creeks.
+
+"If we had but a dear fawn to frolic about us, like Mignon, dear
+innocent Mignon," cried Catharine, "I should never feel lonely then."
+
+"And we should never want for meat, if we could catch a fine fawn from
+time to time, ma belle.--Hec, what are you thinking of?"
+
+"I was thinking, Louis, that if we were doomed to remain here all our
+lives, we must build a house for ourselves; we could not live in the
+open air without shelter as we have done. The summer will soon pass,
+and the rainy season will come, and the bitter frosts and snows of
+winter will have to be provided against."
+
+"But, Hector, do you really think there is no chance of finding our
+way back to Cold Springs? We know it must be behind this lake," said
+Lotus.
+
+"True, but whether east, west, or south, we cannot tell, and whichever
+way we take now is but a chance; and if once we leave the lake and get
+involved in the mazes of that dark forest, we should perish: for we
+know there is neither water nor fruit nor game to be had as there is
+here, and we might soon be starved to death. God was good who led us
+beside this fine lake, and upon these fruitful plains."
+
+"It is a good thing that I had my axe when we started from home," said
+Hector. "We should not have been so well off without it; we shall find
+the use of it if we have to build a house. We must look out for some
+spot where there is a spring of good water, and--"
+
+"No horrible wolves," interrupted Catharine. "Though I love this
+pretty ravine, and the banks and braes about us, I do not think I
+shall like to stay here. I heard the wolves only last night, when you
+and Louis were asleep."
+
+"We must not forget to keep watch-fires."
+
+"What shall we do for clothes?" said Catharine, glancing at her
+home-spun frock of wool and cotton plaid.
+
+"A weighty consideration indeed," sighed Hector; "clothes must be
+provided before ours are worn out and the winter comes on."
+
+"We must save all the skins of the woodchucks and squirrels,"
+suggested Louis; "and fawns when we catch them."
+
+"Yes, and fawns when we get them," added Hector; "but it is time
+enough to think of all these things; we must not give up all hope of
+home."
+
+"I give up all hope? I shall hope on while I have life," said
+Catharine. "My dear, dear father, he will never forget his lost
+children; he will try and find us, alive or dead; he will never give
+up the search."
+
+Poor child, how long did this hope burn like a living torch in thy
+guileless breast. How often, as they roamed those hills and valleys,
+were thine eyes sent into the gloomy recesses of the dark ravines and
+thick bushes, with the hope that they would meet the advancing form
+and outstretched arms of thy earthly parents: all in vain. Yet the
+arms of thy heavenly Father were extended over thee, to guide, to
+guard, and to sustain thee.
+
+How often were Catharine's hands filled with wild-flowers, to carry
+home, as she fondly said, to sick Louise or her mother. Poor
+Catharine, how often did your bouquets fade; how often did the sad
+exile water them with her tears,--for hers was the hope that keeps
+alive despair.
+
+When they roused them in the morning to recommence their fruitless
+wanderings, they would say to each other, "Perhaps we shall see our
+father, he may find us here to-day;" but evening came, and still he
+came not, and they were no nearer to their father's home than they had
+been the day previous.
+
+"If we could but find our way back to the 'Cold Creek,' we might, by
+following its course, return to Cold Springs," said Hector.
+
+"I doubt much the fact of the 'Cold Creek' having any connection with
+our Spring," said Louis; "I think it has its rise in the Beaver
+Meadow, and following its course would only entangle us among those
+wolfish balsam and cedar swamps, or lead us yet further astray into
+the thick recesses of the pine forest. For my part, I believe we are
+already fifty miles from Cold Springs."
+
+Persons who lose their way in the pathless woods have no idea of
+distance, or the points of the compass, unless they can see the sun
+rise and set, which it is not possible to do when surrounded by the
+dense growth of forest-trees; they rather measure distance by the time
+they have been wandering, than by any other token.
+
+The children knew that they had been a long time absent from home,
+wandering hither and thither and they fancied their journey had been
+as long as it had been weary. They had indeed the comfort of seeing
+the sun in its course from east to west, but they knew not in what
+direction the home they had lost lay; it was this that troubled them
+in their choice of the course they should take each day, and at last
+determined them to lose no more time so fruitlessly, where the peril
+was so great, but seek for some pleasant spot where they might pass
+their time in safety, and provide for their present and future wants.
+
+  "The world was all before them, where to choose
+   Their place of rest, and Providence their guide."
+
+Catharine declared her ankle was so much stronger than it had been
+since the accident, and her health so much amended, that the day after
+the conversation just recorded, the little party bade farewell to the
+valley of the "Big Stone," and ascending the steep sides of the hills,
+bent their steps eastward, keeping the lake to their left hand. Hector
+led the way, loaded with the axe, which he would trust to no one but
+himself, the tin-pot, and the birch basket. Louis had to assist his
+cousin up the steep banks, likewise some fish to carry, which had been
+caught early in the morning.
+
+The wanderers thought at first to explore the ground near the lake
+shore, but soon abandoned this resolution on finding the undergrowth
+of trees and bushes become so thick that they made little progress,
+and the fatigue of travelling was greatly increased by having
+continually to put aside the bushes or bend them down.
+
+Hector advised trying the higher ground; and after following a
+deer-path through a small ravine that crossed the hills, they found
+themselves on a fine extent of table-land, richly but not too densely
+wooded with white and black oaks (_Quercus alba_, and _Quercus
+nigra_), diversified with here and there a solitary pine, which
+reared its straight and pillar-like trunk in stately grandeur above
+its leafy companions; a meet eyrie for the bald eagle, that kept watch
+from its dark crest over the silent waters of the lake, spread below
+like a silver zone studded with emeralds.
+
+In their progress they passed the head of many small ravines, which
+divided the hilly shores of the lake into deep furrows: these furrows
+had once been channels by which the waters of some upper lake (the
+site of which is now dry land) had at a former period poured down into
+the valley, filling the basin of what now is called the Rice Lake.
+These waters, with resistless sweep, had ploughed their way between
+the hills, bearing in their course those blocks of granite and
+limestone which are so widely scattered both on the hill-tops and the
+plains, or form a rocky pavement at the bottom of the narrow defiles.
+What a sight of sublime desolation must that outpouring of the waters
+have presented, when those deep banks were riven by the sweeping
+torrents that were loosened from their former bounds! The pleased eye
+rests upon these tranquil shores, now covered with oaks and pines, or
+waving with a flood of golden grain, or varied by neat dwellings and
+fruitful gardens; and the gazer on that peaceful scene scarcely
+pictures to himself what it must have been when no living eye was
+there to mark the rushing floods when they scooped to themselves the
+deep bed in which they now repose.
+
+Those lovely islands that sit like stately crowns upon the waters were
+doubtless the wreck that remained of the valley; elevated spots, whose
+rocky bases withstood the force of the rushing waters, that carried
+away the lighter portions of the soil. The southern shore, seen from
+the lake, seems to lie in regular ridges running from south to north:
+some few are parallel with the lake shore, possibly where some
+insurmountable impediment turned the current of the subsiding waters;
+but they all find an outlet through their connection with ravines
+communicating with the lake.
+
+There is a beautiful level tract of land; with only here and there a
+solitary oak or a few stately pines growing upon it; it is commonly
+called the "Upper Race-course," on account of the smoothness of the
+surface. It forms a high table-land, nearly three hundred feet above
+the lake, and is surrounded by high hills. This spot, though now dry
+and covered with turf and flowers, and low bushes, has evidently once
+been a broad sheet of water. To the eastward lies a still more lovely
+and attractive spot, known as the "Lower Race-course." It lies on a
+lower level than the former one, and, like it, is embanked by a ridge
+of distant hills. Both have ravines leading down to the Rice Lake, and
+may have been the sources from whence its channel was filled. Some
+convulsion of nature at a remote period, by raising the waters above
+their natural level, might have caused a disruption of the banks, and
+drained their beds, as they now appear ready for the ploughshare or
+the spade. In the month of June these flats are brilliant with the
+splendid blossoms of the _Castilegia coccinea_, or painted-cup, the
+azure lupine (_Lupinus perennis_), and snowy _Trillium_; dwarf roses
+(_Rosa blanda_) scent the evening air, and grow as if planted by the
+hand of taste.
+
+A carpeting of the small downy saxifrage (_Saxifraga nivalis_), with
+its white silky leaves, covers the ground in early spring. In autumn
+it is red with the bright berries and dark box-shaped leaves of a
+species of creeping winter-green, that the Indians call spice-berry
+(_Gaultheria procumbens_); the leaves are highly aromatic, and it is
+medicinal as well as agreeable to the taste and smell. In the month of
+July a gorgeous assemblage of orange lilies (_Lilium Philadelphicum_)
+take the place of the lupine and trilliums: these splendid lilies vary
+from orange to the brightest scarlet. Various species of sunflowers
+and coreopsis next appear, and elegant white _pyrolas_ [Footnote:
+Indian bean, also called Indian potato (_Apios tuberosa_).] scent the
+air and charm the eye. The delicate lilac and white shrubby asters
+next appear; and these are followed by the large deep-blue gentian,
+and here and there by the elegant fringed gentian. [Footnote: Gentiana
+linearis, G. crenata.] These are the latest and loveliest of the
+flowers that adorn this tract of land. It is indeed a garden of
+nature's own planting, but the wild garden is being converted into
+fields of grain, and the wild flowers give place to a new race of
+vegetables, less ornamental, but more useful to man and the races of
+domestic animals that depend upon him for their support.
+
+Our travellers, after wandering over this lovely plain, found
+themselves, at the close of the day, at the head of a fine ravine,
+[Footnote: Kilvert's Ravine, above Pine-tree Point.] where they had
+the good fortune to perceive a spring of pure water oozing beneath
+some large moss-covered blocks of black waterworn granite. The ground
+was thickly covered with moss about the edges of the spring, and many
+varieties of flowering shrubs and fruits were scattered along the
+valley and up the steep sides of the surrounding hills. There were
+whortleberries, or huckleberries, as they are more usually called, in
+abundance; bilberries dead ripe, and falling from the bushes at a
+touch. The vines that wreathed the low bushes and climbed the trees
+were loaded with clusters of grapes; but these were yet hard and
+green. Dwarf filberts grew on the dry gravelly sides of the hills, yet
+the rough prickly calyx that enclosed the nut filled their fingers
+with minute thorns that irritated the skin like the stings of the
+nettle; but as the kernel, when ripe, was sweet and good, they did not
+mind the consequences. The moist part of the valley was occupied by a
+large bed of May-apples, [Footnote: _Podophyllum peltatum_,--mandrake,
+or May-apple.] the fruit of which was of unusual size, but they were
+not ripe, August being the month when they ripen; there were also wild
+plums still green, and wild cherries and blackberries ripening. There
+were great numbers of the woodchucks' burrows on the hills; wild
+partridges and quails were seen under the thick covert of the
+blue-berried dog-wood, [Footnote: _Cornus sericea_. The blue berries
+of this shrub are eaten by the partridge and wild ducks; also by the
+pigeons, and other birds. There are several species of this shrub
+common to the Rice Lake.] that here grew in abundance at the mouth of
+the ravine where it opened to the lake. As this spot offered many
+advantages, our travellers halted for the night, and resolved to make
+it their headquarters for a season, till they should meet with an
+eligible situation for building a winter shelter.
+
+Here, then, at the head of the valley, sheltered by one of the rounded
+hills that formed its sides, our young people erected a summer hut,
+somewhat after the fashion of an Indian wigwam, which was all the
+shelter that was requisite while the weather remained so warm. Through
+the opening at the gorge of this ravine they enjoyed a peep at the
+distant waters of the lake, which terminated the vista, while they
+were quite removed from its unwholesome vapours.
+
+The temperature of the air for some days had been hot and sultry,
+scarcely modified by the cool, delicious breeze that usually sets in
+about nine o'clock and blows most refreshingly till four or five in
+the afternoon. Hector and Louis had gone down to fish for supper,
+while Catharine busied herself in collecting leaves and dried
+deer-grass, moss and fern, of which there was abundance near the
+spring. The boys had promised to cut some fresh cedar boughs near the
+lake shore, and bring them up to form a foundation for their beds, and
+also to strew Indian-fashion over the floor of the hut by way of a
+carpet.
+
+The fragrant carpet of cedar or hemlock-spruce sprigs strewn lightly
+over the earthen floor, was to them a luxury as great as if it had
+been taken from the looms of Persia or Turkey, so happy and contented
+were they in their ignorance. Their beds of freshly gathered grass and
+leaves, raised from the earth by a heap of branches carefully
+arranged, were to them as pleasant as beds of down, and the rude hut
+of bark and poles as curtains of damask or silk.
+
+Having collected as much of these materials as she deemed sufficient
+for the purpose, Catharine next gathered up the dry oak branches, to
+make a watch-fire for the night. This done, weary and warm, she sat
+down on a little hillock, beneath the cooling shade of a grove of
+young aspens that grew near the hut. Pleased with the dancing of the
+leaves, which fluttered above her head, and fanned her warm cheek with
+their incessant motion, she thought, like her cousin Louise, that the
+aspen was the merriest tree in the forest, for it was always dancing,
+dancing, dancing.
+
+She watched the gathering of the distant thunderclouds, which cast a
+deeper, more sombre shade upon the pines that girded the northern
+shores of the lake as with an ebon frame. Insensibly her thoughts
+wandered far away from the lonely spot whereon she sat, to the stoup
+[Footnote: The Dutch word for veranda, which is still in common use
+among the Canadians.] in front of her father's house, and in memory's
+eye she beheld it all exactly as she had left it. There stood the big
+spinning-wheel, just as she had set it aside; the hanks of dyed yarn
+suspended from the rafters, the basket filled with the carded wool
+ready for her work. She saw in fancy her father, with his fine
+athletic upright figure, his sunburnt cheeks and clustering sable
+hair, his clear energetic hazel eyes ever beaming upon her, his
+favourite child, with looks of love and kindness as she moved to and
+fro at her wheel. [Footnote: Such is the method of working at the
+large wool-wheel, unknown or obsolete in England.] There, too, was her
+mother, with her light step and sweet cheerful voice, singing as she
+pursued her daily avocations; and Donald and Kenneth driving up the
+cows to be milked, or chopping firewood. And as these images, like the
+figures of the magic-lantern, passed in all their living colours
+before her mental vision, her head drooped heavier and lower till it
+sank upon her arm; and then she started, looked round, and slept
+again, her face deeply buried in her young bosom, and long and
+peacefully the young girl slumbered.
+
+A sound of hurrying feet approaches, a wild cry is heard and panting
+breath, and the sleeper, with a startling scream, springs to her feet:
+she dreamed that she was struggling in the fangs of a wolf--its grisly
+paws were clasped about her throat; the feeling was agony and
+suffocation: her languid eyes open. Can it be?--what is it that she
+sees? Yes, it is Wolfe; not the fierce creature of her dreams by night
+and her fears by day, but her father's own brave, devoted dog. What
+joy, what hope rushed to her heart! She threw herself upon the shaggy
+neck of the faithful beast, and wept from fulness of heart.
+
+"Yes," she joyfully cried, "I knew that I should see him again. My own
+dear, dear, loving father! Father! father! dear, dear father, here are
+your children! Come, come quickly!" and she hurried to the head of the
+valley, raising her voice, that the beloved parent, who she now
+confidently believed was approaching, might be guided to the spot by
+the well-known sound of her voice.
+
+Poor child! the echoes of thy eager voice, prolonged by every
+projecting headland of the valley, replied in mocking tones, "Come
+quickly!"
+
+Bewildered she paused, listened breathlessly, and again she called,
+"Father, come quickly, come!" and again the deceitful sounds were
+repeated, "Quickly come!"
+
+The faithful dog, who had succeeded in tracking the steps of his lost
+mistress, raised his head and erected his ears as she called on her
+father's name; but he gave no joyful bark of recognition as he was
+wont to do when he heard his master's step approaching. Still
+Catharine could not but think that Wolfe had only hurried on before,
+and that her father must be very near.
+
+The sound of her voice had been heard by her brother and cousin, who,
+fearing some evil beast had made its way to the wigwam, hastily wound
+up their line and left the fishing-ground to hurry to her assistance.
+They could hardly believe their eyes when they saw Wolfe, faithful old
+Wolfe, their earliest friend and playfellow, named by their father
+after the gallant hero of Quebec. And they too, like Catharine,
+thought that their friends were not far distant; joyfully they climbed
+the hills and shouted aloud, and Wolfe was coaxed and caressed and
+besought to follow them to point out the way they should take. But all
+their entreaties were in vain. Worn out with fatigue and long fasting,
+the poor old dog refused to quit the embers of the fire, before which
+he stretched himself, and the boys now noticed his gaunt frame and
+wasted flesh--he looked almost starved. The fact now became evident
+that he was in a state of great exhaustion. Catharine thought he eyed
+the spring with wishful looks, and she soon supplied him with water in
+the bark dish to his great relief.
+
+Wolfe had been out for several days with his master, who would repeat,
+in tones of sad earnestness, to the faithful creature, "Lost, lost,
+lost!" It was his custom to do so when the cattle strayed, and Wolfe
+would travel in all directions till he found them, nor ceased his
+search till he discovered the objects he was ordered to bring home.
+The last night of the father's wanderings, when, sick and hopeless, he
+came back to his melancholy home, as he sat sleeplessly rocking
+himself to and fro, he involuntarily exclaimed, wringing his hands,
+"Lost, lost, lost!" Wolfe heard what to him was an imperative command;
+he rose, and stood at the door, and whined. Mechanically his master
+rose, lifted the latch, and again exclaimed in passionate tones those
+magic words, that sent the faithful messenger forth into the dark
+forest path. Once on the trail he never left it, but with an instinct
+incomprehensible as it was powerful, he continued to track the woods,
+lingering long on spots where the wanderers had left any signs of
+their sojourn; he had for some time been baffled at the Beaver Meadow,
+and again where they had crossed Cold Creek, but had regained the
+scent and traced them to the valley of the "Big Stone," and then, with
+the sagacity of the bloodhound and the affection of the terrier he
+had, at last, discovered the objects of his unwearied though often
+baffled search.
+
+What a state of excitement did the unexpected arrival of old Wolfe
+create! How many questions were put to the poor beast, as he lay with
+his head pillowed on the knees of his loving mistress! Catharine knew
+it was foolish, but she could not help talking to the dumb animal, as
+if he had been conversant with her own language. Ah, old Wolfe, if
+your homesick nurse could but have interpreted those expressive looks,
+those eloquent waggings of your bushy tail, as it flapped upon the
+grass, or waved from side to side; those gentle lickings of the hand,
+and mute sorrowful glances, as though he would have said, "Dear
+mistress, I know all your troubles; I know all you say; but I cannot
+answer you!" There is something touching in the silent sympathy of the
+dog, to which only the hard-hearted and depraved can be quite
+insensible. I remember once hearing of a felon who had shown the
+greatest obstinacy and callous indifference to the appeals of his
+relations and the clergyman who attended him in prison, but was
+softened by the sight of a little dog that had been his companion in
+his days of comparative innocence, forcing its way through the crowd,
+till it gained the foot of the gallows; its mute look of anguish and
+affection unlocked the fount of human feeling, and the condemned man
+wept--perhaps the first tears he had shed since childhood's happy
+days.
+
+The night closed in with a tempest of almost tropical violence. The
+inky darkness of the sky was relieved, at intervals, by sheets of
+lurid flame, which revealed every object far off or near. The distant
+lake, just seen amid the screen of leaves through the gorge of the
+valley, gleamed like a sea of molten sulphur; the deep narrow defile,
+shut in by the steep and wooded hills, looked deeper, more wild and
+gloomy, when revealed by that vivid glare of light.
+
+There was no stir among the trees, the heavy rounded masses of foliage
+remained unmoved; the very aspen, that tremulous sensitive tree,
+scarcely stirred: it seemed as if the very pulses of nature were at
+rest. The solemn murmur that preceded the thunder-peals might have
+been likened to the moaning of the dying. The children felt the
+loneliness of the spot. Seated at the entrance of their sylvan hut, in
+front of which their evening fire burned brightly, they looked out
+upon the storm in silence and in awe. Screened by the sheltering
+shrubs that grew near them, they felt comparatively safe from the
+dangers of the storm, which now burst in terrific violence above the
+valley. Cloud answered to cloud, and the echoes of the hills prolonged
+the sound, while shattered trunks and brittle branches filled the air,
+and shrieked and groaned in that wild war of elements.
+
+Between the pauses of the tempest the long howl of the wolves, from
+their covert in some distant cedar swamp at the edge of the lake,
+might be heard from time to time,--a sound that always thrilled their
+hearts with fear. To the mighty thunder-peals that burst above their
+heads they listened with awe and wonder. It seemed, indeed, to them as
+if it were the voice of Him who "sendeth out his voice, yea, and that
+a mighty voice." And they bowed and adored his majesty; but they
+shrank with curdled blood from the cry of the _felon wolf_.
+
+And now the storm was at its climax, and the hail and rain came down
+in a whitening flood upon that ocean of forest leaves; the old gray
+branches were lifted up and down, and the stout trunks rent, for they
+would not bow down before the fury of the whirlwind, and were
+scattered all abroad like chaff before the wind.
+
+The children thought not of danger for themselves, but they feared for
+the safety of their fathers, whom they believed to be not far off from
+them. And often amid the raging of the elements they fancied they
+could distinguish familiar voices calling upon their names.
+
+"Ah, if our fathers should have perished in this fearful storm," said
+Catharine, weeping, "or have been starved to death while seeking for
+us!" She covered her face and wept more bitterly.
+
+But Louis would not listen to such melancholy forebodings. Their
+fathers were both brave, hardy men, accustomed to every sort of danger
+and privation; they were able to take care of themselves. Yes, he was
+sure they were not far off; it was this unlucky storm coming on that
+had prevented them from meeting.
+
+"To-morrow, ma chere, will be a glorious day after the storm. It will
+be a joyful one too; we shall go out with Wolfe, and he will find his
+master, and then--oh, yes! I dare say my dear father will be with
+yours. They will have taken good heed to the track, and we shall soon
+see our dear mothers and chere petite Louise."
+
+The storm lasted till past midnight, when it gradually subsided, and
+the poor wanderers were glad to see the murky clouds roll off, and the
+stars peep forth among their broken masses; but they were reduced to a
+pitiful state, the hurricane having beaten down their little hut, and
+their garments were drenched with rain. However, the boys made a good
+fire with some bark and boughs they had in store: there were a few
+sparks in their back log unextinguished; these they gladly fanned up
+into a blaze, at which they dried their wet clothes, and warmed
+themselves. The air was now cool almost to chilliness; for some days
+the weather remained unsettled, and the sky overcast with clouds,
+while the lake presented a leaden hue, crested with white mimic waves.
+
+They soon set to work to make another hut, and found close to the head
+of the ravine a great pine uprooted, affording them large pieces of
+bark, which proved very serviceable in thatching the sides of the hut.
+The boys employed themselves in this work, while Catharine cooked the
+fish they had caught the day before, with a share of which old Wolfe
+seemed to be mightily well pleased. After they had breakfasted, they
+all went up towards the high table-land above the ravine, with Wolfe,
+to look round in hope of getting sight of their friends from Cold
+Springs; but though they kept an anxious look-out in every direction,
+they returned towards evening tired and hopeless. Hector had killed a
+red squirrel, and a partridge which Wolfe "treed,"--that is, stood
+barking at the foot of the tree in which it had perched,--and the
+supply of meat was a seasonable change. They also noticed and marked
+with the axe, several trees where there were bee-hives, intending to
+come in the cold weather and cut them down. Louis's father was a great
+and successful bee-hunter; and Louis rather prided himself on having
+learned something of his father's skill in that line. Here, where
+flowers were so abundant and water plentiful; the wild bees seemed to
+be abundant also; besides, the open space between the trees, admitting
+the warm sunbeams freely, was favourable both for the bees and the
+flowers on which they fed, and Louis talked joyfully of the fine
+stores of honey they should collect in autumn. He had taught little
+Fanchon, a small French spaniel of his father's, to find out the trees
+where the bees hived, and also the nests of the ground-bees, and she
+would bark at the foot of the tree, or scratch with her feet on the
+ground, as the other dogs barked at the squirrels or the woodchucks;
+but Fanchon was far away, and Wolfe was old and would learn no new
+tricks, so Louis knew he had nothing but his own observation and the
+axe to depend upon for procuring honey.
+
+The boys had been unsuccessful for some days past, in fishing; neither
+perch nor sunfish, pink roach nor mud-pouts [Footnote: All these fish
+are indigenous to the fresh waters of Canada.] were to be caught.
+However, they found water-mussels by groping in the sand, and
+cray-fish among the gravel at the edge of the water only; the latter
+pinched their fingers very spitefully. The mussels were not very
+palatable, for want of salt; but hungry folks must not be dainty, and
+Louis declared them very good when well roasted, covered up with hot
+embers. "The fish-hawks," said he, "set us a good example, for they
+eat them, and so do the eagles and herons. I watched one the other day
+with a mussel in his bill: he flew to a high tree, let his prey fall,
+and immediately darted down to secure it. But I drove him off; and, to
+my great amusement, perceived the wise fellow had just let it fall on
+a stone, which had cracked the shell for him just in the right place.
+I often see shells lying at the foot of trees, far up the hills, where
+these birds must have left them. There is one large thick-shelled
+mussel that I have found several times with a round hole drilled
+through the shell, just as if it had been done with a small auger,
+--doubtless the work of some bird with a strong beak."
+
+"Do you remember," said Catharine, "the fine pink mussel-shell that
+Hec picked up in the little corn-field last year? It had a hole in one
+of the shells too, [Footnote: This ingenious mode of cracking the
+shells of mussels is common to many birds. The crow (_Corvus corone_)
+has been long known by American naturalists to break the thick shells
+of the river mussels, by letting them fall from a height on to rocks
+and stones.] and when my uncle saw it, he said it must have been
+dropped by some large bird, a fish-hawk possibly, or a heron, and
+brought from the great lake, as it had been taken out of some deep
+water; the mussels in our creeks being quite thin-shelled and white."
+
+"Do you remember what a quantity of large fish bones we found in the
+eagle's nest on the top of our hill, Louis?" said Hector.
+
+"I do. Those fish must have been larger than our perch and sunfish;
+they were brought from this very lake, I dare say."
+
+"If we had a good canoe now, or a boat, and a strong hook and line, we
+might become great fishermen."
+
+"Louis," said Catharine, "is always thinking about canoes, and boats,
+and skiffs; he ought to have been a sailor."
+
+Louis was confident that if they had a canoe he could soon learn to
+manage her; he was an excellent sailor already in theory. Louis never
+saw difficulties; he was always hopeful, and had a very good opinion
+of his own cleverness; he was quicker in most things, his ideas flowed
+faster than Hector's. But Hector was more prudent, and possessed one
+valuable quality--steady perseverance: he was slow in adopting an
+opinion, but when once convinced, he pushed on steadily till he
+mastered the subject or overcame the obstacle.
+
+"Catharine," said Louis one day, "the huckleberries are now very
+plentiful, and I think it would be a wise thing to gather a good store
+of them and dry them for the winter. See, ma chere, wherever we turn
+our eyes or place our feet they are to be found; the hill-sides are
+purple with them. We may for aught we know, be obliged to pass the
+rest of our lives here; it will be well to prepare for the winter,
+when no berries are to be found."
+
+"It will be well, mon ami. But we must not dry them in the sun; for
+let me tell you, Mr. Louis, that they will be quite tasteless--mere
+dry husks."
+
+"Why so, ma belle?"
+
+"I do not know the reason, but I only know the fact; for when our
+mothers dried the currants and raspberries in the sun, such was the
+case; but when they dried them on the oven floor, or on the hearth,
+they were quite nice."
+
+"Well, Cath, I think I know of a flat thin stone that will make a good
+hearthstone; and we can get sheets of birch bark and sew into flat
+bags to keep the dried fruit in."
+
+They now turned all their attention to drying huckleberries (or
+whortleberries). [Footnote: From the abundance of this fruit, the
+Indians have given the name of Whortleberry Plain to the lands on the
+south shore. During the month of July and the early part of August,
+large parties come to the Rice Lake Plains to gather huckleberries,
+which they preserve by drying, for winter use. These berries make a
+delicious tart or pudding, mixed with bilberries and red currants,
+requiring little sugar.] Catharine and Louis (who fancied nothing
+could be contrived without his help) attended to the preparing and
+making of the bags of birch bark; but Hector was soon tired of girl's
+work, as he termed it, and after gathering some berries, would wander
+away over the hills in search of game and to explore the neighbouring
+hills and valleys, and sometimes it was sunset before he made his
+appearance. Hector had made an excellent strong bow, like the Indian
+bow, out of a tough piece of hickory wood, which he found in one of
+his rambles, and he made arrows with wood that he seasoned in the
+smoke, sharpening the heads with great care with his knife, and
+hardening them by exposure to strong heat, at a certain distance from
+the fire. The entrails of the woodchuck, stretched, and scraped, and
+dried, and rendered pliable by rubbing and drawing through the hands,
+answered for a bow-string; but afterwards, when they got the sinews
+and hide of the deer, they used them, properly dressed for the
+purpose.
+
+Hector also made a cross-bow, which he used with great effect, being a
+true and steady marksman. Louis and he would often amuse themselves
+with shooting at a mark, which they would chip on the bark of a tree,
+even Catharine was a tolerable archeress with the long-bow, and the
+hut was now seldom without game of one kind or other. Hector seldom
+returned from his rambles without partridges, quails, or young
+pigeons, which are plentiful at this season of the year; many of the
+old ones that pass over in their migratory flight in the spring stay
+to breed, or return thither for the acorns and berries that are to be
+found in great abundance. Squirrels, too, are very plentiful at this
+season. Hector and Louis remarked that the red and black squirrels
+never were to be found very near each other. It is a common belief
+that the red squirrels make common cause with the gray, and beat the
+larger enemy off the ground. The black squirrel, for a succession of
+years, was very rarely to be met with on the Plains, while there were
+plenty of the red and gray in the "oak openings." [Footnote: Within
+the last few years, however, the black squirrels have been very
+numerous, and the red are less frequently to be seen. The flesh of the
+black squirrel is tender, white, and delicate, like that of a young
+rabbit.] Deer, at the time our young Crusoes were living on the Rice
+Lake Plains, were plentiful, and, of course, so were those beasts that
+prey upon them,--wolves, bears, and wolverines, besides the Canadian
+lynx, or catamount, as it is here commonly called, a species of wild
+cat or panther. These wild animals are now no longer to be seen: it is
+a rare thing to hear of bears or wolves, and the wolverine and lynx
+are known only as matters of history in this part of the country.
+These animals disappear as civilization advances, while some others
+increase and follow man, especially many species of birds, which seem
+to pick up the crumbs that fall from the rich man's board, and
+multiply about his dwelling; some adopt new habits and modes of
+building and feeding, according to the alteration and improvement in
+their circumstances.
+
+While our young people seldom wanted for meat, they felt the privation
+of the bread to which they had been accustomed very sensibly. One day,
+while Hector and Louis were busily engaged with their assistant,
+Wolfe, in unearthing a woodchuck, that had taken refuge in his burrow,
+on one of the gravelly hills above the lake, Catharine amused herself
+by looking for flowers. She had filled her lap with ripe May-apples,
+[Footnote: The fruit of the May-apple, in rich, moist soil, will
+attain to the size of the magnum bonum, or egg-plum, which it
+resembles in colour and shape. It makes a delicious preserve, if
+seasoned with cloves or ginger. When eaten uncooked, the outer rind,
+which is thick and fleshy and has a rank taste, should be thrown
+aside; the fine seed pulp in which the seeds are embedded alone should
+be eaten. The root of the podophyllum is used as a cathartic by the
+Indians. The root of this plant is reticulated, and when a large body
+of them are uncovered, they present a singular appearance, interlacing
+each other in large meshes like an extensive net-work. These roots are
+white, as thick as a man's little finger, and fragrant, and spread
+horizontally along the surface. The blossom is like a small white
+rose.] but finding them cumbersome in climbing the steep wooded hills,
+she deposited them at the foot of a tree near the boys, and pursued
+her search; and it was not long before she perceived some pretty
+grassy-looking plants, with heads of bright lilac flowers, and on
+plucking one pulled up the root also. The root was about the size and
+shape of a large crocus: and on biting it, she found it far from
+disagreeable--sweet, and slightly astringent. It seemed to be a
+favourite root with the woodchucks, for she noticed that it grew about
+their burrows on dry, gravelly soil, and many of the stems were bitten
+and the roots eaten--a warrant, in full, of wholesomeness. Therefore,
+carrying home a parcel of the largest of the roots, she roasted them
+in the embers; and they proved almost as good as chestnuts, and more
+satisfying than the acorns of the white oak, which they had often
+roasted in the fire when they were out working on the fallow at the
+log heaps. Hector and Louis ate heartily of the roots, and commended
+Catharine for the discovery. Not many days afterwards, Louis
+accidentally found a much larger and more valuable root near the lake
+shore. He saw a fine climbing shrub, with close bunches of dark,
+reddish-purple, pea-shaped flowers, which scented the air with a
+delicious perfume. The plant climbed to a great height over the young
+trees, with a profusion of dark-green leaves and tendrils. Pleased
+with the bowery appearance of the plant, he tried to pull one up, that
+he might show it to his cousin, when the root displayed a number of
+large tubers, as big as good-sized potatoes, regular oval-shaped; the
+inside was quite white, tasting somewhat like a potato, only
+pleasanter, when in its raw state, than an uncooked potato. Louis
+gathered his pockets full, and hastened home with his prize; and on
+being roasted, these new roots were decided to be little inferior to
+potatoes--at all events, they were a valuable addition to their
+slender stores; and they procured as many as they could find,
+carefully storing them in a hole which they dug for that purpose in a
+corner of their hut. [Footnote: This plant appears to me to be a
+species of the _Psoralea esculenta_, or Indian bread-root, which it
+resembles in description, excepting that the root of the above is
+tuberous, oval, and connected by long filaments. The largest tubers
+are farthest from the stem of the plant.] Hector suggested that these
+roots would be far better late in autumn or early in the spring than
+during the time that the plant was in bloom; for he knew from
+observation and experience that at the flowering season the greater
+part of the nourishment derived from the soil goes to perfect the
+flower and the seeds. Upon scraping the cut tuber, there was a white,
+floury powder produced, resembling the starchy substance of the
+potato.
+
+"This flour," said Catharine, "would make good porridge with milk."
+
+"Excellent, no doubt, my wise little cook and housekeeper," said Louis
+laughing; "but, ma belle cousine, where is the milk and where is the
+porridge-pot to come from?"
+
+"Indeed," said Catharine, "I fear, Louis, we must wait long for both."
+
+One fine day Louis returned home from the lake shore in great haste
+for the bows and arrows, with the interesting news that a herd of five
+deer were in the water, and making for Long Island.
+
+"But, Louis, they will be gone out of sight and beyond the reach of
+the arrows," said Catharine, as she handed him down the bows and a
+sheaf of arrows, which she quickly slung round his shoulders by the
+belt of skin which the young hunter had made for himself.
+
+"No fear, ma chere; they will stop to feed on the beds of rice and
+lilies. We must have Wolfe. Here, Wolfe, Wolfe, Wolfe! here, boy,
+here!"
+
+Catharine caught a portion of the excitement that danced in the bright
+eyes of her cousin, and declaring that she too would go and witness
+the hunt, ran down the ravine by his side; while Wolfe, who evidently
+understood that they had some sport in view, trotted along by his
+mistress, wagging his great bushy tail, and looking in high
+good-humour.
+
+Hector was impatiently waiting the arrival of the bows and Wolfe. The
+herd of deer, consisting of a noble buck, two full-grown females, and
+two young half-grown males, were quietly feeding among the beds of
+rice and rushes not more than fifteen or twenty yards from the shore,
+apparently quite unconcerned at the presence of Hector, who stood on a
+fallen trunk, eagerly eying their motions. But the hurried steps of
+Louis and Catharine, with the deep, sonorous baying of Wolfe, soon
+roused the timid creatures to a sense of danger; and the stag, raising
+his head and making, as the children thought, a signal for retreat,
+now struck boldly out for the nearest point of Long Island.
+
+"We shall lose them," cried Louis despairingly, eying the long bright
+track that cut the silvery waters as the deer swam gallantly out.
+
+"Hist, hist, Louis," said Hector; "all depends upon Wolfe--Turn them,
+Wolfe! hey, hey, seek them, boy!"
+
+Wolfe dashed bravely into the lake.
+
+"Head them! head them!" shouted Hector. Wolfe knew what was meant.
+With the sagacity of a long-trained hunter, he made a desperate effort
+to gain the advantage by a circuitous route. Twice the stag turned
+irresolute, as if to face his foe, and Wolfe, taking the time, swam
+ahead, and then the race began. As soon as the boys saw the herd had
+turned, and that Wolfe was between them and the island, they
+separated, Louis making good his ambush to the right among the cedars,
+and Hector at the spring to the west, while Catharine was stationed at
+the solitary pine-tree, at the point which commanded the entrance of
+the ravine.
+
+"Now, Cathy," said her brother, "when you see the herd making for the
+ravine, shout and clap your hands, and they will turn either to the
+right or to the left. Do not let them land, or we shall lose them. We
+must trust to Wolfe for their not escaping to the island. Wolfe is
+well trained; he knows what he is about."
+
+Catharine proved a dutiful ally. She did as she was bid. She waited
+till the deer were within a few yards of the shore, then she shouted
+and clapped her hands. Frightened at the noise and clamour, the
+terrified creatures coasted along for some way, till within a little
+distance of the thicket where Hector lay concealed--the very spot from
+which they had emerged when they first took to the water; to this
+place they boldly steered. Louis, who had watched the direction the
+herd had taken with breathless interest, now noiselessly hurried to
+Hector's assistance, taking an advantageous post for aim, in case
+Hector's arrow missed, or only slightly wounded one of the deer.
+
+Hector, crouched beneath the trees, waited cautiously till one of the
+does was within reach of his arrow, and so good and true was his aim,
+that it hit the animal in the throat a little above the chest, The
+stag now turned again, but Wolfe was behind and pressed him forward,
+and again the noble animal strained every nerve for the shore. Louis
+now shot his arrow, but it swerved from the mark. He was too eager;
+the arrow glanced harmlessly along the water. But the cool,
+unimpassioned hand of Hector sent another arrow between the eyes of
+the doe, stunning her with its force; and then another from Louis laid
+her on her side, dying, and staining the water with her blood.
+
+The herd, abandoning their dying companion, dashed frantically to the
+shore; and the young hunters, elated by their success, suffered them
+to make good their landing without further molestation. Wolfe, at a
+signal from his master, ran in the quarry, and Louis declared
+exultingly that as his last arrow had given the _coup de grace_,
+he was entitled to the honour of cutting the throat of the doe; but
+this the stern Highlander protested against, and Louis, with a
+careless laugh, yielded the point, contenting himself with saying, "Ah
+well, I will get the first steak of the venison when it is roasted,
+and that is far more to my taste." Moreover, he privately recounted to
+Catharine the important share he had had in the exploit, giving her,
+at the same time, full credit for the worthy service she had performed
+in withstanding the landing of the herd. Wolfe, too, came in for a
+large share of the honour and glory of the chase.
+
+The boys were soon hard at work skinning the animal and cutting it up.
+This was the most valuable acquisition they had yet effected, for many
+uses were to be made of the deer besides eating the flesh. It was a
+store of wealth in their eyes.
+
+During the many years that their fathers had sojourned in the country,
+there had been occasional intercourse with the fur-traders and
+trappers, and sometimes with friendly-disposed Indians who had called
+at the lodges of their white brothers for food and tobacco.
+
+From all these men, rude as they were, some practical knowledge had
+been acquired; and their visits, though few and far between, had left
+good fruit behind them--something to think about and talk about and
+turn to future advantage.
+
+The boys had learned from the Indians how precious were the tough
+sinews of the deer for sewing. They knew how to prepare the skins of
+the deer for moccasins, which they could cut out and make as neatly as
+the squaws themselves. They could fashion arrow-heads, and knew how
+best to season the wood for making both the long and cross bow. They
+had seen the fish-hooks these people manufactured from bone and hard
+wood. They knew that strips of fresh-cut skins would make bowstrings,
+or the entrails of animals dried and rendered pliable. They had
+watched the squaws making baskets of the inner bark of the oak, elm,
+and bass-wood, and mats of the inner bark of the cedar, with many
+other ingenious works that they now found would prove useful to them,
+after a little practice had perfected their inexperienced attempts.
+They also knew how to dry venison as the Indians and trappers prepare
+it, by cutting the thick fleshy portions of the meat into strips from
+four to six inches in breadth and two or more in thickness. These
+strips they strung upon poles supported on forked sticks, and exposed
+them to the drying action of the sun and wind. Fish they split open,
+and removed the back and head bones, and smoked them slightly, or
+dried them in the sun.
+
+Their success in killing the doe greatly raised their spirits; in
+their joy they embraced each other, and bestowed the most affectionate
+caresses on Wolfe for his good conduct.
+
+"But for this dear, wise old fellow, we should have had no venison for
+dinner to-day," said Louis; "and so, Wolfe, you shall have a choice
+piece for your own share."
+
+Every part of the deer seemed valuable in the eyes of the young
+hunters. The skin they carefully stretched out upon sticks to dry
+gradually, and the entrails they also preserved for bow-strings. The
+sinews of the legs and back they drew out and laid carefully aside for
+future use.
+
+"We shall be glad enough of these strings by-and-by," said careful
+Hector; "for the summer will soon be at an end, and then we must turn
+our attention to making ourselves winter clothes and moccasins."
+
+"Yes, Hec, and a good warm shanty. These huts of bark and boughs will
+not do when once the cold weather sets in."
+
+"A shanty could soon be put up," said Hector; "for even Kate, wee bit
+lassie as she is, could give us some help in trimming up the logs."
+
+"That I could, indeed," replied Catharine; "for you may remember, Hec,
+that the last journey my father made to the Bay, [Footnote: Bay of
+Quinte.] with the pack of furs, that you and I called a _Bee_
+[Footnote: A Bee is a practical instance of duty to a neighbour. We
+fear it is peculiar to Canada, although deserving of imitation in all
+Christian colonies. When any work which requires many hands is in the
+course of performance, as the building of log houses, barns, or
+shanties, all the neighbours are summoned, and give their best
+assistance in the construction. Of course the assisted party is liable
+to be called upon by the community in turn, to repay in kind the help
+he has received.] to put up a shed for the new cow that he was to
+drive back with him, and I am sure Mathilde and I did as much good as
+you and Louis. You know you said you could not have got on nearly so
+well without our help."
+
+"After all," said Hector thoughtfully, "children can do a great many
+things if they only resolutely set to work, and use the wits and the
+strength that God has given them to work with. A few weeks ago and we
+should have thought it utterly impossible to have supported ourselves
+in a lonely wilderness like this by our own exertions in fishing and
+hunting."
+
+"If we had been lost in the forest we must have died with hunger,"
+said Catharine; "but let us be thankful to the good God who led us
+hither, and gave us health and strength to help ourselves."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+
+    "Aye from the sultry heat,
+     We to our cave retreat,
+  O'er canopied by huge roots, intertwined,
+  Of wildest texture, blackened o'er with age."
+
+  COLERIDGE.
+
+"Louis, what are you cutting out of that bit OF wood?" said Catharine,
+the very next day after the first ideas of the shanty had been
+started.
+
+"Hollowing out a canoe."
+
+"Out of that piece of stick!" said Catharine, laughing. "How many
+passengers is it to accommodate, my dear?"
+
+"I am only making a model. My canoe will be made out of a big pine
+log, and large enough to hold three."
+
+"Is it to be like the big sap-trough in the sugar-bush at home?"
+
+Louis nodded assent. "I long to go over to the island; I see lots of
+ducks popping in and out of the little bays beneath the cedars, and
+there are plenty of partridges, I am sure, and squirrels--it is the
+very place for them."
+
+"And shall we have a sail as well as oars?"
+
+"Yes; set up your apron for a sail."
+
+Catharine cast a rueful look upon the tattered remnant of the apron.
+
+"It is worth nothing now," she said, sighing; "and what am I to do
+when my gown is worn out? It is a good thing it is so strong; if it
+had been cotton, now, it would have been torn to bits among the
+bushes."
+
+"We must make clothes of skins as soon as we get enough," said
+Hector.--"Louis, I think you can manufacture a bone needle; we can
+pierce the hole with the strong thorns, or a little round bone bodkin
+that can be easily made."
+
+"The first rainy day we will see what we can do," replied Louis; "but
+I am full of my canoe just now."
+
+"Indeed, Louis, I believe you never think of anything else; but even
+if we had a canoe to-morrow, I do not think that either you or I could
+manage one," said cautious Hector.
+
+"I could soon learn as others have done before me. I wonder who first
+taught the Indians to make canoes, and venture out on the lakes and
+streams. Why should we be more stupid than these untaught heathens? I
+have listened so often to my father's stories and adventures when he
+was out lumbering on the St. John River, that I am as familiar with
+the idea of a boat as if I had been born in one. Only think now," he
+said, turning to Catharine; "just think of the fish, the big ones, we
+could get if we had but a canoe to push out from the shore beyond
+those rush-beds."
+
+"It strikes me, Louis, that those rush-beds, as you call them, must be
+the Indian rice that we have seen the squaws make their soup of."
+
+"Yes; and you remember old Jacob used to talk of a fine lake that he
+called Rice Lake, somewhere to the northward of the Cold Springs,
+where he said there was plenty of game of all kinds, and a fine open
+place where people could see through the openings among the trees. He
+said it was a great hunting-place for the Indians in the Fall of the
+year, and that they came there to hunt the peccary, which is, as you
+know, a kind of wild boar, and whose flesh is very good eating."
+
+"I hope the Indians will not come here and find us out," said
+Catharine, shuddering; "I think I should be more frightened at the
+Indians than at the wolves. Have we not heard fearful tales of their
+cruelty?"
+
+"But we have never been harmed by them; they have always been civil
+enough when they came to the Springs."
+
+"They came, you know, for food, or shelter or something that they
+wanted from us; but it may be different when they find us alone and
+unprotected, encroaching upon their hunting-grounds."
+
+"The place is wide enough for us and them; we will try and make them
+our friends."
+
+"The wolf and the lamb do not lie down in the fold together," observed
+Hector. "The Indian is treacherous. The wild man and the civilized man
+do not live well together, their habits and dispositions are so
+contrary the one to the other. We are open and they are cunning, and
+they suspect our openness to be only a greater degree of cunning than
+their own--they do not understand us. They are taught to be
+revengeful, and we are taught to forgive our enemies. So you see that
+what is a virtue with the savage is a crime with the Christian. If the
+Indian could be taught the Word of God he might be kind, and true, and
+gentle as well as brave."
+
+It was with conversations like this that our poor wanderers whiled
+away their weariness. The love of life, and the exertions necessary
+for self-preservation, occupied so large a portion of their thoughts
+and time, that they had hardly leisure for repining. They mutually
+cheered and animated each other to bear up against the sad fate that
+had thus severed them from every kindred tie, and shut them out from
+that home to which their young hearts were bound by every endearing
+remembrance from infancy upwards.
+
+One bright September morning our young people set off on an exploring
+expedition, leaving the faithful Wolfe to watch the wigwam; for they
+well knew he was too honest to touch their store of dried fish and
+venison himself, and too trusty and fierce to suffer wolf or wild cat
+near it.
+
+They crossed several narrow, deep ravines, and the low wooded flat
+along the lake shore, to the eastward of Pine-tree Point. Finding it
+difficult to force their way through the thick underwood that always
+impedes the progress of the traveller on the low shores of the lake,
+they followed the course of an ascending narrow ridge, which formed a
+sort of natural causeway between two parallel hollows, the top of this
+ridge being in many places not wider than a cart or wagon could pass
+along. The sides were most gracefully adorned with flowering shrubs,
+wild vines, creepers of various species, wild cherries of several
+kinds, hawthorns, bilberry bushes, high-bush cranberries, silver
+birch, poplars, oaks, and pines; while in the deep ravines on either
+side grew trees of the largest growth, the heads of which lay on a
+level with their path. Wild cliffy banks, beset with huge boulders of
+red and gray granite and water-worn limestone, showed that it had once
+formed the boundary of the lake, though now it was almost a quarter of
+a mile in its rear. Springs of pure water were in abundance, trickling
+down the steep rugged sides of this wooded glen. The children wandered
+onwards, delighted with the wild picturesque path they had chosen,
+sometimes resting on a huge block of moss-covered stone, or on the
+twisted roots of some ancient gray old oak or pine, whilst they gazed
+with curiosity and interest on the lonely but lovely landscape before
+them. Across the lake, the dark forest shut all else from their view,
+rising in gradual far-off slopes till it reached the utmost boundary
+of sight. Much the children marvelled what country it might be that
+lay in the dim, blue, hazy distance,--to them, indeed, a _terra
+incognita_--a land of mystery; but neither of her companions laughed
+when Catharine gravely suggested the probability of this unknown shore
+to the northward being her father's beloved Highlands. Let not the
+youthful and more learned reader smile at the ignorance of the
+Canadian girl; she knew nothing of maps, and globes, and
+hemispheres,--her only book of study had been the Holy Scriptures, her
+only teacher a poor Highland soldier.
+
+Following the elevated ground above this deep valley, the travellers
+at last halted on the extreme edge of a high and precipitous mound,
+that formed an abrupt termination to the deep glen. They found water
+not far from this spot fit for drinking by following a deer-path a
+little to the southward. And there, on the borders of a little basin
+on a pleasant brae, where the bright silver birch waved gracefully
+over its sides, they decided upon building a winter house. They named
+the spot Mount Ararat: "For here," said they, "we will build us an ark
+of refuge, and wander no more." And Mount Ararat is the name which the
+spot still bears. Here they sat them down on a fallen tree and ate a
+meal of dried venison and drank of the cold spring that welled out
+from beneath the edge of the bank. Hector felled a tree to mark the
+site of their house near the birches; and they made a blaze, as it is
+called, on he trees, by cutting away pieces of the outer bark as they
+returned home towards the wigwam, that they might not miss the place.
+They found less difficulty in retracing their path than they had
+formerly, as there were some striking peculiarities to mark it, and
+they had learned to be very minute in the marks they made as they
+travelled, so that they now seldom missed the way they came by. A few
+days after this they removed all their household stores--namely, the
+axe, the tin pot, bows and arrows, baskets, and bags of dried fruit,
+the dried venison and fish, and the deerskin; nor did they forget the
+deer-scalp, which they bore away as a trophy, to be fastened up over
+the door of their new dwelling, for a memorial of their first hunt on
+the shores of the Rice Lake. The skin was given to Catharine to sleep
+on.
+
+The boys were now busy from morning till night chopping down trees for
+house-logs. It was a work of time and labour, as the axe was blunt and
+the oaks hard to cut; but they laboured on without grumbling, and Kate
+watched the fall of each tree with lively joy. They were no longer
+dull; there was something to look forward to from day to day--they
+were going to commence housekeeping in good earnest; they would be
+warmly and well lodged before the bitter frosts of winter could come
+to chill their blood. It was a joyful day when the log walls of the
+little shanty were put up, and the door hewed out. Windows they had
+none, so they did not cut out the spaces for them; [Footnote: Many a
+shanty is put up in Canada without windows, and only an open space for
+a door, with a rude plank set up to close it in at night.] they could
+do very well without, as hundreds of Irish and Highland emigrants have
+done before and since.
+
+A pile of stones rudely cemented together with wet clay and ashes
+against the logs, and a hole cut in the roof, formed the chimney and
+hearth in this primitive dwelling. The chinks were filled with
+wedge-shaped pieces of wood, and plastered with clay: the trees, being
+chiefly oaks and pines, afforded no moss. This deficiency rather
+surprised the boys, for in the thick forest and close cedar-swamps
+moss grows in abundance on the north side of the trees, especially on
+the cedar, maple, beech, bass, and iron wood; but there were few of
+these, excepting a chance one or two in the little basin in front of
+the house. The roof was next put on, which consisted of split cedars.
+And when the little dwelling was thus far habitable, they were all
+very happy. While the boys had been putting on the roof, Catharine had
+collected the stones for the chimney, and cleared the earthen floor of
+the chips and rubbish with a broom of cedar boughs, bound together
+with a leathern thong. She had swept it all clean, carefully removing
+all unsightly objects, and strewing it over with fresh cedar sprigs,
+which gave out a pleasant odour and formed a smooth and not unseemly
+carpet for their little dwelling. How cheerful was the first fire
+blazing up on their own hearth! It was so pleasant to sit by its
+gladdening light, and chat away of all they had done and all that they
+meant to do! Here was to be a set of split cedar shelves, to hold
+their provisions and baskets; there a set of stout pegs was to be
+inserted between the logs, for hanging up strings of dried meat, bags
+of birch bark, or the skins of the animals they were to shoot or trap.
+A table was to be fixed on posts in the centre of the floor. Louis was
+to carve wooden platters and dishes, and some stools were to be made
+with hewn blocks of wood till something better could be devised. Their
+bedsteads were rough poles of ironwood, supported by posts driven into
+the ground, and partly upheld by the projection of the logs at the
+angles of the wall. Nothing could be more simple. The frame-work was
+of split cedar; and a safe bed was made by pine boughs being first
+laid upon the frame, and then thickly covered with dried grass, moss,
+and withered leaves. Such were the lowly but healthy couches on which
+these children of the forest slept.
+
+A dwelling so rudely framed and scantily furnished would be regarded
+with disdain by the poorest English peasant. Yet many a settler's
+family have I seen as roughly lodged, while a better house was being
+prepared for their reception; and many a gentleman's son has
+voluntarily submitted to privations as great as these from the love of
+novelty and adventure, or to embark in the tempting expectation of
+realizing money in the lumbering trade,--working hard, and sharing the
+rude log shanty and ruder society of those reckless and hardy men, the
+Canadian lumberers. During the spring, and summer months these men
+spread themselves through the trackless forests, and along the shores
+of nameless lakes and unknown streams, to cut the pine or oak
+lumber,--such being the name they give to the felled stems of
+trees,--which are then hewn, and in the winter dragged out upon the
+ice, where they are formed into rafts, and in spring floated down the
+waters till they reach the great St. Lawrence, and are, after
+innumerable difficulties and casualties, finally shipped for England.
+I have likewise known European gentlemen voluntarily leave the
+comforts of a civilized home and associate themselves with the Indian
+trappers and hunters, leading lives as wandering and as wild as the
+uncultivated children of the forest.
+
+The nights and early mornings were already growing sensibly more
+chilly. The dews at this season fall heavily, and the mists fill the
+valleys till the sun has risen with sufficient heat to draw up the
+vapours. It was a good thing that the shanty was finished so soon, or
+the exposure to the damp air might have been productive of ague and
+fever. Every hour almost they spent in making little additions to
+their household comforts, but some time was necessarily passed in
+trying to obtain provisions. One day Hector, who had been out from
+dawn till moonrise, returned with the welcome news that he had shot a
+young deer, and required the assistance of his cousin to bring it up
+the steep bank (it was just at the entrance of the great ravine) below
+the precipitous cliff near the lake: he had left old Wolfe to guard it
+in the meantime. They had now plenty of fresh broiled meat, and this
+store was very acceptable, as they were obliged to be very careful of
+the dried meat that they had.
+
+This time Catharine adopted a new plan. Instead of cutting the meat in
+strips, and drying it (or jerking it, as the lumberers term it), she
+roasted it before the fire, and hung it up, wrapping it in thin sheets
+of birch bark. The juices, instead of being dried up, were preserved,
+and the meat was more palatable. Catharine found great store of wild
+plums in a beautiful valley not far from the shanty; these she dried
+for the winter store, eating sparingly of them in their fresh state.
+She also found plenty of wild black currants and high-bush
+cranberries, on the banks of a charming creek of bright water that
+flowed between a range of high pine hills and finally emptied itself
+into the lake. There were great quantities of water-cresses in this
+pretty brook; they grew in bright, round, cushion-like tufts at the
+bottom of the water, and were tender and wholesome. These formed an
+agreeable addition to their diet, which had hitherto been chiefly
+confined to animal food, for they could not always meet with a supply
+of the bread-roots, as they grew chiefly in damp, swampy thickets on
+the lake shore, which were sometimes very difficult of access.
+However, they never missed any opportunity of increasing their stores,
+and laying up for the winter such roots as they could procure.
+
+As the cool weather and frosty nights drew on, the want of warm
+clothes and bed-covering became more sensibly felt; those they had
+were beginning to wear out. Catharine had managed to wash her clothes
+at the lake several times, and thus preserved them clean and
+wholesome; but she was often sorely puzzled how the want of her dress
+was to be supplied as time wore on, and many were the consultations
+she held with the boys on the important subject. With the aid of a
+needle she might be able to manufacture the skins of the small animals
+into some sort of jacket, and the doe-skin and deer-skin could be made
+into garments for the boys. Louis was always suppling and rubbing the
+skins to make them soft: they had taken off the hair by sprinkling it
+with wood ashes, and rolling it up with the hairy side inwards. Out of
+one of these skins he made excellent moccasins, piercing the holes
+with a sharpened bone bodkin, and passing the sinews of the deer
+through, as he had seen his father do, by fixing a stout fish-bone to
+the deer-sinew thread. Thus he had an excellent substitute for a
+needle; and, with the aid of the old file, he sharpened the point of
+the rusty nail, so that he was enabled, with a little trouble, to
+drill a hole in a bone needle for his cousin Catharine's use. After
+several attempts, he succeeded in making some of tolerable fineness,
+hardening them by exposure to a slow, steady degree of heat till she
+was able to work with them, and even mend her clothes with tolerable
+expertness. By degrees, Catharine contrived to cover the whole outer
+surface of her homespun woollen frock with squirrel and mink, musk-rat
+and woodchuck skins. A curious piece of fur patchwork of many hues and
+textures it presented to the eye,--a coat of many colours, it is true;
+but it kept the wearer warm, and Catharine was not a little proud of
+her ingenuity and industry,--every new patch that was added was a
+source of fresh satisfaction; and the moccasins that Louis fitted so
+nicely to her feet were great comforts. A fine skin that Hector
+brought triumphantly in one day, the spoil from a fox that had been
+caught in one of his dead-falls, was in due time converted into a
+dashing cap, the brush remaining as an ornament to hang down on one
+shoulder. Catharine might have passed for a small Diana when she went
+out, with her fur dress and bow and arrows, to hunt with Hector and
+Louis.
+
+Whenever game of any kind was killed, it was carefully skinned, and
+the fur stretched upon bent sticks, being first turned, so as to
+present the inner part to the drying action of the air. The young
+hunters were most expert in this work, having been accustomed for many
+years to assist their fathers in preparing the furs which they
+disposed of to the fur traders, who visited them from time to time,
+and gave them various articles in exchange for their peltries,--such
+as powder and shot, and cutlery of different kinds, as knives,
+scissors, needles, and pins, with gay calico and cotton handkerchiefs
+for the women.
+
+As the evenings lengthened, the boys employed themselves with carving
+wooden platters. Knives, and forks, and spoons they fashioned out of
+the larger bones of the deer, which they often found bleaching in the
+sun and wind, where they had been left by their enemies the wolves;
+baskets too they made, and birch dishes, which they could now finish
+so well that they held water or any liquid. But their great want was
+some vessel that would bear the heat of the fire; the tin pot was so
+small that it could be made little use of in the cooking way.
+Catharine had made tea of the leaves of the sweet fern,--a graceful
+woody fern, with a fine aromatic scent, like nutmegs. [Footnote:
+Comptoma asplenifolia, a small shrub of the sweet gale family.] This
+shrub is highly esteemed among the Canadians as a beverage, and also
+as a remedy against the ague. It grows in great abundance on dry sandy
+lands and wastes, by waysides.
+
+"If we could but make some sort of earthen pot that would stand the
+heat of the fire," said Louis, "we might get on nicely with cooking."
+
+But nothing like the sort of clay used by potters had been seen, and
+they were obliged to give up that thought and content themselves with
+roasting or broiling their food. Louis, however, who was fond of
+contrivances, made an oven, by hollowing out a place near the hearth
+and lining it with stones, filling up the intervals with wood ashes
+and such clay as they could find, beaten into a smooth mortar. Such
+cement answered very well, and the oven was heated by filling it with
+hot embers; these were removed when it was sufficiently heated, and
+the meat or roots placed within the oven being covered over with a
+flat stone previously heated before the fire and covered with hot
+embers. This sort of oven had often been described by old Jacob as one
+in common use among some of the Indian tribes in the Lower Province,
+in which they cook small animals; they could bake bread also in this
+oven, if they had had flour to use. [Footnote: This primitive oven is
+much like what voyagers have described as in use among the natives of
+many of the South Sea Islands.]
+
+Since the finishing of the house and furnishing it the young people
+were more reconciled to their lonely life, and even entertained
+decided home feelings for their little log cabin. They never ceased,
+it is true, to talk of their parents, and brothers, and sisters, and
+wonder if all were well, and whether they still hoped for their
+return, and to recall their happy days spent in the home which they
+now feared they were destined never again to behold. Nevertheless,
+they were becoming each day more cheerful and more active. Ardently
+attached to each other, they seemed bound together by a yet more
+sacred tie of brotherhood. They were now all the world to one another,
+and no cloud of disunion came to mar their happiness. Hector's
+habitual gravity and caution were tempered by Louis's lively vivacity
+and ardour of temper; and they both loved Catharine, and strove to
+smooth as much as possible the hard life to which she was exposed, by
+the most affectionate consideration for her comfort; and she, in
+return, endeavoured to repay them by cheerfully enduring all
+privations, and making light of all their trials, and taking a lively
+interest in all their plans and contrivances.
+
+Louis had gone out to fish at the lake one autumn morning. During his
+absence a sudden squall of wind came on, accompanied with heavy rain.
+As he stayed longer than usual, Hector began to feel uneasy lest some
+accident had befallen him, knowing his adventurous spirit, and that he
+had for some days previous been busy constructing a raft of cedar
+logs, which he had fastened together with wooden pins. This raft he
+had nearly finished, and was even talking of adventuring over to the
+nearest island to explore it, and see what game and roots and fruits
+it afforded.
+
+Bidding Catharine stay quietly within doors till his return, Hector
+ran off, not without some misgivings of evil having befallen his rash
+cousin, which fears he carefully concealed from his sister, as he did
+not wish to make her needlessly anxious. When he reached the shore,
+his mind was somewhat relieved by seeing the raft on the beach, just
+as it had been left the night before; but neither Louis nor the axe
+was to be seen, nor the fishing-rod and line.
+
+"Perhaps," thought he, "Louis has gone further down, to the mouth of
+the little creek in the flat east of this, where we caught our last
+fish; or maybe he has gone up to the old place at Pine-tree Point."
+
+While he yet stood hesitating within himself which way to turn, he
+heard steps as of some one running, and perceived his cousin hurrying
+through the bushes in the direction of the shanty. It was evident by
+his disordered air; and the hurried glances that he cast over his
+shoulder from time to time, that something unusual had occurred to
+disturb him.
+
+"Holloa, Louis! is it a bear, wolf, or catamount that is on your
+trail?" cried Hector; almost amused by the speed with which his cousin
+hurried onward. "Why, Louis, whither away?"
+
+Louis now turned and held up his hand, as if to enjoin silence, till
+Hector came up to him.
+
+"Why, man, what ails you? what makes you run as if you were hunted
+down by a pack of wolves?"
+
+"It is not wolves, or bears either," said Louis, as soon as he could
+get breath to speak; "but the Indians are all on Bare Hill, holding a
+war-council, I suppose, for there are several canoe-loads of them."
+
+"How came you to see them?"
+
+"I must tell you that when I parted from you and Cathy, instead of
+going down to my raft, as I thought at first I would do, I followed
+the deer-path through the little ravine, and then ascending the side
+of the valley, I crossed the birch grove, and kept down the slope
+within sight of the creek. While I was looking out upon the lake, and
+thinking how pretty the islands were, rising so green from the blue
+water, I was surprised by seeing several dark spots dotting the lake.
+At first, you may be sure, I thought they must be a herd of deer, only
+they kept too far apart, so I sat down on a log to watch, thinking if
+they turned out to be deer I would race off for you and Wolfe, and the
+bows and arrows, that we might try our chance for some venison; but as
+the black specks came nearer and nearer, I perceived they were canoes
+with Indians in them, three in each. One made for the mouth of the
+creek, and ran ashore among the thick bushes, while the others kept
+further along the shore. I watched them with a beating heart, and lay
+down flat, lest they should spy me out; for those fellows have eyes
+like catamounts, so keen and wild--they see everything without seeming
+to cast a glance on it. After closely examining what I suppose was one
+of our footmarks, I saw them wind up the ridge till they reached the
+Bare Hill. [Footnote: Supposed to be a council-hill. It is known by
+the name of Bare Hill, from the singular want of verdure on its
+surface, It is one of the steepest on the ridge above the little
+creek; being a picturesque object, with its fine pine-trees, seen from
+Mr. Hayward's grounds, and forms, I believe, a part of his property.]
+You remember that spot; we called it so from its barren appearance. In
+a few minutes a column of smoke rose and curled among the pine-trees,
+and then another and another, till I counted five fires burning
+brightly; and, as I stood on the high ground, I could distinguish the
+figures of many naked savages moving about, running to and fro like a
+parcel of black ants on a cedar log; and by-and-by I heard them raise
+a yell like a pack of ravenous wolves on a deer track. It made my
+heart leap up in my breast. I forgot all the schemes that had just got
+into my wise head of slipping quietly down and taking off one of the
+empty birch canoes, which you must own would have been a glorious
+thing for us; but when I heard the noise these wild wretches raised, I
+darted off, and ran as if the whole set were at my heels. I think I
+just saved my scalp." And Louis put his hand to his head, and tugged
+his thick black curls, as if to ascertain that they were still safe
+from the scalping-knives of his Indian enemies.
+
+"And now, Hec, what is to be done? We must hide ourselves from the
+Indians; they will kill us, or take us away with them, if they find
+us."
+
+"Let us go home and talk over our plans with Cathy."
+
+"Yes; for I have heard my father say two heads are better than one,
+and so three of course must be still better than two."
+
+"Why," said Hector, laughing, "it depends upon the stock of practical
+wisdom in the heads; for two fools, you know, Louis, will hardly form
+one rational plan."
+
+Various were the schemes devised for their security. Hector proposed
+pulling down the shanty and dispersing the logs, so as to leave no
+trace of the little dwelling; but to this neither his cousin nor his
+sister would agree. To pull down the new house that had cost them so
+much labour, and which had proved such a comfort to them, they could
+not endure even in idea.
+
+"Let us put out the fire, and hide ourselves in the big ravine below
+Mount Ararat; dig a cave in one of the hills, and convey our household
+goods thither." Such was Louis's plan.
+
+"The ravines would be searched directly," suggested Hector; "besides,
+the Indians know they are famous coverts for deer and game of all
+sorts: they might chance to pop upon us, and catch us like woodchucks
+in a burrow."
+
+"Yes, and burn us," said Catharine with a shudder. "I know the path
+that leads direct to the 'Happy Valley,' (the name she had given to
+the low flat now known as the 'Lower Race-course'), and it is not far
+from here, only ten minutes' walk in a straight line. We can conceal
+ourselves below the steep bank that we descended the other day; and
+there are several springs of fresh water, and plenty of nuts and
+berries; and the trees, though few, are so thickly covered with
+close-spreading branches that touch the very ground that we might hide
+ourselves from a hundred eyes, were they ever so cunning and prying."
+
+Catharine's counsel was deemed the most prudent, and the boys
+immediately busied themselves with hiding under the broken branches of
+a prostrate tree such articles as they could not conveniently carry
+away, leaving the rest to chance. With the most valuable they loaded
+themselves, guided by Catharine, who, with her dear old dog, marched
+forward along the narrow footpath that had been made by some wild
+animals, probably deer, in their passage from the lake to their
+feeding-place, or favourite covert, on the low sheltered plain, where,
+being quite open, and almost, in parts, free from trees, the grass and
+herbage was sweeter and more abundant, and the springs of water were
+fresh and cool.
+
+Catharine cast many a fearful glance through the brushwood as they
+moved onward, but saw no living thing, excepting a family of chitmunks
+gaily chasing each other along a fallen branch, and a covey of quails
+that were feeding quietly on the red berries of the _Mitchella
+repens_, or twinberry, [Footnote: Also partridge-berry and
+checker-berry, a lovely creeping winter-green, with white fragrant
+flowers and double scarlet berry.] as it is commonly called, of which
+the partridges and quails are extremely fond; for Nature with a
+liberal hand has spread abroad her bounties for the small denizens,
+furred or feathered, that haunt the Rice Lake and its flowery shores.
+
+After a continued but gentle ascent through the oak opening, they
+halted at the foot of a majestic pine, and looked round them. It was a
+lovely spot as any they had seen: from west to east, the lake, bending
+like a silver crescent, lay between the boundary hills of forest
+trees; in front, the long lines of undulating wood-covered heights
+faded away into mist, and blended with the horizon. To the east, a
+deep and fertile valley lay between the high lands on which they
+rested and the far ridge of oak hills. From their vantage height they
+could distinguish the outline of the Bare Hill, made more distinct by
+its flickering fires and the smoke wreaths that hung like a
+pearly-tinted robe among the dark pines that grew upon its crest. Not
+long tarrying did our fugitives make, though perfectly safe from
+detection by the distance and their shaded position, for many a
+winding vale and wood-crowned height lay between them and the
+encampment.
+
+But fear is not subject to the control of reason, and in the present
+instance it invested the dreaded Indians with superhuman powers of
+sight and of motion. A few minutes' hasty flight brought our
+travellers to the brow of a precipitous bank, nearly a hundred feet
+above the level open plain which they sought. Here, then, they felt
+comparatively safe: they were out of sight of the camp-fires, the spot
+they had chosen was open, and flight, in case of the approach of the
+Indians, not difficult, while hiding-places were easy of access. They
+found a deep, sheltered hollow in the bank, where two mighty pines had
+been torn up by the roots, and prostrated headlong down the steep,
+forming a regular cave, roofed by the earth and fibres that had been
+uplifted in their fall. Pendent from these roots hung a luxuriant
+curtain of wild grape-vines and other creepers, which formed a leafy
+screen, through which the most curious eye could scarcely penetrate.
+This friendly vegetable veil seemed as if provided for their
+concealment, and they carefully abstained from disturbing the pendent
+foliage, lest they should, by so doing, betray their hiding-place to
+their enemies. They found plenty of long grass, and abundance of long
+soft green moss and ferns near a small grove of poplars which
+surrounded a spring of fine water. They ate some dried fruit and
+smoked fish, and drank of the clear spring; and after they had said
+their evening prayers, they lay down to sleep, Catharine's head
+pillowed on the neck of her faithful guardian, Wolfe. In the middle of
+the night a startling sound, as of some heavy body falling, wakened
+them all simultaneously. The night was so dark they could see nothing,
+and, terror-stricken, they sat gazing into the impenetrable darkness
+of their cave, not even daring to speak to each other, hardly even to
+breathe. Wolfe gave a low grumbling bark, and resumed his couchant
+posture, as if nothing worthy of his attention was near to cause the
+disturbance. Catharine trembled and wept, and prayed for safety
+against the Indians and beasts of prey; and Hector and Louis listened,
+till they fell fast asleep in spite of their fears. In the morning, it
+seemed as if they had dreamed some terrible dream, so vague were their
+recollections of the fright they had had; but the cause was soon
+perceived. A large stone that had been heaved up with the clay that
+adhered to the roots and fibres had been loosened, and had fallen on
+the ground, close to the spot where Catharine lay. So ponderous was
+the mass, that had it struck her, death must have been the consequence
+of the blow; and Hector and Louis beheld it with fear and amazement,
+while Catharine regarded it as a proof of Divine mercy and protection
+from Him in whose hand her safety lay. The boys, warned by this
+accident, carefully removed several large stones from the roof, and
+tried the safety of the clay walls with a stout staff, to ascertain
+that all was secure, before they again ventured to sleep beneath this
+rugged canopy.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+
+"The soul of the wicked desireth evil: his neighbour findeth no favour
+in his eyes."--_Proverbs._
+
+For several days they abstained from lighting a fire, lest the smoke
+should be seen; but this the great height of the bank would have
+effectually prevented. They suffered much cold at night from the
+copious dew, which, even on sultry summer evenings, is productive of
+much chilling. They could not account for the fact that the air at
+night was much warmer on the high hills than in the low valleys; they
+were even sensible of a rush of heat as they ascended to the higher
+ground. These simple children had not been taught that it is the
+nature of the heated air to ascend, and its place to be supplied by
+the colder and denser particles. They noticed the effects, but
+understood nothing of the causes that ruled them.
+
+The following days they procured several partridges, but feared to
+cook them; however, they plucked them, split them open, and dried the
+flesh for a future day. A fox or raccoon, attracted by the smell of
+the birds, came one night and carried them off, for in the morning
+they were gone. They saw several herd of deer crossing the plain, and
+one day Wolfe tracked a wounded doe to a covert under the poplars,
+near a hidden spring, where she had lain herself down to die in peace,
+far from the haunts of her fellows. The arrow was in her throat; it
+was of white flint, and had evidently been sent from an Indian bow. It
+was almost with fear and trembling that they availed themselves of the
+venison thus providentially thrown in their way, lest the Indians
+should track the blood of the doe, and take vengeance on them for
+appropriating it for their own use. Not having seen anything of the
+Indians, who seemed to confine themselves to the neighbourhood of the
+lake, after many days had passed they began to take courage, and even
+ventured to light an evening fire, at which they cooked as much of the
+venison as would last them for several days, and hung the remaining
+portions above the smoke to preserve it from injury.
+
+One morning Hector proclaimed his intention of ascending the hills in
+the direction of the Indian camp. "I am tired of remaining shut up in
+this dull place, where we can see nothing but this dead-flat, bounded
+by those melancholy pines in the distance that seem to shut us in."
+
+Little did Hector know that beyond that dark ridge of pine hills lay
+the home of their childhood, and but a few miles of forest intervened
+to hide it from their sight. Had he known it, how eagerly would his
+feet have pressed onward in the direction of that dark barrier of
+evergreens!
+
+Thus is it often in this life: we wander on, sad and perplexed, our
+path beset with thorns and briers. We cannot see our way clear; doubts
+and apprehensions assail us. We know not how near we are to the
+fulfilment of our wishes; we see only the insurmountable barriers, the
+dark thickets and thorns of our way; and we know not how near we are
+to our Father's home, where he is waiting to welcome the wanderers of
+the flock back to the everlasting home, the fold of the Good Shepherd.
+
+Hector became impatient of the restraint that the dread of the Indians
+imposed upon his movements; he wanted to see the lake again, and to
+roam abroad free and uncontrolled.
+
+"After all," said he we never met with any ill-treatment from the
+Indians that used to visit us at Cold Springs; we may even find old
+friends and acquaintances among them."
+
+"The thing is possible, but not very likely," replied Louis.
+"Nevertheless, Hector, I would not willingly put myself in their
+power. The Indian has his own notion of things, and might think
+himself quite justified in killing us if he found us on his
+hunting-grounds. I have heard my father say--and he knows a great deal
+about these people--that their chiefs are very strict in punishing any
+strangers that they find killing game on their bounds uninvited. They
+are both merciless and treacherous when angered, and we could not even
+speak to them in their own language, to explain by what evil chance we
+came here."
+
+This was very prudent of Louis, uncommonly so, for one who was
+naturally rash and headstrong; but unfortunately Hector was inflexible
+and wilful. When once he had made up his mind upon any point, he had
+too good an opinion of his own judgment to give it up. At last he
+declared his intention, rather than remain a slave to such cowardly
+fears as he now deemed them, to go forth boldly, and endeavour to
+ascertain what the Indians were about, how many there were of them,
+and what real danger was to be apprehended from facing them.
+
+"Depend upon it," he added, "cowards are never safer than brave men.
+The Indians despise cowards, and would be more likely to kill us if
+they found us cowering here in this hole like a parcel of wolf-cubs,
+than if we openly faced them and showed that we neither feared them
+nor cared for them."
+
+"Hector, dear Hector, be not so rash!" cried his sister, passionately
+weeping. "Ah! if we were to lose you, what would become of us?"
+
+"Never fear, Kate; I will run into no needless danger. I know how to
+take care of myself. I am of opinion that the Indian camp is broken
+up; they seldom stay long in one place. I will go over the hills and
+examine the camp at a distance and the lake shore. You and Louis may
+keep watch for my return from the big pine that we halted under on our
+way hither."
+
+"But, Hector, if the savages should see you, and take you prisoner,"
+said Catharine, "what would you do?"
+
+"I will tell you what I would do. Instead of running away, I would
+boldly walk up to them, and by signs make them understand that I am no
+scout, but a friend in need of nothing but kindness and friendship. I
+never yet heard of the Indian that would tomahawk the defenceless
+stranger that sought his camp openly in peace and goodwill."
+
+"If you do not return by sunset, Hector, we shall believe that you
+have fallen into the hands of the savages," said Catharine, mournfully
+regarding her brother.
+
+"If it were not for Catharine," said Louis, "you should not go alone;
+but if evil were to befall this helpless one, her blood would be upon
+my head, who led her out with us, tempting her with false words."
+
+"Never mind that now, dearest cousin," said Catharine, tenderly laying
+her hand on his arm. "It is much better that we should have been all
+three together; I should never have been happy again if I had lost
+both Hec and you. It is better as it is; you and Hec would not have
+been so well off if I had not been with you to help you, and keep up
+your spirits by my songs and stories."
+
+"It is true; ma chere; but that is the reason that I am bound to take
+care of my little cousin, and I could not consent to exposing you to
+danger, or leaving you alone; so, if Hec will be so headstrong, I will
+abide by you."
+
+Hector was so confident that he should return in safety, that at last
+Louis and Catharine became more reconciled to his leaving them, and
+soon busied themselves in preparing some squirrels that Louis had
+brought in that morning.
+
+The day wore away slowly, and many were the anxious glances that
+Catharine cast over the crest of the high bank to watch for her
+brother's return. At last, unable to endure the suspense, she with
+Louis left the shelter of the valley; they ascended the high ground,
+and bent their steps to the trysting-tree, which commanded all the
+country within a wide sweep.
+
+A painful and oppressive sense of loneliness and desolation came over
+the minds of the cousins as they sat together at the foot of the pine,
+which cast its lengthened shadow upon the ground before them. The
+shades of evening were shrouding them, wrapping the lonely forest in
+gloom. The full moon had not yet risen, and they watched for the first
+gleam that should break above the eastern hills to cheer them as for
+the coming of a friend.
+
+Sadly these two poor lonely ones sat hand in hand, talking of the
+happy days of childhood, of the perplexing present and the uncertain
+future. At last, wearied out with watching and anxiety, Catharine
+leaned her head upon the neck of old Wolfe and fell asleep, while
+Louis restlessly paced to and fro in front of the sleeper; now
+straining his eyes to penetrate the surrounding gloom, now straining
+his ears to catch the first sound that might indicate the approach of
+his absent cousin.
+
+It was almost with a feeling of irritability that he heard the quick
+sharp note of the wakeful "whip-poor-will," as it flew from bough to
+bough of an old withered tree beside him. Another, and again another
+of these midnight watchers took up the monotonous never-varying cry of
+"Whip-poor-will, Whip-poor-will;" and then came forth, from many a
+hollow oak and birch, the spectral night-hawk from hidden dens, where
+it had lain hushed in silence all day from dawn till sunset. Sometimes
+their sharp hard wings almost swept his cheek as they wheeled round
+and round in circles, first narrow, then wide, and wider extending,
+till at last they soared far above the tallest tree-tops, and
+launching out in the high regions of the air, uttered from time to
+time a wild shrill scream, or hollow booming sound, as they suddenly
+descended to pounce with wide-extended throat upon some hapless moth
+or insect that sported all unheeding in mid-air, happily unconscious
+of the approach of so unerring a foe.
+
+Petulantly Louis chid these discordant minstrels of the night, and
+joyfully he hailed the first gush of moonlight that rose broad and
+full and red over the Oak Hills to the eastward.
+
+Louis envied the condition of the unconscious sleeper, who lay in
+happy forgetfulness of all her sorrows, her fair curls spread in
+unbound luxuriance over the dark shaggy neck of the faithful Wolfe,
+who seemed as if proud of the beloved burden that rested so trustingly
+upon him. Sometimes the careful dog just unclosed his large eyes,
+raised his nose from his shaggy paws, snuffed the night air, growled
+in a sort of undertone, and then dozed again, but watchfully.
+
+It would be no easy task to tell the painful feelings that agitated
+young Louis's breast. He was angry with Hector for having thus madly,
+as he thought, rushed into danger. "It was wilful and almost cruel,"
+he thought, "to leave them the prey of such tormenting fears on his
+account;" and then the most painful fears for the safety of his
+beloved companion took the place of less kindly thoughts, and sorrow
+filled his heart. The broad moon now flooded the hills and vales with
+light, casting broad checkering shadows of the old oaks' gray branches
+and now reddened foliage across the ground.
+
+Suddenly the old dog raises his head, and utters a short half-angry
+note: slowly and carefully he rises, disengaging himself gently from
+the form of the sleeping girl, and stands forth in the full light of
+the moon. It is an open cleared space, that mound beneath the
+pine-tree; a few low shrubs and seedling pines, with the slender
+waving branches of the late-flowering pearly-tinted asters, the
+elegant fringed gentian with open bells of azure blue, the last and
+loveliest of autumn flowers and winter-greens, brighten the ground
+with wreaths of shining leaves and red berries.
+
+Louis is on the alert, though as yet he sees nothing. It is not a full
+free note of welcome that Wolfe gives; there is something uneasy and
+half angry in his tone. Yet it is not fierce, like the bark of angry
+defiance he gives when wolf, or bear, or wolverine is near.
+
+Louis steps forward from the shadow of the pine branches to the edge
+of the inclined plane in the foreground. The slow tread of approaching
+steps is now distinctly heard advancing; it may be a deer.
+
+Two figures approach, and Louis moves a little within the shadow
+again. A clear shrill whistle meets his ear. It is Hector's whistle,
+he knows that, and assured by its cheerful tone, he springs forward,
+and in an instant is at his side, but starts at the strange companion
+that he half leads, half carries. The moonlight streams broad and
+bright upon the shrinking figure of an Indian girl apparently about
+the same age as Catharine: her ashy face is concealed by the long mass
+of raven black hair which falls like a dark veil over her features;
+her step is weak and unsteady, and she seems ready to sink to the
+earth with sickness or fatigue. Hector, too, seems weary. The first
+words that Hector said were, "Help me, Louis, to lead this poor girl
+to the foot of the pine: I am so tired I can hardly walk another
+step."
+
+Louis and his cousin together carried the Indian girl to the foot of
+the pine. Catharine was just rousing herself from sleep, and she gazed
+with a bewildered air on the strange companion that Hector had brought
+with him. The stranger lay down, and in a few minutes sank into a
+sleep so profound it seemed to resemble that of death itself. Pity and
+deep interest soon took the place of curiosity and dread in the heart
+of the gentle Catharine, and she watched the young stranger's slumber
+as tenderly as though she had been a sister or beloved friend, while
+Hector proceeded to relate in what manner he had encountered the
+Indian girl.
+
+"When I struck the high slope near the little birch grove we called
+the '_Birken Skaw_,' I paused to examine if the council-fires
+were still burning on Bare Hill; but there was no smoke visible,
+neither was there a canoe to be seen at the lake shore where Louis had
+described their landing-place at the mouth of the creek. All seemed as
+silent and still as if no human footstep had trodden the shore. I sat
+down and watched for nearly an hour, till my attention was attracted
+by a noble eagle, which was sailing in wide circles over the tall
+pine-trees on Bare Hill. Assured that the Indian camp was broken up,
+and feeling some curiosity to examine the spot more closely, I crossed
+the thicket of cranberries and cedars and small underwood that fringed
+the borders of the little stream, and found myself, after a little
+pushing and scrambling, among the bushes at the foot of the hill.
+
+"I thoughts it not impossible I might find something to repay me for
+my trouble, flint arrowheads, a knife, or a tomahawk; but I little
+thought of what these cruel savages had left there,--a miserable
+wounded captive, bound by the long locks of her hair to the stem of a
+small tree! Her hands and feet were fastened by thongs of deer-skin to
+branches of the tree, which had been bent downward for that purpose.
+Her position was a most painful one. She had evidently been thus left
+to perish by a miserable death of hunger and thirst; for these
+savages, with a fiendish cruelty, had placed within sight of their
+victim an earthen jar of water, some dried deers' flesh, and a cob
+[Footnote: A head of the maize, or Indian corn, is called a "cob."] of
+Indian corn. I have the corn here," he added, putting his hand in his
+breast and displaying it to view.
+
+"Wounded she was, for I drew this arrow from her shoulder," and he
+showed the flint head as he spoke, "and fettered. With food and drink
+in sight the poor girl was to perish, perhaps to become a living prey
+to the eagle that I saw wheeling above the hill-top. The poor thing's
+lips were black and parched with pain and thirst. She turned her eyes
+piteously from my face to the water-jar, as if to implore a draught.
+This I gave her; and then having cooled the festering wound, and cut
+the thongs that bound her, I wondered that she still kept the same
+immovable attitude, and thinking she was stiff and cramped with
+remaining so long bound in one position, I took her two hands and
+tried to induce her to move. I then for the first time noticed that
+she was tied by the hair of her head to the tree against which her
+back was placed. I was obliged to cut the hair with my knife; and this
+I did not do without giving her pain, as she moaned impatiently. She
+sank her head on her breast, and large tears fell over my hands as I
+bathed her face and neck with the water from the jar. She then seated
+herself on the ground, and remained silent and still for the space of
+an hour; nor could I prevail upon her to speak, or quit the seat she
+had taken. Fearing that the Indians might return, I watched in all
+directions, and at last I began to think it would be best to carry her
+in my arms; but this I found no easy task, for she seemed greatly
+distressed at any attempt I made to lift her, and by her gestures I
+fancied she thought I was going to kill her. At least my patience
+began to be exhausted, but I did not like to annoy her. I spoke to her
+as gently and soothingly as I could. By degrees she seemed to listen
+with more composure to me, though she evidently knew not a word of
+what I said to her. She rose at last, and taking my hands, placed them
+above her head, stooping low as she did so; and this seemed to mean
+she was willing at last to submit to my wishes. I lifted her from the
+ground and carried her for some little way; but she was too heavy for
+me. She then suffered me to lead her along whithersoever I would take
+her; but her steps were so slow and feeble through weakness, that many
+times I was compelled to rest while she recovered herself. She seems
+quite subdued now, and as quiet as a lamb."
+
+Catharine listened, not without tears of genuine sympathy, to the
+recital of her brother's adventures. She seemed to think he had been
+inspired by God to go forth that day to the Indian camp to rescue the
+poor forlorn one from so dreadful a death.
+
+Louis's sympathy was also warmly aroused for the young savage, and he
+commended Hector for his bravery and humanity.
+
+He then set to work to light a good fire, which was a great addition
+to their comfort as well as cheerfulness. They did not go back to
+their cave beneath the upturned trees to sleep, preferring lying, with
+their feet to the fire, under the shade of the pine. Louis, however,
+was despatched for water and venison for supper.
+
+The following morning, by break of day, they collected their stores,
+and conveyed them back to the shanty. The boys were thus employed
+while Catharine watched beside the wounded Indian girl, whom she
+tended with the greatest care. She bathed the inflamed arm with water,
+and bound, the cool healing leaves of the _tacamahac_ [Footnote:
+Indian balsam.] about it with the last fragment of her apron; she
+steeped dried berries in water, and gave the cooling drink to quench
+the fever-thirst that burned in her veins and glittered in her full
+soft melancholy dark eyes, which were raised at intervals to the race
+of her youthful nurse with a timid hurried glance, as if she longed
+yet feared to say, "Who are you that thus tenderly bathe my aching
+head, and strive to soothe my wounded limbs, and cool my fevered
+blood? Are you a creature like myself, or a being sent by the Great
+Spirit from the far-off happy land to which my fathers have gone, to
+smooth my path of pain, and lead me to those blessed fields of
+sunbeams and flowers where the cruelty of the enemies of my people
+will no more have power to torment me?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+
+  "Here the wren of softest note
+    Builds its nest and warbles well,
+  Here the blackbird strains his throat
+    Welcome, welcome to our cell."
+
+  --COLERIDGE.
+
+The day was far advanced before the sick Indian girl could be brought
+home to their sylvan lodge, where Catharine made up a comfortable
+couch for her with boughs and grass, and spread one of the deer-skins
+over it, and laid her down as tenderly and carefully as if she had
+been a dear sister. This good girl was overjoyed at having found a
+companion of her own age and sex. "Now," said she, "I shall no more be
+lonely, I shall have a companion and friend to talk to and assist me."
+But when she turned in the fulness of her heart to address herself to
+the young stranger, she felt herself embarrassed in what way to make
+her comprehend the words she used to express the kindness that she
+felt for her and her sorrow for her sufferings.
+
+The young stranger would raise her head, look intently at her as if
+striving to interpret her words, then sadly shake her head, and utter
+her words in her own plaintive language, but, alas! Catharine felt it
+was to her as a sealed book.
+
+She tried to recall some Indian words of familiar import that she had
+heard from the Indians when they came to her father's house, but in
+vain. Not the simplest phrase occurred to her, and she almost cried
+with vexation at her own stupidity. Neither was Hector or Louis more
+fortunate in attempts at conversing with their guest.
+
+At the end of three days the fever began to abate; the restless eye
+grew more steady in its gaze, the dark flush faded from the cheek,
+leaving it of a gray ashy tint, not the hue of health, such as even
+the swarthy Indian shows, but wan and pallid, her eyes bent mournfully
+on the ground.
+
+She would sit quiet and passive while Catharine bound up the long
+tresses of her hair, and smoothed them with her hands and the small
+wooden comb that Louis had cut for her use. Sometimes she would raise
+her eyes to her new friend's face with a quiet sad smile, and once she
+took her hands within her own and gently pressed them to her breast
+and lips and forehead, in token of gratitude; but she seldom gave
+utterance to any words, and would remain with her eyes fixed vacantly
+on some object which seemed unseen, or to awaken no idea in her mind.
+At such times the face of the young squaw, wore a dreamy apathy of
+expression, or rather it might with more propriety have been said the
+absence of all expression, almost as blank as that of an infant of a
+few weeks old.
+
+How intently did Catharine study that face, and strive to read what
+was passing within her mind! How did the lively intelligent Canadian
+girl, the offspring of a more intellectual race, long to instruct her
+Indian friend, to enlarge her mind by pointing out such things to her
+attention as she herself took interest in! She would then repeat the
+name of the object that she showed her several times over, and by
+degrees the young squaw learned the names of all the familiar
+household articles about the shanty, and could repeat them in her own
+soft plaintive tone; and when she had learned a new word, and could
+pronounce it distinctly, she would laugh, and a gleam of innocent joy
+and pleasure would lighten up her fine dark eyes, generally so fixed
+and sad-looking.
+
+It was Catharine's delight to teach her pupil to speak a language
+familiar to her own ears. She would lead her out among the trees, and
+name to her all the natural objects that presented themselves to view.
+And she in her turn mae "Indiana" (for so they named the young squaw,
+after a negress that she had heard her father tell of, a nurse to one
+of his colonel's infant children) tell her the Indian names for each
+object they saw. Indiana soon began to enjoy in her turn the amusement
+arising from instructing Catharine and the boys, and often seemed to
+enjoy the blunders they made in pronouncing the words she taught them.
+When really interested in anything that was going on, her eyes would
+beam out, and her smile gave an inexpressible charm to her face; for
+her lips were red, and her teeth even and brilliantly white, so purely
+white that Catharine thought she had never seen any so beautiful in
+her life before. At such times her face was joyous and innocent as a
+little child's; but there were also hours of gloom, that transformed
+it into an expression of sullen apathy. Then a dull glassy look took
+possession of her eye, the full lip drooped and the form seemed rigid
+and stiff. Obstinate determination neither to move nor speak
+characterized her in what Louis used to call the young squaw's "dark
+hour." Then it was that the savage nature seemed predominant, and her
+gentle nurse almost feared to look at her _protegee_ or approach
+her.
+
+"Hector," said Louis, "you spoke about a jar of water being left at
+the camp. The jar would be a great treasure to us. Let us go over for
+it." Hector assented to the proposal. "And we may possibly pick up a
+few grains of Indian corn, to add to what you showed us."
+
+"If we are here in the spring," said Hector, "you and I will prepare a
+small patch of ground and plant it with this corn;" and he sat down on
+the end of a log and began carefully to count the rows of grain on the
+cob, and then each corn, grain by grain. "Three hundred and ten sound
+grains. Now if every one of these produce a strong plant, we shall
+have a great increase, and besides seed for another year, there will
+be, if it is a good year, several bushels to eat."
+
+"We shall have a glorious summer, mon ami, no doubt, and a fine
+flourishing crop; and Kate is a good hand at making supporne."
+[Footnote: Supporne probably an Indian word for a stirabout, or
+porridge, made of Indian meal, a common dish in every Canadian or
+Yankee farmer's house.]
+
+"You forget we have no porridge pot."
+
+"I was thinking of that Indian jar all the time. You will see what
+fine cookery we will make when we get it, if it will but stand fire.
+Come, let us be off; I am impatient till we get it home;" and Louis,
+who had now a new crotchet at work in his fertile and vivacious brain,
+walked and danced along at a rate which proved a great disturbance to
+his graver companion, who tried to keep down his cousin's lively
+spirits by suggesting the probability of the jar being cracked, or
+that the Indians might have returned for it; but Louis was not one of
+the doubting sort, and was right in not damping the ardour of his mind
+by causeless fears. The jar was there at the deserted camp, and though
+it had been knocked over by some animal, it was sound and strong, and
+excited great speculation in the two cousins as to the particular
+material of which it was made, as it was unlike any sort of pottery
+they had ever before seen. It seemed to have been manufactured from
+some very dark red earth, or clay mixed up with pounded granite, as it
+presented the appearance of some coarse crystals. It was very hard and
+ponderous, and the surface was marked over in a rude sort of pattern,
+as if punctured and scratched with some pointed instrument. It seemed
+to have been hardened by fire, and, from the smoked hue of one side,
+had evidently done good service as a cooking utensil. Subsequently
+they learned the way in which it was used. [Footnote: Pieces of this
+rude pottery are often found along the shores of the inland lakes, but
+I have never met with any of the perfect vessels in use with the
+Indians, who probably find it now easier to supply themselves with
+iron pots and crockery from the towns of the European settlers.] The
+jar, being placed near but not on the fire, was surrounded by hot
+embers, and the water made to boil by stones being made red hot and
+plunged into it. In this way soups and other food were prepared and
+kept stewing, with no further trouble, after once the simmering began,
+than adding a few fresh embers at the side farthest from the fire. A
+hot stone, also, placed on the top, facilitated the cooking process.
+
+Louis, who like all French people was addicted to cookery,--indeed it
+was an accomplishment he prided himself on,--was enchanted with the
+improvement made in their diet by the acquisition of the said earthen
+jar, or pipkin, and gave Indiana some praise for initiating his cousin
+in the use of it. Catharine and Hector declared that he went out with
+his bow and arrows, and visited his dead-falls and snares, ten times
+oftener than he used to do, just for the sake of proving the admirable
+properties of this precious utensil, and finding out some new way of
+dressing his game.
+
+At all events, there was a valuable increase of furs, for making up
+into clothing, caps, leggings, mitts, and other articles.
+
+From the Indian girl Catharine learned the value of many of the herbs
+and shrubs that grew in her path, the bark and leaves of various
+trees, and many dyes she could extract, with which she stained the
+quills of the porcupine and the strips of the wood of which she made
+baskets and mats. The little creeping winter-green, [Footnote:
+Gaultheria procumbens,--spice winter-green.] with its scarlet berries,
+that grows on the dry flats or sandy hills, which the Canadians call
+spice-berry, she showed them was good to eat; and she would crush the
+leaves, draw forth their fine aromatic flavour in her hands, and then
+inhale their fragrance with delight. She made an infusion of the
+leaves, and drank it as a tonic. The inner bark of the wild black
+cherry she said was good to cure ague and fever. The root of the
+bitter-sweet she scraped down and boiled in the deer-fat, or the fat
+of any other animal, and made an ointment that possessed very healing
+qualities, especially as an immediate application to fresh burns.
+
+Sometimes she showed a disposition to mystery, and would conceal the
+knowledge of the particular herbs she made use of; and Catharine
+several times noticed that she would go out and sprinkle a portion of
+the food she had assisted her in preparing, on the earth, or under
+some of the trees or bushes. When she was more familiar with their
+language, she told Catharine this was done in token of gratitude to
+the Good Spirit, who had given them success in hunting or trapping; or
+else it was to appease the malice of the Evil Spirit; who might bring
+mischief or loss to them, or sickness or death, unless his forbearance
+was purchased by some particular mark of attention.
+
+Attention, memory, and imitation appeared to form the three most
+remarkable of the mental faculties developed by the Indian girl. She
+examined (when once her attention was roused) any object with critical
+minuteness. Any knowledge she had once acquired she retained; her
+memory was great, she never missed a path she had once trodden; she
+seemed even to single out particular birds in a flock, to know them
+from their companions. Her powers of imitation were also great. She
+brought patience and perseverance to assist her: when once thoroughly
+interested in any work she began, she would toil on untiringly till it
+was completed; and then what triumph shone in her eyes! At such times
+they became darkly brilliant with the joy that filled her heart. But
+she possessed little talent for invention; what she had seen done,
+after a few imperfect attempts, she could do again, but she rarely
+struck out any new path for herself.
+
+At times she was docile and even playful, and appeared grateful for
+the kindness with which she was treated, each day seemed to increase
+her fondness for Catharine, and she appeared to delight in doing any
+little service to please and gratify her; but it was towards Hector
+that she displayed the deepest feeling of affection and respect. It
+was to him her first tribute of fruit, or flowers, furs, moccasins, or
+ornamental plumage of rare birds, was offered. She seemed to turn to
+him as to a master and protector. He was in her eyes the "_chief_,"
+the head of his tribe. His bow was strung by her, and stained with
+quaint figures and devices; his arrows were carved by her; the sheath
+of deer-skin he carried his knife in was made and ornamented by her
+hands; also, the case for his arrows, of birch-bark, she wrought with
+especial neatness, and suspended by thongs to his neck when he was
+preparing to go out in search of game. She gave him the name of the
+"Young Eagle," while she called Louis "Nee-chee," or "Friend," to
+Catharine she gave the poetical name of "Music of the Winds,"--_Madwaosh_.
+
+When they asked her to tell them her own name, she would bend down her
+head in sorrow and refuse to pronounce it. She soon answered to the
+name of Indiana, and seemed pleased with the sound.
+
+But of all the household, next to Hector, old Wolfe was her greatest
+favourite. At first, it is true, the old dog regarded the new inmate
+with a jealous eye, and seemed uneasy when he saw her approach to
+caress him; but Indiana soon reconciled him to her person, and a
+mutual friendly feeling became established between them, which seemed
+daily and hourly to increase, greatly to the delight of the young
+stranger. She would seat herself Eastern fashion, cross-legged on the
+floor of the shanty, with the capacious head of the old dog in her
+lap, and address herself to this mute companion in wailing tones, as
+if she would unburden her heart by pouring into his unconscious ear
+her tale of desolation and woe.
+
+Catharine was always very particular and punctual in performing her
+personal ablutions, and she intimated to Indiana that it was good for
+her to do the same. The young girl seemed reluctant to follow her
+example, till daily custom had reconciled her to what she evidently at
+first regarded as an unnecessary ceremony; but she soon took pleasure
+in dressing her dark hair, and suffering Catharine to braid it and
+polish it till it looked glossy and soft. Indiana in her turn would
+adorn Catharine with the wings of the blue-bird or red-bird, the crest
+of the wood-duck, or quill feathers of the golden-winged flicker,
+which is called in the Indian tongue the shot-bird, in allusion to the
+round spots on its cream-coloured breast. [Footnote: The golden-winged
+flicker belongs to a sub-genus of woodpeckers, it is very handsome,
+and is said to be eatable, it lives on fruits and insects.] It was not
+in these things alone she indicated her grateful sense of the sisterly
+kindness that her young hostess showed to her; she soon learned to
+lighten her labours in every household work, and above all, she spent
+her time most usefully in manufacturing clothing from the skins of the
+wild animals, and in teaching Catharine how to fit and prepare them:
+but these were the occupations of the winter months.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+
+"Go to the ant."--Proverbs.
+
+It was now the middle of September. The weather, which had continued
+serene and beautiful for some time, with dewy nights and misty
+mornings, began to show symptoms of the change of season usual at the
+approach of the equinox. Sudden squalls of wind, with hasty showers,
+would come sweeping over the lake; the nights and mornings were damp
+and chilly. Already the tints of autumn were beginning to crimson the
+foliage of the oaks, and where the islands were visible, the splendid
+colours of the maple shone out in gorgeous contrast with the deep
+verdure of the evergreens and light golden-yellow of the poplar; but
+lovely as they now looked, they had not yet reached the meridian of
+their beauty, which a few frosty nights at the close of the month were
+destined to bring to perfection--a glow of splendour to gladden the
+eye for a brief space, before the rushing winds and rains of the
+following month were to sweep them away and scatter them abroad upon
+the earth.
+
+One morning, after a night of heavy rain and wind, the two boys went
+down to see if the lake was calm enough for trying the raft, which
+Louis had finished before the coming on of the bad weather. The water
+was rough and crested with mimic waves, and they felt indisposed to
+launch the raft on so stormy a surface, but stood looking out over the
+lake and admiring the changing foliage, when Hector pointed out to his
+cousin a dark speck dancing on the waters, between the two nearest
+islands. The wind, which blew very strong still from the north-east,
+brought the object nearer every minute. At first they thought it might
+be a pine-branch that was floating on the surface, when as it came
+bounding over the waves, they perceived that it was a birch canoe, but
+impelled by no visible arm. It was a strange sight upon that lonely
+lake to see a vessel of any kind afloat, and, on first deciding that
+it was a canoe, the boys were inclined to hide themselves among the
+bushes, for fear of the Indians; but curiosity got the better of their
+fears.
+
+"The owner of yonder little craft is either asleep or absent from her;
+for I see no paddle, and it is evidently drifting without any one to
+guide it," said Hector, after intently watching the progress of the
+tempest-driven canoe. Assured as it approached nearer that such was
+the case, they hurried to the beach just as a fresh gust had lodged
+the canoe among the branches of a fallen cedar which projected out
+some way into the water.
+
+By creeping along the trunk of the tree, and trusting at times to the
+projecting boughs, Louis, who was the most active and the lightest of
+weight, succeeded in getting within reach of the canoe, and with some
+trouble and the help of a stout branch that Hector handed to him, he
+contrived to moor her in safety on the shore, taking the precaution of
+hauling her well up on the shingle, lest the wind and water should set
+her afloat again. "Hec, there is something in this canoe, the sight of
+which will gladden your heart," cried Louis, with a joyful look. "Come
+quickly, and see my treasures!"
+
+"Treasures! You may well call them treasures," exclaimed Hector, as he
+helped Louis to examine the contents of the canoe and place them on
+the shore side by side.
+
+The boys could hardly find words to express their joy and surprise at
+the discovery of a large jar of parched rice, a tomahawk, an Indian
+blanket almost as good as new, a large mat rolled up, with a bass-bark
+rope several yards in length wound round it, and, what was more
+precious than all, an iron three-legged pot in which was a quantity of
+Indian corn. These articles had evidently constituted the stores of
+some Indian hunter or trapper: possibly the canoe had been imperfectly
+secured, and had drifted from its moorings during the gale of the
+previous night, unless by some accident the owner had fallen into the
+lake and been drowned. This was of course only a matter of conjecture
+on which it was useless to speculate, and the boys joyfully took
+possession of the good fortune that had so providentially been wafted,
+as it were, to their very feet.
+
+"It was a capital chance for us, that old cedar having been blown down
+last night just where it was," said Louis; "for if the canoe had not
+been drawn into the eddy, and stopped by the branches, we might have
+lost it. I trembled, when I saw the wind driving it on so rapidly,
+that it would founder in the deep water or go off to Long Island."
+
+"I think we should have got it at Pine-tree Point," said Hector; "but
+I am glad it was lodged so cleverly among the cedar boughs. I was half
+afraid you would have fallen in once or twice when you were trying to
+draw it nearer to the shore."
+
+"Never fear for me, my friend; I can cling like a wild cat when I
+climb. But what a grand pot! What delightful soups, and stews, and
+boils Catharine will make! Hurrah!" and Louis tossed up the new fur
+cap he had made with great skill from an entire fox-skin, and cut
+sundry fantastic capers which Hector gravely condemned as unbecoming
+his mature age (Louis was turned of fifteen); but with the joyous
+spirit of a little child he sang and danced, and laughed and shouted,
+till the lonely echoes of the islands and far-off hills returned the
+unusual sounds, and even his more steady cousin caught the infection
+and laughed to see Louis so elated.
+
+Leaving Hector to guard the prize, Louis ran gaily off to fetch
+Catharine to share his joy and come and admire the canoe, and the
+blanket, and the tripod, and the corn, and the tomahawk. Indiana
+accompanied them to the lake shore, and long and carefully she
+examined the canoe and its contents, and many were the plaintive
+exclamations she uttered as she surveyed the things piece by piece,
+till she took notice of the broken handle of an Indian paddle which
+lay at the bottom of the vessel: this seemed to afford some solution
+to her of the mystery, and by broken words and signs she intimated
+that the paddle had possibly broken in the hand of the Indian, and
+that in endeavouring to regain the other part, he had lost his balance
+and been drowned. She showed Hector a rude figure of a bird engraved
+with some sharp instrument, and rubbed in with a blue colour. This she
+said was the totem or crest of the chief of the tribe, and was meant
+to represent a _crow_. The canoe had belonged to a chief of that name.
+
+While they were dividing the contents of the canoe among them to be
+carried to the shanty, Indiana, taking up the bass-rope and the
+blanket, bundled up the most of the things, and adjusting the broad
+thick part of the rope to the front of her head, she bore off the
+burden with as great apparent ease as a London or an Edinburgh porter
+would his trunks and packages, turning round with a merry glance and
+repeating some Indian words with a lively air as she climbed the steep
+bank, and soon distanced her companions, to her great delight. That
+night Indiana cooked some of the parched rice, Indian fashion, with
+venison, and they enjoyed the novelty very much; it made an excellent
+substitute for bread, of which they had been so long deprived.
+
+Indiana gave them to understand that the rice harvest would soon be
+ready on the lake, and that now they had got a canoe, they would go
+out and gather it, and so lay by a store to last them for many months.
+
+This little incident furnished the inhabitants of the shanty with
+frequent themes for discussion. Hector declared that the Indian corn
+was the most valuable of their acquisitions. "It will insure us a crop
+and bread and seed-corn for many years," he said. He also highly
+valued the tomahawk, as his axe was worn and blunt. Louis was divided
+between the iron pot and the canoe. Hector seemed to think the raft
+might have formed a substitute for the latter, besides, Indiana had
+signified her intention of helping him to make a canoe. Catharine
+declared in favour of the blanket, as it would make, after thorough
+ablutions, warm petticoats with tight bodices for herself and Indiana.
+With deer-skin leggings and a fur jacket, they should be comfortably
+clad. Indiana thought the canoe the most precious, and was charmed
+with the good jar and the store of rice; nor did she despise the
+packing-rope, which she soon showed was of use in carrying burdens
+from place to place, Indian fashion. By placing a pad of soft fur in
+front of the head, she could carry heavy loads with great ease. The
+mat, she said, would be useful for drying the rice she meant to store.
+
+The next day after this adventure, the two girls set to work, and with
+the help of Louis's large knife, which was called into requisition as
+a substitute for scissors, they cut out the blanket dresses, and in a
+short time made two comfortable and not very unsightly garments. The
+full, short, plaited skirts reached a little below the knees; light
+vests, bordered with fur, completed the upper part; and leggings,
+terminated at the ankles by knotted fringes of doeskin, with moccasins
+turned over with a band of squirrel fur, completed the novel costume;
+and many a glance of innocent satisfaction did our young damsels cast
+upon each other, when they walked forth in the pride of girlish vanity
+to display their dresses to Hector and Louis, who, for their part,
+regarded them as most skilful dressmakers, and were never tired of
+admiring and commending their ingenuity in the making and fitting,
+considering what rude implements they were obliged to use in the
+cutting out and sewing of the garments.
+
+The extensive rice-beds on the lake had now begun to assume a golden
+tinge, which contrasted very delightfully with the deep-blue waters,
+looking, when lighted up by the sunbeams, like islands of
+golden-coloured sand. The ears, heavy laden with the ripe grain,
+drooped towards; the water. The time of the rice-harvest was at hand,
+and with light and joyous hearts our young adventurers launched the
+canoe, and, guided in their movements by the little squaw, paddled to
+the extensive aquatic fields to gather it in, leaving Catharine and
+Wolfe to watch their proceedings from the raft, which Louis had
+fastened to a young tree that projected out over the lake, and which
+made a good landing-place, likewise a wharf where they could stand and
+fish very comfortably. As the canoe could not be overloaded on account
+of the rice-gathering, Catharine very readily consented to employ
+herself with fishing from the raft till their return.
+
+The manner of procuring the rice was very simple. One person steered
+the canoe with the aid of the paddle along the edge of the rice-beds,
+and another with a stick in one hand, and a curved sharp-edged paddle
+in the other, struck the heads off as they bent them over the edge of
+the stick; the chief art was in letting the heads fall into the canoe,
+which a little practice soon enabled them to do as expertly as the
+mower lets the grass fall in ridges beneath his scythe.
+
+Many bushels of wild rice were thus collected. Nothing could be more
+delightful than this sort of work to our young people, and merrily
+they worked, and laughed and sang as they came home each day with
+their light bark laden with a store of grain which they knew would
+preserve them from starving through the long, dreary winter that was
+coming on.
+
+The canoe was a source of great comfort and pleasure to them. They
+were now able to paddle out into the deep water and fish for
+masquinonje and black bass, which they caught in great numbers.
+Indiana seemed quite another creature when, armed with a paddle of her
+own carving, she knelt at the head of the canoe and sent it flying
+over the water; then her dark eyes, often so vacant and glassy,
+sparkled with delight, and her teeth gleamed with ivory whiteness as
+her face broke into smiles and dimples.
+
+It was delightful then to watch this child of nature, and see how
+innocently happy she could be when rejoicing in the excitement of
+healthy exercise, and elated by a consciousness of the power she
+possessed of excelling her companions in feats of strength and skill
+which they had yet to acquire by imitating her.
+
+Even Louis was obliged to confess that the young savage knew more of
+the management of a canoe, and the use of the bow and arrow and the
+fishing-line, than either himself or his cousin. Hector was lost in
+admiration of her skill in all these things, and Indiana rose highly
+in his estimation, the more he saw of her usefulness.
+
+"Every one to his craft," said Louis, laughing. "The little squaw has
+been brought up in the knowledge and practice of such matters from her
+babyhood; perhaps if we were to set her to knitting and spinning,
+milking cows, and house-work, and learning to read, I doubt if she
+would prove half as quick as Catharine or Mathilde."
+
+"I wonder if she knows anything of God or our Saviour," said Hector
+thoughtfully.
+
+"Who should have taught her? for the Indians are all heathens,"
+replied Louis.
+
+"I have heard my dear mother say the missionaries have taken great
+pains to teach the Indian children about Quebec and Montreal, and that
+so far from being stupid, they learn very readily," said Catharine.
+
+"We must try and make Indiana learn to say her prayers. She sits quite
+still, and seems to take no notice of what we are doing when we kneel
+down before we go to bed," observed Hector.
+
+"She cannot understand what we say," said Catharine; "for she knows so
+little of our language yet, that of course she cannot comprehend the
+prayers, which are in other sort of words than what we use in speaking
+of hunting, and fishing, and cooking, and such matters."
+
+"Well, when she knows more of our way of speaking, then we must teach
+her. It is a sad thing for Christian children to live with an untaught
+pagan," said Louis, who, being rather bigoted in his creed, felt a
+sort of uneasiness in his own mind at the poor girl's total want of
+the rites of his church; but Hector and Catharine regarded her
+ignorance with feelings of compassionate interest, and lost no
+opportunity of trying to enlighten her darkened mind on the subject of
+belief in the God who made and the Lord who saved them. Simply and
+earnestly they entered into the task as a labour of love; and though
+for a long time Indiana seemed to pay little attention to what they
+said, by slow degrees the good seed took root and brought forth fruit
+worthy of Him whose Spirit poured the beams of spiritual light into
+her heart. But my young readers must not imagine these things were the
+work of a day: the process was slow, and so were the results, but they
+were good in the end.
+
+Catharine was glad when, after many months of patient teaching, the
+Indian girl asked permission to kneel down with her white friend and
+pray to the Great Spirit and his Son in the same words that Christ
+Jesus gave to his disciples; and if the full meaning of that holy
+prayer, so full of humility and love and moral justice, was not fully
+understood by her whose lips repeated it, yet even the act of worship
+and the desire to do that which she had been told was right were,
+doubtless, sacrifices better than the pagan rites which that young
+girl had witnessed among her father's people, who, blindly following
+the natural impulse of man in his depraved nature, regarded bloodshed
+and cruelty as among the highest of human virtues, and gloried in
+those deeds of vengeance at which the Christian mind revolts with
+horror.
+
+Indiana took upon herself the management of the rice, drying, husking,
+and storing it, the two lads working under her direction. She caused
+several forked stakes to be cut, sharpened, and driven into the
+ground. On these were laid four poles, so as to form a frame. Over it
+she stretched the bass-mat, which she secured by means of forked pegs
+to the frame. On the mat she then spread out the rice thinly, and
+lighted a fire beneath, taking good care not to let the flame set fire
+to the mat, the object being rather to keep up a strong, slow heat by
+means of the red embers. She next directed the boys to supply her with
+pine or cedar boughs, which she stuck in close together, so as to
+enclose the fire within the area of the stakes. This was done to
+concentrate the heat and cause it to bear upwards with more power, the
+rice being frequently stirred with a sort of long-handled, flat
+shovel. After the rice was sufficiently dried, the next thing to be
+done was separating it from the husk. This was effected by putting it,
+in small quantities, into the iron pot, and with a sort of wooden
+pestle or beetle rubbing it round and round against the sides.
+[Footnote: The Indians often make use of a very rude, primitive sort
+of mortar, by hollowing out a bass-wood stump, and rubbing the rice
+with a wooden pounder.] If they had not had the iron pot, a wooden
+trough must have been substituted in its stead.
+
+When the rice was husked, the loose chaff was winnowed from it in a
+flat basket like a sieve; and it was then put by in coarse birch
+baskets, roughly sewed with leather-wood bark, or bags made of matting
+woven by the little squaw from the cedar-bark. A portion was also
+parched, which was simply done by putting the rice dry into the iron
+pot, and setting it on hot embers, stirring the grain till it burst;
+it was then stored by for use. Rice thus prepared is eaten dry, as a
+substitute for bread, by the Indians.
+
+The lake was now swarming with wild-fowl of various kinds: crowds of
+ducks were winging their way across it from morning till night,
+floating in vast flocks upon its surface, or rising in noisy groups if
+an eagle or fish-hawk appeared sailing with slow, majestic circles
+above them, then settling down with noisy splash upon the calm water.
+The shores, too, were covered with these birds, feeding on the fallen
+acorns which fell ripe and brown with every passing breeze.
+
+The berries of the dogwood also furnished them with food; but the wild
+rice seemed the great attraction, and small shell-fish and the larvae
+of many insects that had been dropped into the waters, there to come
+to perfection in due season, or to form a provision for myriads of
+wild-fowl that had come from the far north-west to feed upon them,
+guided by that instinct which has so beautifully been termed by one of
+our modern poetesses,--
+
+  "God's gift to the weak." [Footnote: Mrs. Southey.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+
+  "Oh, come and hear what cruel wrongs
+   Befell the Dark Ladye"--COLERIDGE.
+
+The Mohawk girl was in high spirits at the coming of the wild-fowl to
+the lake; she would clap her hands and laugh with almost childish glee
+as she looked at them darkening the lake like clouds resting on its
+surface. "If I had but my father's gun, his good old gun, now!" would
+Hector say, as he eyed the timorous flocks as they rose and fell upon
+the lake; "but these foolish birds are so shy they are away before an
+arrow can reach them."
+
+Indiana smiled in her quiet way; she was busy filling the canoe with
+green boughs, which she arranged so as completely to transform the
+little vessel into the semblance of a floating island of evergreen.
+Within this bower she motioned Hector to crouch down, leaving a small
+space for the free use of his bow; while concealed at the prow she
+gently and noiselessly paddled the canoe from the shore among the
+rice-beds, letting it remain stationary or merely rocking to and fro
+with the undulatory motion of the waters.
+
+The unsuspecting birds, deceived into full security, eagerly pursued
+their pastime or their prey, and it was no difficult matter for the
+hidden archer to hit many a black duck, or teal, or whistlewing, as it
+floated securely on the placid water, or rose to shift its place a few
+yards up or down the stream. Soon the lake around was strewed with the
+feathered game, which Wolfe, cheered on by Louis who was stationed on
+the shore, brought to land.
+
+Indiana told Hector that this was the season when the Indians made
+great gatherings on the lake for duck-shooting, which they pursued
+much after the same fashion as that which has been described, only
+instead of one, a dozen or more canoes would be thus disguised with
+boughs, with others stationed at different parts of the lake, or under
+the shelter of the island, to collect the birds. This sport generally
+concluded with a great feast.
+
+The Indians offered the first of the birds as an oblation to the Great
+Spirit, as a grateful acknowledgment of his bounty in having allowed
+them to gather food thus plentifully for their families. Sometimes
+distant tribes with whom they were on terms of friendship were invited
+to share the sport and partake of the spoils.
+
+Indiana could not understand why Hector did not follow the custom of
+her Indian fathers, and offer the first duck or the best fish to
+propitiate the Great Spirit. Hector told her that the God he
+worshipped desired no sacrifice; that his holy Son, when he came down
+from heaven and gave himself as a sacrifice for the sin of the world,
+had satisfied his Father, the Great Spirit, an hundredfold.
+
+They feasted now continually upon the water-fowl, and Catharine
+learned from Indiana how to skin them, and so preserve the feathers
+for making tippets, and bonnets, and ornamental trimmings, which are
+not only warm, but light and very becoming. They split open the birds
+they did not require for present consumption, and dried them for
+winter store, smoking some after the manner the Shetlanders and the
+Orkney people smoke the solan geese. Their shanty displayed an
+abundant store of provisions--fish, flesh, and fowl, besides baskets
+of wild rice and bags of dried fruit.
+
+One day Indiana came in from the brow of the hill, and told the boys
+that the lake eastward was covered with canoes, she showed, by holding
+up her two hands and then three fingers, that she had counted
+thirteen. The tribes had met for the annual duck-feast and the
+rice-harvest. She advised them to put out the fire, so that no smoke
+might be seen to attract them, but said they would not leave the lake
+for hunting over the plains just then, as the camp was lower down on
+the point [Footnote: This point, commonly known as _Andersen's Point_,
+now the seat of an Indian village, used in former times to be a great
+place of rendezvous for the Indians, and was the scene of a murderous
+carnage or massacre that took place about eighty years ago; the war
+weapons and bones of the Indians are often turned up with the plough
+at this day.] east of the mouth of a big river, which she called
+"Otonabee."
+
+Hector asked Indiana if she would go away and leave them in the event
+of meeting with any of her own tribe. The girl cast her eyes on the
+earth in silence; a dark cloud seemed to gather over her face.
+
+"If they should prove to be any of your father's people, or a friendly
+tribe, would you go away with them?" he again repeated; to which she
+solemnly replied,--
+
+"Indiana has no father, no tribe, no people; no blood of her father
+warms the heart of any man, woman, or child, saving herself alone. But
+Indiana is a brave, and the daughter of a brave, and will not shrink
+from danger: her heart is warm; red blood flows warm here," and she
+laid her hand on her heart. Then lifting up her hand, she said in slow
+but impassioned tone, "They left not one drop of living blood to flow
+in any veins but these." She raised her eyes, and stretched her arms
+upwards toward heaven, as though calling down vengeance on the
+murderers of her father's house.
+
+"My father was a Mohawk, the son of a great chief, who owned these
+hunting-grounds far as your eye can see to the rising and setting sun,
+along the big waters of the big lakes; but the Ojebwas, a portion of
+the Chippewa nation, by treachery cut off my father's people by
+hundreds in cold blood, when they were defenceless and at rest. It was
+a bloody day and a bloody deed."
+
+Instead of hiding herself, as Hector and Louis strongly advised the
+young Mohawk to do, she preferred remaining, as a scout, she said,
+under the cover of the bushes on the edge of the steep that overlooked
+the lake, to watch the movements of the Indians. She told Hector to be
+under no apprehension if they came to the hut; not to attempt to
+conceal themselves, but offer them food to eat and water to drink. "If
+they come to the house and find you away, they will take your stores
+and burn your roof, suspecting that you are afraid to meet them
+openly; but they will not harm you if you meet them with open hand and
+fearless brow: if they eat of your bread, they will not harm you; me
+they would kill by a cruel death--the war-knife is in their heart
+against the daughter of the brave."
+
+The boys thought Indiana's advice good, and they felt no fear for
+themselves, only for Catharine, whom they counselled to remain in the
+shanty with Wolfe.
+
+The Indians, intent only on the sport which they had come to enjoy,
+seemed in high glee, and apparently peaceably disposed; every night
+they returned to the camp on the north side. The boys could see their
+fires gleaming among the trees on the opposite shore; and now and
+then, in the stillness of the evening, their wild shouts of revelry
+would come faintly to their ears, borne by the breeze over the waters
+of the lake.
+
+The allusion that Indiana had made to her own history, though conveyed
+in broken and hardly intelligible language, had awakened feelings of
+deep interest for her in the breasts of her faithful friends. Many
+months after this she related to her wondering auditors the fearful
+story of the massacre of her kindred, which I will now relate, as I
+have raised the curiosity of my youthful readers.
+
+There had been for some time a jealous feeling existing between the
+chiefs of two principal tribes of the Ojebwas and the Mohawks, which
+like a smothered fire had burned in the heart of each without having
+burst into a decided blaze; for each strove to compass his ends and
+obtain the advantage over the other by covert means. The tribe of the
+Mohawks of which I now speak claimed the southern shores of the Rice
+Lake for their hunting-grounds, and certain islands and parts of the
+lake for fishing, while that of the Ojebwas considered themselves
+masters of the northern shores and certain rights of water besides.
+[Footnote: The facts of this narrative were gathered from the lips of
+the eldest son of a Rice Lake chief. I have preferred giving it in the
+present form, rather than as the story of the Indian girl. Simple as
+it is, it is matter of history.] Possibly it was about these rights
+that the quarrel originated; but if so, it was not openly avowed
+between the "Black Snake" (that was the totem borne by the Mohawk
+chief) and the "Bald Eagle" (the totem of the Ojebwa).
+
+These chiefs had each a son, and the Bald Eagle had also a daughter of
+great and rare beauty, called by her people the "Beam of the Morning."
+She was the admiration of Mohawks as well as Ojebwas, and many of the
+young men of both the tribes had sought her hand, but hitherto in
+vain. Among her numerous suitors, the son of the Black Snake seemed to
+be the most enamoured of her beauty; and it was probably with some
+intention of winning the favour of the young Ojebwa squaw for his son,
+that the Black Snake accepted the formal invitation of the Bald Eagle
+to come to his hunting-grounds during the rice-harvest, and shoot deer
+and ducks on the lake, and to ratify a truce which had been for some
+time set on foot between them. But while outwardly professing
+friendship and a desire for peace, inwardly the fire of hatred burned
+fiercely in the breast of the Black Snake against the Ojebwa chief and
+his only son, a young man of great promise, renowned among his tribe
+as a great hunter and warrior, but who had once offended the Mohawk
+chief by declining a matrimonial alliance with one of the daughters of
+a chief of inferior rank who was closely connected to him by marriage.
+This affront rankled in the heart of the Black Snake, though outwardly
+he affected to have forgiven and forgotten the slight that had been
+put upon his relative.
+
+The hunting had been carried on for some days very amicably, when one
+day the Bald Eagle was requested, with all due attention to Indian
+etiquette, to go to the wigwam of the Black Snake. On entering the
+lodge, he perceived the Mohawk strangely disordered: he rose from his
+mat, on which he had been sleeping, with a countenance fearfully
+distorted, his eyes glaring hideously, his whole frame convulsed and
+writhing as in fearful bodily anguish; and casting himself upon the
+ground he rolled and grovelled on the earth, uttering frightful yells
+and groans.
+
+The Bald Eagle was moved at the distressing state in which he found
+his guest, and asked the cause of his disorder, but this the other
+refused to tell. After some hours the fit appeared to subside, but the
+chief remained moody and silent. The following day the same scene was
+repeated; and on the third, when the fit seemed to have increased in
+bodily agony, with great apparent reluctance, wrung seemingly from him
+by the importunity of his host, he consented to reveal the cause,
+which was, that the Bad Spirit had told him that these bodily tortures
+could not cease till the only son of his friend, the Ojebwa chief, had
+been sacrificed to appease his anger, neither could peace long
+continue between the two nations until this deed had been done; and
+not only must the chief's son be slain, but his flesh must be served
+up at a feast at which the father must preside. The Black Snake
+affected the utmost horror and aversion at so bloody and unnatural a
+deed being committed to save his life and the happiness of his tribe,
+but the peace was to be ratified for ever if the sacrifice were
+made,--if not, war to the knife was to be ever between the Mohawks and
+Ojebwas.
+
+The Bald Eagle, seeing that his treacherous guest would make this an
+occasion of renewing a deadly warfare, for which possibly he was not
+at the time well prepared, assumed a stoical calmness, and replied,--
+
+"Be it so; great is the power of the Bad Spirit to cause evil to the
+tribes of the chiefs that rebel against his will. My son shall be
+sacrificed by my hand, that the evil one may be appeased, and that the
+Black Snake's body may have ease, and his people rest beside the fires
+of their lodges in peace."
+
+"The Bald Eagle has spoken like a chief with a large heart," was the
+specious response of the wily Mohawk, "moreover, the Good Spirit also
+appeared, and said, 'Let the Black Snake's son and the Bald Eagle's
+daughter become man and wife, that peace may be found to dwell among
+the lodges, and the war-hatchet be buried for ever.'"
+
+"The Beam of the Morning shall become the wife of the Young Pine," was
+the courteous answer; but stern revenge lay deep hidden beneath the
+unmoved brow and passionless lip.
+
+The fatal day arrived. The Bald Eagle, with unflinching hand and eye
+that dropped no human tear of sorrow for the son of his love, saw his
+son bound to the fatal post and pierced by the arrows of his own
+tribe. The fearful feast of human flesh was prepared, and the old
+chief, pale but unmoved, presided over the ceremonies. The war-dance
+was danced round the sacrifice, and all went off well, as if no such
+horrible rite had been enacted, but a fearful retribution was at hand.
+The Young Pine sought the tent of the Bald Eagle's daughter that
+evening, and was received with all due deference, as a son of so great
+a chief as the Black Snake merited. He was regarded now as a
+successful suitor; and, intoxicated with the beauty of the Beam of the
+Morning, he pressed her to allow the marriage to take place in a few
+days. The bride consented, and a day was named for the wedding feast
+to be celebrated; and, that due honour might be given to so great an
+event, invitations were sent out to the principal families of the
+Mohawk tribe, and these amounted to several hundreds of souls; while
+the young Ojebwa hunters were despatched up the river and to different
+parts of the country, avowedly to collect venison, beaver, and other
+delicacies, to regale their guests, but in reality to summon, by means
+of trusty scouts, a large war-party from the small lakes, to be in
+readiness to take part in the deadly revenge that was preparing for
+their enemies.
+
+Meantime the squaws had pitched the nuptial tent and prepared the
+bridal ornaments. A large wigwam, capable of containing all the
+expected guests, was then constructed, adorned with the thick branches
+of evergreens, so artfully contrived as to be capable of concealing
+the armed Ojebwas and their allies, who in due time were introduced
+beneath this leafy screen, armed with the murderous tomahawk and
+scalping-knife, with which to spring upon their defenceless and
+unsuspecting guests. According to the etiquette always observed upon
+such occasions, all deadly weapons were left outside the tent. The
+bridegroom had been conducted with songs and dancing to the tent of
+the bride. The guests, to the number of several hundred naked and
+painted warriors, were assembled. The feast was declared to be ready.
+A great iron pot or kettle occupied the centre of the tent. According
+to the custom of the Indians, the father of the bridegroom was invited
+to lift the most important dish from the pot, whilst the warriors
+commenced their war-dance around him. This dish was usually a bear's
+head, which was fastened to a string left for the purpose of raising
+it from the pot.
+
+"Let the Black Snake, the great chief of the Mohawks, draw up the head
+and set it on the table, that his people may eat and make merry, and
+that his wise heart may be glad," were the scornful words of the Bald
+Eagle.
+
+A yell of horror burst from the lips of the horror-stricken father as
+he lifted to view the fresh gory head of his only son, the _happy_
+bridegroom the lovely daughter of the Ojebwa chief.
+
+"Ha!" shouted the Bald Eagle, "is the great chief of the Mohawks a
+squaw, that his blood grows white and his heart trembles at the sight
+of his son, the bridegroom of the Beam of the Morning? The Bald Eagle
+gave neither sigh nor groan when he saw the arrows pierce the heart of
+his child. Come, brother, take the knife; taste the flesh and drink
+the blood of thy son. The Bald Eagle shrank not when you bade him
+partake of the feast that was prepared from his young warrior's body."
+
+The wretched father dashed himself upon the earth, while his cries and
+howlings rent the air. These cries were answered by the war-whoop of
+the ambushed Ojebwas, as they sprang to their feet and with deafening
+yells attacked the guests, who, panic-stricken, naked and defenceless,
+fell an easy prey to their infuriated enemies. Not one living foe
+escaped to tell the tale of that fearful marriage feast. A second
+Judith had the chief's daughter proved. It was her plighted hand that
+had severed the head of her unsuspecting bridegroom, to complete the
+fearful vengeance that had been devised in return for the merciless
+and horrible murder of her brother.
+
+Nor was the sacrifice yet finished; for with fearful cries the Indians
+seized upon the canoes of their enemies, and with the utmost speed,
+urged by unsatisfied revenge, hurried down the lake to an island where
+the women and children and such of the aged or young men as were not
+included among the wedding guests were encamped in unsuspecting
+security. Panic-stricken, the Mohawks offered no resistance, but fell
+like sheep appointed for the slaughter. The Ojebwas slew there the
+gray-head with the infant of days. But while the youths and old men
+tamely yielded to their enemies, there was one who, her spirit roused
+to fury by the murder of her father, armed herself with the war-club
+and knife, and boldly withstood the successful warriors. At the door
+of the tent of the slaughtered chief the Amazon defended her children.
+While the war lightning kindled in her dark eyes, she called aloud in
+scornful tones to her people to hide themselves in the tents of their
+women, who alone were braves, and would fight their battles. Fiercely
+she taunted the men; but they shrank from the unequal contest, and she
+alone was found to deal the death-blow upon the foe, till, overpowered
+with numbers, and pierced with frightful wounds, she fell singing her
+own death-song and raising the wail for the dead who lay around her.
+Night closed in, but the work of blood still continued. Lower down
+they found another encampment, and there also they slew all the
+inhabitants of the lodges. They then returned to the island, to gather
+together their dead and to collect the spoils of the tents. They were
+weary with the fatigue of the slaughter of that fearful day. The
+retribution had satisfied even their love of blood. And when they
+found, on returning to the spot where the heroine had stood at bay, a
+young solitary female sitting beside the corpse of that dauntless
+woman, her mother, they led her away, and did all that their savage
+nature could suggest to soften her anguish and dry her tears. They
+brought her to the tents of their women, clothed and fed her, and bade
+her be comforted; but her young heart burned within her, and she
+refused consolation. She could not forget the wrongs of her people:
+she was the only living creature left of the Mohawks on that island.
+The young girl was Indiana--the same whom Hector Maxwell had found,
+wounded and bound, and ready to perish with hunger and thirst, on Bare
+Hill.
+
+Brooding with revenge in her heart, the young girl told them that she
+had stolen into the tent of the Bald Eagle, and aimed a knife at his
+throat; but the fatal blow was arrested by one of the young men, who
+had watched her enter the old chief's tent. A council was called, and
+she was taken to Bare Hill, bound, and left in the sad state already
+described.
+
+It was with feelings of horror and terror that the Christian children
+listened to this fearful tale, and Indiana read in their averted eyes
+and pale faces the feelings with which the recital of the tale of
+blood had inspired them. And then it was, as they sat beneath the
+shade of the trees, in the soft, misty light of an Indian summer moon,
+that Catharine, with simple earnestness, taught her young disciple
+those heavenly lessons of mercy and forgiveness which her Redeemer had
+set forth by his life, his doctrines, and his death--telling her that
+if she, would see that Saviour's face in heaven, and dwell with him in
+joy and peace for ever, she must learn to pray for those dreadful men
+who had made her fatherless and motherless and her home a desolation;
+and that the fire of revenge must be quenched within her heart, and
+replaced by the spirit of love, or she could not become a child of God
+and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven. How hard were these
+conditions to the young heathen! how contrary to her nature, to all
+that she had been taught in the tents of her fathers, where revenge
+was virtue, and to take the scalp of an enemy a glorious thing!
+
+Yet when she contrasted the gentle, kind, and dove-like characters of
+her Christian friends with the fierce, bloody people of her tribe and
+of her Ojebwa enemies, she could not but own they were more worthy of
+love and admiration. Had they not found her a poor, miserable,
+trembling captive, unbound her, fed and cherished her, pouring the
+balm of consolation into her wounded heart, drawing her in bands of
+tenderest love to forsake those wild and fearful passions that warred
+in her soul, and bringing her to the feet of the Saviour, to become
+his meek and holy child--a lamb of his "extended fold"? [Footnote: The
+Indian who related this narrative to the author was a son of a Rice
+Lake chief, Mosang Pondash by name. He vouched for its truth as a
+historic fact remembered by his father, whose grandsire had been one
+of the actors in the massacre.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+
+"The horn of the hunter is heard on the hill"
+
+_Irish Song_
+
+While the Indians were actively pursuing their sports on the lake,
+shooting wildfowl, and hunting and fishing by torchlight, so exciting
+was the amusement of watching them that the two lads, Hector and
+Louis, quite forgot all sense of danger in the enjoyment of lying or
+sitting on the brow of the mount near the great ravine and looking at
+their proceedings. Once or twice the lads were near betraying
+themselves to the Indians by raising a shout of delight at some
+skilful manoeuvre that excited their unqualified admiration and
+applause.
+
+At night, when the canoes had all retired to the camp on the north
+shore, where the Indians assembled under the boughs of some venerable
+trees, and round the evening fires related the deeds of the preceding
+day, and all fear of detection had ceased for the time, they lighted
+up their own shanty fire, and cooked a good supper, and also prepared
+a sufficiency of food for the morrow. The Indians remained for a
+fortnight. At the end of that time Indiana, who was a watchful spy on
+their movements, told Hector and Louis that the camp was broken up,
+and the Indians had gone up the river, and would not return again for
+some weeks. The departure of the Indians was a matter of great
+rejoicing to Catharine, whose dread of these savages had greatly
+increased since she had been made acquainted with the fearful deeds
+which Indiana had described.
+
+Once, and only once during their stay, the Indians had passed within a
+short distance of their dwelling; but they were in full chase of a
+bear, which had been seen crossing the deep ravine near Mount Ararat,
+and were too intent upon their game to notice the shanty; for they
+never turned out of their path, and Catharine, who was alone at the
+time, drawing water from the spring, was so completely concealed by
+the high bank above her that she had quite escaped their notice.
+Fortunately, Indiana gave the two boys a signal to conceal themselves,
+where, effectually hidden among the thick, gray, mossy trunks of the
+cedars at the lake shore, they remained secure from molestation; while
+the Indian girl dropped noiselessly down among the tangled thicket of
+wild vines and brushwood, which she drew cautiously over her, and
+closed her eyes, lest, as she naively remarked, their glitter should
+be seen and betray her to her enemies.
+
+It was a moment of intense anxiety to our poor wanderers, whose
+terrors were more excited on behalf of the young Mohawk than for
+themselves, and they congratulated her on her escape with affectionate
+warmth.
+
+"Are my white brothers afraid to die?" was the young squaw's
+half-scornful reply. "Indiana is the daughter of a brave; she fears
+not to die."
+
+The latter end of September and the first week in October had been
+stormy and even cold. The rainy season, however, was now over. The
+nights were often illuminated by the aurora borealis, which might be
+seen forming an arch of soft and lovely brightness over the lake to
+the north and north-eastern portions of the horizon, or shooting
+upwards, in ever-varying shafts of greenish light, now hiding, now
+revealing the stars, which shone with softened radiance through the
+silvery veil that dimmed their beauty. Sometimes for many nights
+together the same appearance might be seen, and was usually the
+forerunner of frosty weather, though occasionally it was the precursor
+of cold winds and heavy rains.
+
+The Indian girl regarded it with superstitious feelings, but whether
+as an omen of good or evil she would not tell. On all matters
+connected with her religious notions she was shy and reserved, though
+occasionally she unconsciously revealed them. Thus the warnings of
+death or misfortunes were revealed to her by certain ominous sounds in
+the woods, the appearance of strange birds or animals, or the moanings
+of others. The screeching of the owl, the bleating of the doe, or
+barking of the fox, were evil auguries, while the flight of the eagle
+and the croaking of the raven were omens of good. She put faith in
+dreams, and would foretell good or evil fortune from them; she could
+read the morning and evening clouds, and knew from various appearances
+of the sky, or the coming or departing of certain birds or insects,
+changes in the atmosphere. Her ear was quick in distinguishing the
+changes in the voices of the birds or animals; she knew the times of
+their coming and going, and her eye was quick to see, as her ear to
+detect sounds. Her voice was soft, and low, and plaintive, and she
+delighted in imitating the little ballads or hymns that Catharine
+sang; though she knew nothing of their meaning, she would catch the
+tunes and sing the song with Catharine, touching the hearts of her
+delighted auditors by the melody and pathos of her voice.
+
+The season called Indian summer had now arrived. The air was soft and
+mild, almost oppressively warm; the sun looked red as though seen
+through the smoke-clouds of a populous city. A soft blue haze hung on
+the bosom of the glassy lake, which reflected on its waveless surface
+every passing shadow, and the gorgeous tints of its changing woods on
+shore and island. Sometimes the stillness of the air was relieved by a
+soft sighing wind, which rustled the dying foliage as it swept by.
+
+The Indian summer is the harvest of the Indian tribes. It is during
+this season that they hunt and shoot the wild-fowl that come in their
+annual flights to visit the waters of the American lakes and rivers;
+it is then that they gather in their rice, and prepare their winter
+stores of meat, and fish, and furs. The Indian girl knew the season
+they would resort to certain hunting-grounds. They were constant, and
+altered not their customs, as it was with their fathers, so it was
+with them.
+
+Louis had heard so much of the Otonabee river from Indiana that he was
+impatient to go and explore the entrance and the shores of the lake on
+that side, which hitherto they had not ventured to do for fear of
+being surprised by the Indians. "Some fine day," said Louis, "we will
+go out in the canoe, explore the distant islands, and go up the river
+a little way."
+
+Hector advised visiting all the islands by turns, beginning at the
+little islet which looks in the distance like a boat in full sail, it
+is level with the water, and has only three or four trees upon it. The
+name they had given to it was "Ship Island." The Indians have some
+name for it which I have forgotten, but it means, I have been told,
+"Witch Island." Hector's plan met with general approbation, and they
+resolved to take provisions with them for several days, and visit the
+islands and go up the river, passing the night under the shelter of
+the thick trees on the shore wherever they found a pleasant
+halting-place.
+
+The weather was mild and warm, the lake was as clear and calm as a
+mirror, and in joyous mood our little party embarked and paddled up
+the lake, first to Ship Island; but this did not detain them many
+minutes. They then went to Grape Island, which they so named from the
+abundance of wild vines, now rich with purple clusters of the ripe
+grapes--tart, but still not to be despised by our young adventurers,
+and they brought away a large birch basket heaped up with the fruit.
+"Ah, if we had but a good cake of maple sugar now, to preserve our
+grapes with, and make such grape jelly as my mother makes!" said
+Louis.
+
+"If we find out a sugar-bush we will manage to make plenty of sugar,"
+said Catharine; "there are maples not two hundred yards from the
+shanty, near the side of the steep bank to the east. You remember the
+pleasant spot, which we named the Happy Valley, where the bright creek
+runs dancing along so merrily, below the pine-ridge?"
+
+"Oh yes; the same that winds along near the foot of Bare Hill, where
+the water-cresses grow."
+
+"Yes, where I gathered the milk-weed the other day."
+
+"What a beautiful pasture-field that will make when it is cleared!"
+said Hector thoughtfully.
+
+"Hector is always planning about fields, and clearing great farms,"
+said Louis, laughing. "We shall see Hec a great man one of these days;
+I think he has in his own mind brushed, and burned, and logged up all
+the fine flats and table-land on the plains before now--ay, and
+cropped it all with wheat, and pease, and Indian corn."
+
+"We will have a clearing and a nice field of corn next year, if we
+live," replied Hector; "that corn that we found in the canoe will be a
+treasure."
+
+"Yes; and the corn-cob you got on Bare Hill," said Catharine. "How
+lucky we have been! We shall be so happy when we see our little field
+of corn flourishing round the shanty! It was a good thing, Hec, that
+you went to the Indian camp that day, though both Louis and I were
+very miserable while you were absent; but, you see, God must have
+directed you, that the life of this poor girl might be saved, to be a
+comfort to us. Everything has prospered well with us since she came to
+us. Perhaps it is because we try to make a Christian of her, and so
+God blesses all our endeavours."
+
+"We are told," said Hector, "that there is joy with the angels of God
+over one sinner that repenteth: doubtless, it is a joyful thing when
+the heathen, that knew not the name of God, are taught to glorify his
+holy name."
+
+Indiana, while exploring, had captured a porcupine. She declared that
+she should have plenty of quills for edging baskets and moccasins;
+besides, she said, the meat was white and good to eat. Hector looked
+with a suspicious eye upon the little animal, doubting the propriety
+of eating its flesh, though he had learned to eat musk-rats, and
+consider them good meat, baked in Louis's Indian oven, or roasted on a
+forked stick before the fire. The Indian porcupine is a small animal,
+not a very great deal larger than the common British hedgehog; the
+quills, however, are longer and stronger, and varied with alternate
+clouded marks of pure white and dark brownish-gray; they are minutely
+barbed, so that if one enters the flesh it is with difficulty
+extracted, but will work through of itself in an opposite direction,
+and can then be easily pulled out. Dogs and cattle often suffer great
+inconvenience from getting their muzzles filled with the quills of the
+porcupine, the former when worrying the poor little animal, and the
+latter by accidentally meeting a dead one among the herbage; great
+inflammation will sometimes attend the extraction. Indians often lose
+valuable hounds from this cause. Besides porcupines, Indiana told her
+companions, there were some fine butter-nut trees (_Juglans cinerea_)
+on the island, and they could collect a bagful of nuts in a very short
+time. This was good news, for the butter-nut is sweet and pleasant,
+almost equal to the walnut, of which it is a species.
+
+The day was passed pleasantly enough in collecting nuts and grapes;
+but as this island did not afford any good cleared spot for passing
+the night, and moreover, was tenanted by black snakes, several of
+which made their appearance among the stones near the edge of the
+water, they agreed by common counsel to go to Long Island, where
+Indiana said there was an old log-house, the walls of which were still
+standing, and where there was dry moss in plenty which would make them
+a comfortable bed for the night. This old log-house, she said, had
+been built, she had heard the Indians say, by a French Canadian
+trapper, who used to visit the lake some years ago. He was on friendly
+terms with the chiefs, who allowed him many privileges, and he bought
+their furs, and took them down the lake, through the river Trent, to
+some station-house on the great lake. They found they should have time
+enough to land and deposit their nuts and grapes and paddle to Long
+Island before sunset. Upon the western part of this fine island they
+had several times landed and passed some hours, exploring its shores;
+but Indiana told them that to reach the old log-house they must enter
+the low swampy bay to the east, at an opening which she called Indian
+Cove. To do this required some skill in the management of the canoe,
+which was rather overloaded for so light a vessel, and the trees grew
+so close and thick that they had some difficulty in pushing their way
+through them without injuring its frail sides. These trees or bushes
+were chiefly black alder (_Alnus incuna_), high-bush cranberries
+(_Viburnum opulus_), dogwood, willows, as they proceeded further,
+there was ground of a more solid nature, with cedar, poplar, swamp
+oak, and soft maple, silver birch, and wild cherries. Long strings of
+silver-gray tree-moss hung dangling over their heads, the bark and
+roots of the birch and cedars were covered with a luxuriant growth of
+green moss, but there was a dampness and closeness in this place that
+made it far from wholesome. The little band of voyagers were not sorry
+when the water became too shallow to admit of the canoe making its way
+through the swampy channel, and they landed on the bank of a small
+circular pond, as round as a ring, and nearly surrounded by tall trees
+hoary with moss and lichens; large water-lilies floated on the surface
+of this miniature lake; the brilliant red berries of the high-bush
+cranberry and the purple clusters of grapes festooned the trees. "A
+famous breeding-place this must be for ducks," observed Louis.
+
+"And for flowers," said Catharine, "and for grapes and cranberries.
+There is always some beauty or some usefulness to be found, however
+lonely the spot."
+
+"A fine place for musk-rats, and minks, and fishes," said Hector,
+looking round. "The old trapper knew what he was about when he made
+his lodge near this pond. And there, sure enough, is the log-hut, and
+not so bad a one either;" and scrambling up the bank he entered the
+deserted little tenement, well pleased to find it in tolerable repair.
+There were the ashes on the stone hearth, just as it had been left
+years back by the old trapper; some rough-hewn shelves, a rude
+bedstead of cedar poles still occupied a corner of the little
+dwelling; heaps of old dry moss and grass lay upon the ground; and the
+little squaw pointed with one of her silent laughs to a collection of
+broken egg-shells, where some wild-duck had sat and hatched her downy
+brood among the soft materials which she had found and appropriated to
+her own purpose. The only things pertaining to the former possessor of
+the log-hut were an old, rusty, battered tin pannikin, now, alas!
+unfit for holding water; a bit of a broken earthen whisky jar; a rusty
+nail, which Louis pocketed, or rather pouched--for he had substituted
+a fine pouch of deer-skin for his worn-out pocket; and a fishing-line
+of good stout cord, which was wound on a splinter of red cedar, and
+carefully stuck between one of the rafters and the roof of the shanty.
+A rusty but efficient hook was attached to the line, and Louis, who
+was the finder, was quite overjoyed at his good fortune in making so
+valuable an addition to his fishing tackle. Hector got only an odd
+worn-out moccasin, which he threw into the little pond in disdain:
+while Catharine declared she would keep the old tin pot as a relic,
+and carefully deposited it in the canoe.
+
+As they made their way into the interior of the island, they found
+that there were a great many fine sugar maples, which had been tapped
+by some one--as the boys thought, by the old trapper, but Indiana, on
+examining the incisions in the trees, and the remnants of birch-bark
+vessels that lay moldering on the earth below them, declared them to
+have been the work of her own people, and long and sadly did the young
+girl look upon these simple memorials of a race of whom she was the
+last living remnant. The young girl stood there in melancholy mood, a
+solitary, isolated being, with no kindred tie upon the earth to make
+life dear to her; a stranger in the land of her fathers, associating
+with those whose ways were not her ways, nor their thoughts her
+thoughts, whose language was scarcely known to her, whose God was not
+the god of her fathers. Yet the dark eyes of the Indian girl were not
+dimmed with tears as she thought of these things, she had learned of
+her people to suffer and be still.
+
+Silent and patient she stood, with her melancholy gaze bent on the
+earth, when she felt the gentle hand of Catharine laid upon her arm,
+and then kindly and lovingly passed round her neck, as she
+whispered,--
+
+"Indiana, I will be to you as a sister, and will love you and cherish
+you, because you are an orphan girl and alone in the world; but God
+loves you, and will make you happy. He is a Father to the fatherless,
+and the Friend of the destitute and them that have no helper."
+
+The words of kindness and love need no interpretation; no
+book-learning is necessary to make them understood. The young, the
+old, the deaf, the dumb, the blind can read this universal language;
+its very silence is often more eloquent than words,--the gentle
+pressure of the hand, the half-echoed sigh, the look of sympathy will
+penetrate to the very heart, and unlock its hidden stores of human
+tenderness and love. The rock is smitten and the waters gush forth, a
+bright and living stream, to refresh and fertilize the thirsty soul.
+
+The heart of the poor mourner was touched; she bowed down her head
+upon the hand that held her so kindly in its sisterly grasp, and wept
+soft, sweet, human tears full of grateful love, while she whispered,
+in her own low, plaintive voice, "My white sister, I kiss you in my
+heart; I will love the God of my white brothers, and be his child."
+
+The two friends now busied themselves in preparing the evening meal:
+they found Louis and Hector had lighted up a charming blaze on the
+desolate hearth. A few branches of cedar, twisted together by
+Catharine, made a serviceable broom, with which she swept the floor,
+giving to the deserted dwelling a neat and comfortable aspect; some
+big stones were quickly rolled in, and made to answer for seats in the
+chimney-corner. The new-found fishing-line was soon put into
+requisition by Louis, and with very little delay a fine dish of black
+bass, broiled on the embers, was added to their store of dried venison
+and roasted bread-roots, which they found in abundance on a low spot
+on the island. Grapes and butter-nuts, which Hector cracked with a
+stone by way of a nutcracker, finished their sylvan meal. The boys
+then stretched themselves to sleep on the ground, with their feet,
+Indian fashion, to the fire; while Catharine and Indiana occupied the
+mossy couch which they had newly spread with fragrant cedar and
+hemlock boughs.
+
+The next island that claimed their attention was Sugar-Maple Island, a
+fine, thickly-wooded island, rising with steep, rocky banks from the
+water. A beautiful object, but too densely wooded to admit of our
+party penetrating beyond a few yards of its shores.
+
+The next island they named the Beaver, [Footnote: Commonly called
+Sheep Island, from some person having pastured a few sheep upon it
+some few years ago. I have taken the liberty of preserving the name,
+to which it bears an obvious resemblance, the nose of the Beaver lies
+towards the west, the tail to the east.] from its resemblance in shape
+to that animal. A fine, high, oval island beyond this they named Black
+Island, [Footnote: Black Island, the sixth from the head of the lake;
+an oval island, remarkable for its evergreens.] from its dark
+evergreens. The next was that which seemed most to excite the interest
+of their Indian guide, although but a small stony island, scantily
+clothed with trees, lower down the lake. This place she called Spoke
+Island, which means in the Indian tongue "a place for the dead." It is
+sometimes called Spirit Island; and here, in times past, the Indian
+people used to bury their dead. The island is now often the resort of
+parties of pleasure, who, from its being grassy and open, find it more
+available than those which are densely wooded. The young Mohawk
+regarded it with feelings of superstitious awe, and would not suffer
+Hector to land the canoe on its rocky shore.
+
+"It is a place of spirits," she said; "the ghosts of my fathers will
+be angry if we go there." Even her young companions felt that they
+were upon sacred ground, and gazed with silent reverence upon the
+burial isle.
+
+Strongly imbued with a love of the marvellous, which they had derived
+from their Highland origin, Indiana's respect for the spirits of her
+ancestors was regarded as most natural, and in silence, as if fearing
+to disturb the solemnity of the spot, they resumed their paddles, and
+after a while reached the mouth of the river Otonabee, which was
+divided into two separate channels by a long, low point of swampy
+land, covered with stunted, mossy bushes and trees, rushes, driftwood,
+and aquatic plants. Indiana told them this river flowed from the
+north, and that it was many days' journey up to the lakes. To
+illustrate its course, she drew with her paddle a long line, with
+sundry curves and broader spaces, some longer, some smaller, with bays
+and inlets, which she gave them to understand were the chain of lakes
+that she spoke of. There were beautiful hunting-grounds on the borders
+of these lakes, and many fine waterfalls and rocky islands; she had
+been taken up to these waters during the time of her captivity. The
+Ojebwas, she said, were a branch of the great Chippewa nation, who
+owned much land and great waters thereabouts.
+
+Compared with the creeks and streams that they had seen hitherto, the
+Otonabee appeared a majestic river, and an object of great admiration
+and curiosity, for it seemed to them as if it were the highroad
+leading up to an unknown, far-off land,--a land of dark, mysterious,
+impenetrable forests,--flowing on, flowing on, in lonely majesty,
+reflecting on its tranquil bosom the blue sky, the dark pines and gray
+cedars, the pure ivory-white water-lily, and every passing shadow of
+bird or leaf that flitted across its surface, so quiet was the onward
+flow of its waters.
+
+A few brilliant leaves yet clung to the soft maples and crimson-tinted
+oaks, but the glory of the forest had departed; the silent fall of
+many a sere and yellow leaf told of the death of summer and of
+winter's coming reign. Yet the air was wrapped in a deceitful
+stillness; no breath of wind moved the trees or dimpled the water.
+Bright wreaths of scarlet berries and wild grapes hung in festoons
+among the faded foliage. The silence of the forest was unbroken, save
+by the quick tapping of the little midland woodpecker or the shrill
+scream of the blue jay, the whirring sound of the large white-and-gray
+duck (called by the frequenters of these lonely waters the
+whistlewing) as its wings swept the waters in its flight, or the light
+dripping of the paddle,--so still, so quiet was the scene.
+
+As the day was now far advanced, the Indian girl advised them either
+to encamp for the night on the river-bank or to use all speed in
+returning. She seemed to view the aspect of the heavens with some
+anxiety. Vast volumes of light, copper-tinted clouds were rising; the
+sun, seen through its hazy veil, looked red and dim; and a hot, sultry
+air, unrelieved by a breath of refreshing wind, oppressed our young
+voyagers. And though the same coppery clouds and red sun had been seen
+for several successive days, a sort of instinctive feeling prompted
+the desire in all to return, and, after a few minutes' rest and
+refreshment, they turned their little bark towards the lake; and it
+was well that they did so. By the time they had reached the middle of
+the lake, the stillness of the air was rapidly changing; the
+rose-tinted clouds, that had lain so long piled upon each other in
+mountainous ridges, began to move upwards, at first slowly, then with
+rapidly accelerated motion. There was a hollow moaning in the
+pine-tops; and by fits a gusty breeze swept the surface of the water,
+raising it into rough, short, white-crested ridges.
+
+These signs were pointed out by Indiana as the harbingers of a rising
+hurricane; and now a swift spark of light, like a falling star,
+glanced on the water, as if there to quench its fiery light. Again the
+Indian girl raised her dark hand and pointed to the rolling
+storm-clouds, to the crested waters and the moving pine-tops; then to
+the head of the Beaver Island,--it was the one nearest to them. With
+an arm of energy she wielded the paddle, with an eye of fire she
+directed the course of their little vessel; for well she knew their
+danger and the need for straining every nerve to reach the nearest
+point of land. Low muttering peals of thunder were now heard; the wind
+was rising with electric speed. Away flew the light bark, with the
+swiftness of a bird, over the water; the tempest was above, around,
+and beneath. The hollow crash of the forest trees as they bowed to the
+earth could be heard sullenly sounding from shore to shore. And now
+the Indian girl, flinging back her black streaming hair from her brow,
+knelt at the head of the canoe and with renewed vigour plied the
+paddle. The waters, lashed into a state of turbulence by the violence
+of the storm, lifted the canoe up and down; but no word was spoken;
+they each felt the greatness of the peril, but they also knew that
+they were in the hands of Him who can say to the tempest-tossed waves,
+"Peace, be still," and they obey him.
+
+Every effort was made to gain the nearest island; to reach the
+mainland was impossible, for the rain poured down a blinding deluge.
+It was with difficulty the little craft was kept afloat by baling out
+the water; to do this, Louis was fain to use his cap, and Catharine
+assisted with the old tin pot which she had fortunately brought from
+the trapper's shanty. The tempest was at its height when they reached
+the nearest point of the Beaver, and joyful was the grating sound of
+the canoe as it was vigorously pushed up on the shingly beach, beneath
+the friendly shelter of the overhanging trees, where, perfectly
+exhausted by the exertions they had made, dripping with rain and
+overpowered by the terrors of the storm, they threw themselves on the
+ground, and in safety watched its progress, thankful for an escape
+from such imminent peril.
+
+Thus ended the Indian summer, so deceitful in its calmness and its
+beauty. The next day saw the ground white with snow, and hardened into
+stone by a premature frost. Our poor voyagers were not long in
+quitting the shelter of the Beaver Island, and betaking themselves
+once more to their ark of refuge, the log-house on Mount Ararat.
+
+The winter that year set in with unusual severity some weeks sooner
+than usual, so that from the beginning of November to the middle of
+April the snow never entirely left the ground. The lake was soon
+covered with ice, and by the month of December it was one compact,
+solid sheet from shore to shore.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+
+  "Scared by the red and noisy light."
+
+  --COLERIDGE.
+
+Hector and Louis had now little employment, except chopping fire-wood,
+which was no very arduous task for two stout, healthy lads used from
+childhood to handling the axe. Trapping, and hunting, and snaring
+hares were occupations which they pursued more for the excitement and
+exercise than from hunger, as they had laid by abundance of dried
+venison, fish, and birds, besides a plentiful store of rice. They now
+visited those trees that they had marked in the summer, where they had
+noticed the bees hiving, and cut them down. In one they got more than
+a pailful of rich honeycomb, and others yielded some more, some less;
+this afforded them a delicious addition to their boiled rice and dried
+acid fruits. They might have melted the wax and burned candles of it;
+but this was a refinement of luxury that never once occurred to our
+young housekeepers: the dry pineknots that are found in the woods are
+the settlers' candles. Catharine made some very good vinegar with the
+refuse of the honey and combs, by pouring water on it, and leaving it
+to ferment in a warm nook of the chimney, in one of the birch-bark
+vessels; and this was an excellent substitute for salt as a
+seasoning--to the fresh meat and fish. Like the Indians, they were now
+reconciled to the want of this seasonable article.
+
+Indiana seemed to enjoy the cold weather. The lake, though locked up
+to every one else, was open to her: with the aid of the tomahawk she
+patiently made an opening in the ice, and over this she built a little
+shelter of pine boughs stuck into the ice. Armed with a sharp spear
+carved out of hardened wood, she would lie upon the ice, and patiently
+await the rising of some large fish to the air-hole, when dexterously
+plunging the spear into the unwary creature, she dragged it to the
+surface. Many a noble fish did the young squaw bring home, and cast at
+the feet of him whom she had tacitly elected as her lord and master:
+to him she offered the voluntary service of a faithful and devoted
+servant--I might almost have said, slave.
+
+During the middle of December there were some days of such intense
+cold that even our young Crusoes, hardy as they were, preferred the
+blazing log-fire and warm ingle-nook to the frozen lake and cutting
+north-west wind which blew the loose snow in blinding drifts over its
+bleak, unsheltered surface. Clad in the warm tunic and petticoat of
+Indian blanket, with fur-lined moccasins, Catharine and her Indian
+friend felt little cold excepting to the face when they went abroad,
+unless the wind was high, and then experience taught them to keep at
+home. And these cold gloomy days they employed in many useful works.
+Indiana had succeeded in dyeing the quills of the porcupine that she
+had captured on Grape Island; with these she worked a pair of
+beautiful moccasins and an arrow-case for Hector, besides making a
+sheath for Louis's _couteau de chasse_, of which the young hunter
+was very proud, bestowing great praise on the workmanship.
+
+Indiana appeared to be deeply engrossed with some work that she was
+engaged in, but preserved a provoking degree of mystery about it, to
+the no small annoyance of Louis, who, among his other traits of
+character, was remarkably inquisitive, wanting to know the why and
+wherefore of everything he saw.
+
+Indiana first prepared a frame of some tough wood,--it might be the
+inner bark of the oak, or elm, or hickory; this was pointed at either
+end, and wide in the middle--not very much unlike the form of some
+broad, flat fish. Over this she wove an open network of narrow thongs
+of deer-hide, wetted to make it more pliable, and securely fastened to
+the frame: when dry it became quite tight, and resembled a sort of
+coarse bamboo-work, such as you see on cane-bottomed chairs and sofas.
+
+"And now, Indiana, tell us what sort of fish you are going to catch in
+your ingenious little net," said Louis, who had watched her
+proceedings with great interest. The girl shook her head, and laughed
+till she showed all her white teeth, but quietly proceeded to commence
+a second frame like the first.
+
+Louis put it on his head. No; it could not be meant to be worn there,
+that was plain. He turned it round and round. It must be intended for
+some kind of bird-trap; yes, that must be it, and he cast an inquiring
+glance at Indiana. She blushed, shook her head, and gave another of
+her silent laughs.
+
+"Some game like battledoor and shuttle-cock,"--and snatching up a
+light bass-wood chip, he began tossing the chip up and catching it on
+the netted frame. The little squaw was highly amused, but rapidly went
+on with her work. Louis was now almost angry at the perverse little
+savage persevering in keeping him in suspense. She would not tell him
+till, the other was done:--then there were to be a pair of these
+curious articles!--and he was forced at last to sit quietly down to
+watch the proceeding of the work. It was night before the two were
+completed and furnished with straps and loops. When the last stroke
+was put to them, the Indian girl knelt down at Hector's feet, and
+binding them on, pointed to them with a joyous laugh, and said,
+"Snow-shoe--for walk on snow--good!"
+
+The boys had heard of snow-shoes, but had never seen them, and now
+seemed to understand little of the benefit to be derived from the use
+of them. The young Mohawk quickly transferred the snow-shoes to her
+own feet, and soon proved to them that the broad surface prevented
+those who wore them from sinking into the deep snow.--After many
+trials, Hector began to acknowledge the advantage of walking with the
+snow-shoes, especially on the frozen snow on the ice-covered lake.
+Indiana was well pleased with the approbation her manufactures met
+with, and very soon manufactured for "Nee-chee," as they all now
+called Louis, a similar present. As to Catharine, she declared the
+snow-shoes made her ankles ache, and that she preferred the moccasins
+that her cousin Louis made for her.
+
+During the long bright days of February, they made several excursions
+on the lake, and likewise explored some of the high hills to the
+eastward. On this ridge there were few large trees; but it was thickly
+clothed with scrub-oaks, slender poplars, and here and there fine
+pines, and picturesque free-growing oaks of considerable size and
+great age--patriarchs, they might be termed, among the forest growth.
+Over this romantic range of hill and dale, free as the air they
+breathed, roamed many a gallant herd of deer, unmolested unless during
+certain seasons when the Indians came to hunt over these hills.
+Surprised at the different growth of the oaks on this side the plains,
+Hector could not help expressing his astonishment to Indiana, who told
+him that it was caused by the custom that her people had had from time
+immemorial of setting fire to the bushes in the early part of spring.
+This practice, she said, promoted the growth of the deer-grass, made
+good cover for the deer themselves, and effectually prevented the
+increase of the large timbers, giving a singular aspect to the high
+ridge of hills when contrasted with the more wooded portions to the
+westward. From the lake these eastern hills look verdant, and as if
+covered with tall green fern. In the month of October a rich rosy tint
+is cast upon the leaves of the scrub-oaks by the autumnal frosts, and
+they present a glowing unvaried crimson of the most glorious hue, only
+variegated in spots by a dark feathery evergreen, or a patch of light
+waving poplars turned by the same wizard's wand to golden yellow.
+
+There were many lovely spots,--lofty rounded hills, and deep shady
+dells, with extended table-land, and fine lake views; but, on the
+whole, our young folks preferred the oak openings and the beautiful
+wooded glens of the western side, where they had fixed their home.
+
+There was one amusement they used greatly to enjoy during the cold
+bright days and moonlight nights of midwinter. This was gliding down
+the frozen snow on the steep side of the dell near the spring, seated
+on small hand-sleighs, which carried them down with great velocity.
+Wrapped in their warm furs, with caps fastened closely over their
+ears, what cared they for the cold? Warm and glowing from head to
+foot, with cheeks brightened by delightful exercise, they would remain
+for hours enjoying the amusement of the snow-slide; the bright frost
+gemming the ground with myriads of diamonds, sparkling in their hair,
+or whitening it till it rivalled the snow beneath their feet. Then,
+when tired out with the exercise, they returned to the shanty, stirred
+up a blazing fire, till the smoked rafters glowed in the red light;
+spread their simple fare of stewed rice sweetened with honey, or
+savoury soup of hare or other game; and then, when warmed and fed,
+they kneeled together, side by side, and offered up a prayer of
+gratitude to their Maker, and besought his care over them during the
+dark and silent hours of night.
+
+Had these young people been idle in their habits and desponding in
+their tempers, they must have perished with cold and hunger, instead
+of enjoying many necessaries and eyen some little luxuries in their
+lonely forest home. Fortunately they had been brought up in the early
+practice of every sort of usefulness, to endure every privation with
+cheerful fortitude; not indeed quietly to sit down and wait for better
+times, but vigorously to create those better times by every possible
+exertion that could be brought into action to assist and ameliorate
+their condition.
+
+To be up and doing is the maxim of a Canadian; and it is this that
+nerves his arm to do and bear. The Canadian settler, following in the
+steps of the old Americans, learns to supply all his wants by the
+exercise of his own energy. He brings up his family to rely upon their
+own resources, instead of depending upon his neighbours.
+
+The children of the modern emigrant, though enjoying a higher degree
+of civilization and intelligence, arising from a liberal education,
+might not have fared so well under similar circumstances as did our
+Canadian Crusoes, because, unused to battle with the hardships
+incidental to a life of such privation as they had known, they could
+not have brought so much experience, or courage, or ingenuity to their
+aid. It requires courage to yield to circumstances, as well as to
+overcome them.
+
+Many little useful additions to the interior of their dwelling were
+made by Hector and Louis during the long winter. They made a smoother
+and better table than the first rough one that they put together. They
+also made a rough partition of split cedars, to form a distinct and
+separate sleeping-room for the two girls; but as this division greatly
+circumscribed their sitting and cooking apartment, they resolved, as
+soon as the spring came, to cut and draw in logs for putting up a
+better and larger room to be used as a summer parlour. Indiana and
+Louis made a complete set of wooden trenchers out of butter-nut, a
+fine hard wood of excellent grain, and less liable to warp or crack
+than many others.
+
+Louis's skill as a carpenter was much greater than that of his cousin.
+He not only possessed more judgment, and was more handy, but he had a
+certain taste and neatness in finishing his work, however rough his
+materials and rude his tools. He inherited some of that skill in
+mechanism for which the French have always been remarked. With his
+knife and a nail he would carve a plum-stone into a miniature basket,
+with handle across it, all delicately wrought with flowers and
+checker-work. The shell of a butter-nut would be transformed into a
+boat, with thwarts, and seats, and rudder, with sails of basswood or
+birch-bark. Combs he could cut out of wood or bone, so that Catharine
+could dress her hair or confine it in braids or bands at will. This
+was a source of great comfort to her; and Louis was always pleased
+when he could in any way contribute to his cousin's happiness. These
+little arts Louis had been taught by his father. Indeed, the great
+distance that their little settlement was from any town or village had
+necessarily forced their families to depend on their own ingenuity and
+invention to supply many of their wants. Once or twice a year they saw
+a trading fur-merchant, as I before observed; and those were glorious
+days for Hector and Louis, who were always on the alert to render the
+strangers any service in their power, as by that means they sometimes
+received little gifts from them, and gleaned up valuable information
+as to their craft as hunters and trappers. And then there were
+wonderful tales of marvellous feats and hair-breadth escapes to listen
+to, as they sat with eager looks and open ears round the blazing
+log-fire in the old log-house. Now they would in their turns have
+tales to tell of strange adventures, and all that had befallen them
+since the first day of their wanderings on the Rice Lake Plains.
+
+The long winter passed away unmarked by any very stirring event. The
+Indians had revisited the hunting-grounds; but they confined
+themselves chiefly to the eastern side of the Plains, the lake and the
+islands, and did not come near their dwelling to molest them. The
+latter end of the month of March presented fine sugar-making weather;
+and as they had the use of the big iron pot, they resolved to make
+maple sugar and some molasses. Long Island was decided upon as the
+most eligible place. It had the advantage over Maple Island of having
+a shanty ready built for a shelter during the time they might see fit
+to remain, and a good boiling-place, which would be a comfort to the
+girls, as they need not be exposed to the weather during the process
+of sugaring. The two boys soon cut down some small pines and
+bass-woods, which they hewed out into sugar-troughs Indiana
+manufactured some rough pails of birch-bark. The first favourable day
+for the work they loaded up a hand-sleigh with their vessels, and
+marched forth over the ice to the island, and tapped the trees they
+thought would yield sap for their purpose. And many pleasant days they
+passed during the sugar-making season.
+
+They did not leave the sugar-bush for good till the commencement of
+April, when the sun and wind beginning to unlock the springs that fed
+the lake, and to act upon its surface, taught them that it would not
+be prudent to remain longer on the island. The loud, booming sounds
+that were now frequently heard of the pent-up air beneath striving to
+break forth from its icy prison were warnings not to be neglected.
+Openings began to appear, especially at the entrance of the river and
+between the islands, and opposite to some of the larger creeks blue
+streams, that attracted the water-fowl, ducks, and wild geese, which
+came, guided by that instinct which never errs, from their
+abiding-places in far-off lands. Indiana knew the signs of the wild
+birds' coming and going with a certainty that seemed almost marvellous
+to her simple-minded companions.
+
+How delightful were the first indications of the coming spring! How
+joyously our young Crusoes heard the first tapping of the red-headed
+woodpecker! The low, sweet, warbling note of the early song-sparrow,
+and twittering chirp of the snow-bird, or that neat, Quakerly-looking
+bird that comes to cheer us with the news of sunny days and green
+buds; the low, tender, whispering note of the chiccadee, flitting
+among the pines or in the thick branches of the shore-side trees; the
+chattering note of the little, striped chitmunk, as it pursued its
+fellows over the fallen trees; and the hollow sound of the male
+partridge, heavily striking its wings against his sides to attract the
+notice of the female birds, were among the early spring melodies. For
+such they seemed to our forest dwellers, for they told them
+
+  "That winter, cold winter, was past,
+   And spring, lovely spring, was approaching at last."
+
+They watched for the first song of the robin, [Footnote: _Turdus
+migratorius_, or American robin.] and the full melody of the red
+wood-thrush; [Footnote: _Turdus melodus_, or wood-thrush.] the rushing
+sound of the passenger pigeons, as flocks of these birds darted above
+their heads, sometimes pausing to rest on the dry limb of some
+withered oak, or darting down to feed upon the scarlet berries of the
+spicy winter-green, the acorns that still lay upon the now uncovered
+ground, or the berries of hawthorn and dogwood that still hung on the
+bare bushes. The pines were now putting on their rich, mossy, green
+spring dresses; the skies were deep blue; Nature, weary of her long
+state of inaction, seemed waking into life and light.
+
+On the Plains the snow soon disappears, for the sun and air have
+access to the earth much easier than in the close, dense forest.
+Hector and Louis were soon able to move about with axe in hand, to cut
+the logs for the addition to their house they proposed making. They
+also set to work as soon as the frost was out of the ground to prepare
+their little field for the Indian corn. This kept them quite busy.
+Catharine attended to the house; and Indiana went out fishing and
+hunting, bringing in plenty of small game and fish every day. After
+they had piled and burned up the loose boughs and trunks that
+encumbered the space they had marked out, they proceeded to enclose it
+with a brush fence. This was done by felling the trees that stood in
+the line of the field, and letting them fall so as to form the bottom
+log of the fence, which they then made of sufficient height by piling
+up arms of trees and brushwood. Perhaps in this matter they were too
+particular, as there was no fear of "breachy cattle," or any cattle,
+intruding on the crop; but Hector maintained that deer and bears were
+as much to be guarded against as oxen and cows.
+
+The little enclosure was made secure from any such depredators, and
+was as clean as hands could make it. The two cousins sat on a log,
+contentedly surveying their work, and talking of the time when the
+grain was to be put in. It was about the beginning of the second week
+in May, as near as they could guess from the bursting of the forest
+buds and the blooming of such of the flowers as they were acquainted
+with. Hector's eyes had followed the flight of a large eagle that now,
+turning from the lake, soared away majestically toward the east or Oak
+Hills. But soon his eye was attracted to another object. The loftiest
+part of the ridge was enveloped in smoke. At first he thought it must
+be some mist-wreath hovering over its brow; but soon the dense,
+rolling clouds rapidly spread on each side, and he felt certain that
+it was from fire, and nothing but fire, that those dark volumes arose.
+
+"Louis, look yonder! the hills to the east are on fire!"
+
+"On fire, Hector? you are dreaming!"
+
+"Nay, but look there!"
+
+The hills were now shrouded in one dense, rolling cloud. It moved on
+with fearful rapidity down the shrubby side of the hill, supplied by
+the dry, withered foliage and deer-grass, which was like stubble to
+the flames.
+
+"It is two miles off, or more," said Louis; "and the creek will stop
+its progress long before it comes near us, and the swamp there beyond
+Bare Hill."
+
+"The cedars are as dry as tinder; and as to the creek, it is so narrow
+a burning tree falling across would convey the fire to this side;
+besides, when the wind rises, as it always does when the bush is on
+fire, you know how far the burning leaves will fly. Do you remember
+when the forest was on fire last spring how long it continued to burn
+and how fiercely it raged? It was lighted by the ashes of your
+father's pipe when he was out in the new fallow. The leaves were dry,
+and kindled, and before night the woods were burning for miles."
+
+"It was a grand spectacle, those pine-hills, when the fire got in
+among them," said Louis. "See! see how fast the fires kindle! That
+must be some fallen pine that they have got hold of. Now, look at the
+lighting up of that hill; is it not grand?"
+
+"If the wind would but change, and blow in the opposite direction,"
+said Hector anxiously.
+
+"The wind, mon ami, seems to have little influence; for as long as the
+fire finds fuel from the dry bushes and grass, it drives on, even
+against the wind."
+
+As they spoke the wind freshened, and they could plainly see a long
+line of wicked, bright flames in advance of the dense mass of vapour
+which hung in its rear. On it came, that rolling sea of flame, with
+inconceivable rapidity, gathering strength as it advanced. The demon
+of destruction spread its red wings to the blast, rushing on with
+fiery speed, and soon hill and valley were wrapped in one sheet of
+flame.
+
+"It must have been the work of the Indians," said Louis. "We had
+better make a retreat to the island, in case of the fire crossing the
+valley. We must not neglect the canoe. If the fire sweeps round by the
+swamp, it may come upon us unawares, and then the loss of the canoe
+would prevent escape by the lake. But here are the girls; let us
+consult them."
+
+"It is the Indian burning," said Indiana; "that is the reason there
+are so few big trees, on that hill. They burn it to make the grass
+better for the deer."
+
+Hector had often pointed out to Louis the appearance of fire having
+scorched the bark of the trees where they were at work, but it seemed
+to have been many years back; and when they were digging for the site
+of the root-house [Footnote: Root-houses are built over deep
+excavations below the reach of the frost, or the roots stored would be
+spoiled.] below the bank, which they had just finished, they had met
+with charred wood at the depth of six feet below the soil, which must
+have lain there till the earth had accumulated over it. A period of
+many years must necessarily have passed since the wood had been
+burned, as it was so much decomposed as to crumble beneath the wooden
+shovel they were digging with.
+
+All day they watched the progress of that fiery sea whose waves were
+flame--red, rolling flame. Onward it came with resistless speed,
+overpowering every obstacle, widening its sphere of action, till it
+formed a perfect semicircle about them. As the night drew on, the
+splendour of the scene became more apparent, and the path of the fire
+better defined; but there was no fear of the conflagration spreading
+as it had done in the day-time. The wind had sunk, and the copious
+dews of evening effectually put a stop to the progress of the fire.
+The children could now gaze in security upon the magnificent spectacle
+before them without the excitement produced by its rapid spread during
+the day-time. They lay down to sleep in perfect security that night,
+but with the consciousness that, as the breeze sprung up in the
+morning, they must be on the alert to secure their little dwelling and
+its contents from the devastation that threatened it. They knew they
+had no power to stop its onward course, as they possessed no implement
+better than a rough wooden shovel, which would be found very
+ineffectual in opening a trench or turning the ground up, so as to cut
+off the communication with the dry grass, leaves, and branches which
+are the fuel for supplying the fires on the Plains. The little
+clearing on one side the house they thought would be its safeguard,
+but the fire was advancing on three sides of them.
+
+"Let us hold a council, as the Indians do, to consider what is to be
+done."
+
+"I propose," said Louis, "retreating, bag and baggage, to the nearest
+point of Long Island."
+
+"My French cousin has well spoken," said Hector, mimicking the Indian
+mode of speaking; "but listen to the words of the wise. I propose to
+take all our household stores that are of the most value to the
+island, and lodge the rest safely in our new root-house, first
+removing from its neighbourhood all such light, loose matter as is
+likely to take fire. The earthen roof will save it from destruction.
+As to the shanty, it must take its chance to stand or fall."
+
+"The fence of the little clearing will be burned, no doubt. Well,
+never mind; better that than our precious selves. And the corn,
+fortunately, is not yet sown," said Louis.
+
+Hector's advice met with general approval, and the girls soon set to
+work to secure the property they meant to leave.
+
+It was a fortunate thing that the root-house had been finished, as it
+formed a secure store-house for their goods, and could also be made
+available as a hiding-place from the Indians, in time of need. The
+boys carefully scraped away all the combustible matter from its
+vicinity and that of the house; but the rapid increase of the fire now
+warned them to hurry down to join Catharine and the young Mohawk, who
+had gone off to the lake shore with such things as they required to
+take with them.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+
+  "I know a lake where the cool waves break
+     And softly fall on the silver sand;
+   And no stranger intrudes on that solitude,
+     And no voices but ours disturb the strand."
+
+  _Irish Song_
+
+The breeze had sprung up, and had already brought the fire down as far
+as the creek. The swamp had long been on fire; and now the flames were
+leaping among the decayed timbers, roaring and crackling among the
+pines, and rushing to the tops of the cedars, springing from heap to
+heap of the fallen branches, and filling the air with dense volumes of
+black and suffocating smoke. So quickly did the flames advance that
+Hector and Louis had only time to push off the canoe before the
+heights along the shore were wrapped in smoke and fire. Many a giant
+oak and noble pine fell crashing to the earth, sending up showers of
+red sparks as its burning trunk shivered in its fall. Glad to escape
+from the suffocating vapour, the boys quickly paddled out to the
+island, enjoying the cool, fresh air of the lake. Reposing on the
+grass beneath the trees, they passed the day sheltered from the
+noonday sun, and watched the progress of the fire upon the shore. At
+night the girls slept securely under the canoe, which they raised on
+one side by means of forked sticks stuck in the ground.
+
+It was a grand sight to see the burning Plains at night reflected on
+the water. A thousand flaming torches flickered upon its still
+surface, to which the glare of a gas-lighted city would have been dim
+and dull by contrast.
+
+Louis and Hector would speculate on the probable chances of the shanty
+escaping from the fire, and of the fence remaining untouched. Of the
+safety of the root-house they entertained no fear, as the grass was
+already springing green on the earthen roof; and, below they had taken
+every precaution to secure its safety, by scraping up the earth near
+it. [Footnote: Many a crop of grain and comfortable homestead has been
+saved by turning a furrow round the field; and great conflagrations
+have been effectually stopped by men beating the fire out with spades,
+and hoeing up the fresh earth so as to cut off all communication with
+the dry roots, grass, and leaves that feed its onward progress. Water,
+even could it be got, which is often impossible, is not nearly so
+effectual in stopping the progress of fire; even women and little
+children can assist in such emergencies.]
+
+Catharine lamented for the lovely spring-flowers that would be
+destroyed by the fire.
+
+"We shall have neither huckleberries nor strawberries this summer,"
+she said mournfully; "and the pretty roses and bushes will be
+scorched, and the ground black and dreary."
+
+"The fire passes so rapidly over that it does not destroy many of the
+forest trees, only the dead ones are destroyed; and that, you know,
+leaves more space for the living ones to grow and thrive in," said
+Hector. "I have seen the year after a fire has run in the bush, a new
+and fresh set of plants spring up, and even some that looked withered
+recover; the earth is renewed and manured by the ashes, and it is not
+so great a misfortune as it at first appears."
+
+"But how black and dismal the burned pine-woods look for years!" said
+Louis; "I do not think there is a more melancholy sight in life than
+one of those burned pine-woods. There it stands, year after year, with
+the black, branchless trees pointing up to the blue sky, as if crying
+for vengeance against those that kindled the fire."
+
+"They do, indeed, look ugly," said Catharine, "yet the girdled ones
+look very nearly as ill." [Footnote: The girdled pines are killed by
+barking them round, to facilitate the clearing.]
+
+At the end of two days the fire had ceased to rage, though the dim
+smoke-wreaths to the westward showed where the work of destruction was
+still going on.
+
+As there was no appearance of any Indians on the lake, nor yet at the
+point (Anderson's Point, as it is now called) on the other side, they
+concluded the fire had possibly originated by accident,--some casual
+hunter or trapper having left his camp-fire unextinguished; but as
+they were not very likely to come across the scene of the
+conflagration, they decided on returning back to their old home
+without delay. It was with some feeling of anxiety that they hastened
+to see what evil had befallen their shanty.
+
+"The shanty is burned!" was the simultaneous exclamation of both Louis
+and Hector, as they reached the rising ground that should have
+commanded a view of its roof. "It is well for us that we secured our
+things in the root-house," said Hector.
+
+"Well, if that is safe, who cares? we can soon build up a new house,
+larger and better than the old one," said Louis. "The chief part of
+our fence is gone, too, I see; but that, we can renew at our leisure;
+no hurry, if we get it done a month hence, say I.--Come, ma belle, do
+not look so sorrowful. There is our little squaw will help us to set
+up a capital wigwam while the new house is building."
+
+"But the nice table that you made, Louis, and the benches and
+shelves!"
+
+"Never mind, Cathy; we will have better tables, and benches, and
+shelves too. Never fear, ma chere; the same industrious Louis will
+make things comfortable. I am not sorry the old shanty is down; we
+shall have a famous one put up, twice as large, for the winter. After
+the corn is planted we shall have nothing else to do but to think
+about it."
+
+The next two or three days were spent in erecting a wigwam, with poles
+and birch bark; and as the weather was warm and pleasant, they did not
+feel the inconvenience so much as they would have done had it been
+earlier in the season. The root-house formed an excellent store-house
+and pantry; and Indiana contrived, in putting up the wigwam, to leave
+certain loose folds between the birch-bark lining and outer covering,
+which formed a series of pouches or bags, in which many articles could
+be stowed away out of sight. [Footnote: In this way the winter wigwams
+of the Indians are constructed so as to give plenty of stowing room
+for all their little household matters, materials for work, &c.]
+
+While the girls were busy contriving the arrangements of the wigwam,
+the two boys were not idle. The time was come for planting the corn; a
+succession of heavy thunder-showers had soaked and softened the
+scorched earth, and rendered the labour of moving it much easier than
+they had anticipated. They had cut for themselves wooden trowels, with
+which they raised the hills for the seed. The corn planted, they next
+turned their attention to cutting house-logs; those which they had
+prepared had been burned up, so they had their labour to begin again.
+
+The two girls proved good helps at the raising; and in the course of a
+few weeks they had the comfort of seeing a more commodious dwelling
+than the former one put up. The finishing of this, with weeding the
+Indian corn, renewing the fence, and fishing, and trapping, and
+shooting partridges and ducks and pigeons, fully occupied their time
+this summer. The fruit season was less abundant this year than the
+previous one. The fire had done this mischief, and they had to go far
+a-field to collect fruits during the summer months.
+
+It so happened that Indiana had gone out early one morning with the
+boys, and Catharine was alone. She had gone down to the spring for
+water, and on her return, was surprised at the sight of a squaw and
+her family of three half-grown lad, and an innocent little brown
+papoose. [Footnote: An Indian baby, but "papoose" is not an Indian
+word. It is probably derived from the Indian imitation of the word
+"_babies_."] In their turn the strangers seemed equally astonished at
+Catharine's appearance. The smiling aspect and good-natured laugh of
+the female, however, soon reassured the frightened girl, and she
+gladly gave her the water which she had in her birch dish, on her
+signifying her desire for drink. To this Catharine added some berries
+and dried venison, and a bit of maple sugar, which was received with
+grateful looks by the boys; she patted the brown baby, and was glad
+when the mother released it from its wooden cradle, and fed and nursed
+it. The squaw seemed to notice the difference between the colour of
+her young hostess's fair skin and her own swarthy hue; for she often
+took her hand, stripped up the sleeve of her dress, and compared her
+arm with her own, uttering exclamations of astonishment and curiosity:
+possibly Catharine was the first of a fair-skinned race this poor
+savage had ever seen. After her meal was finished, she set the birchen
+dish on the floor, and restrapping the papoose in its cradle prison,
+she slipped the basswood-bark rope over her forehead, and silently
+signing to her sons to follow her, she departed. That evening a pair
+of ducks were found fastened to the wooden latch of the door, a silent
+offering of gratitude for the refreshment that had been afforded to
+this Indian woman and her children.
+
+Indiana thought, from Catharine's description, that these were Indians
+with whom she was acquainted; she spent some days in watching the lake
+and the ravine, lest a larger and more formidable party should be
+near. The squaw, she said, was a widow, and went by the name of Mother
+Snowstorm, from having been lost in the woods, when a little child,
+during a heavy storm of snow, and nearly starved to death. She was a
+gentle, kind woman, and, she believed, would not do any of them hurt.
+Her sons were good hunters, and, though so young, helped to support
+their mother, and were very good to her and the little one.
+
+I must now pass over a considerable interval of time, with merely a
+brief notice that the crop of corn was carefully harvested, and proved
+abundant, and a source of great comfort. The rice was gathered and
+stored, and plenty of game and fish laid by, with an additional store
+of honey.
+
+The Indians, for some reason, did not pay their accustomed visit to
+the lake this season. Indiana said they might be engaged with war
+among some hostile tribes, or had gone to other hunting-grounds. The
+winter was unusually mild, and it was long before it set in. Yet the
+spring following was tardy, and later than usual. It was the latter
+end of May before vegetation had made any very decided progress.
+
+The little log-house presented a neat and comfortable appearance, both
+within and without. Indiana had woven a handsome mat of bass bark for
+the floor; Louis and Hector had furnished it with seats and a table,
+rough, but still very respectably constructed, considering their only
+tools were a tomahawk, a knife, and wooden wedges for splitting the
+wood into slabs. These Louis afterwards smoothed with great care and
+patience. Their bedsteads were furnished with thick, soft mats, woven
+by Indiana and Catharine from rushes which they cut and dried; but the
+little squaw herself preferred lying on a mat or deerskin on the floor
+before the fire, as she had been accustomed.
+
+A new field had been enclosed, and a fresh crop of corn planted, which
+was now green and flourishing. Peace and happiness dwelt within the
+log-house; but for the regrets that ever attended the remembrance of
+all they had left and lost, no cloud would have dimmed the serenity of
+those who dwelt beneath its humble roof.
+
+The season of flowers had again arrived; the earth, renovated by the
+fire of the former year, bloomed with fresh beauty; June, with its
+fragrant store of roses and lilies, was now far advanced--the
+anniversary of that time when they had left their beloved parents'
+roofs, to become sojourners in the lonely wilderness, had returned.
+They felt they had much to be grateful for. Many privations, it is
+true, and much anxiety they had felt; but they had enjoyed blessings
+beyond what they could have expected, and might, like the psalmist
+when recounting the escapes of the people of God, have said, "Oh that
+men would therefore praise the Lord for his goodness, and the wonders
+that he doeth for the children of men." And now they declared no
+greater evil could befall them than to lose one of their little party,
+for even Indiana had become as a dear and beloved sister; her
+gentleness, her gratitude, and faithful trusting love seemed each day
+to increase. Now, indeed, she was bound to them by a yet more sacred
+tie, for she knelt to the same God, and acknowledged with fervent
+love, the mercies of her Redeemer. She had made great progress in
+learning their language, and had also taught her friends to speak and
+understand much of her own tongue, so that they were now no longer at
+a loss to converse with her on any subject. Thus was this Indian girl
+united to them in bonds of social and Christian love.
+
+Hector, Louis, and Indiana had gone over the hills to follow the track
+of a deer which had paid a visit to the young corn, now sprouting and
+showing symptoms of shooting up to blossom. Catharine usually
+preferred staying at home and preparing the meals against their
+return. She had gathered some fine ripe strawberries, to add to the
+stewed rice, Indian meal cake, and maple sugar, for their dinner. She
+was weary and warm, for the day had been hot and sultry. Seating
+herself on the threshold of the door, she leaned against the
+door-post, and closed her eyes. Perhaps the poor child's thoughts were
+wandering back to her far-off, unforgotten home, or she might be
+thinking of the hunters and their game. Suddenly a vague, undefinable
+feeling of dread stole over her mind. She heard no steps, she felt no
+breath, she saw no form; but there was a strange consciousness that
+she was not alone--that some unseen being was near, some eye was upon
+her. I have heard of sleepers starting from sleep the most profound
+when the noiseless hand of the assassin has been raised to destroy
+them, as if the power of the human eye could be felt through the
+closed lids.
+
+Thus fared it with Catharine. She felt as if some unseen enemy was
+near her, and springing to her feet, she cast a wild, troubled glance
+around. No living being met her eye; and, ashamed of her cowardice,
+she resumed her seat. The tremulous cry of her little gray squirrel, a
+pet which she had tamed and taught to nestle in her bosom, attracted
+her attention.
+
+"What aileth thee, wee dearie?" she said tenderly, as the timid little
+creature crept trembling to her breast. "Thy mistress has seared thee
+by her own foolish fears. See, now, there is neither catamount nor
+weasel here to seize thee, silly one;" and as she spoke, she raised
+her head and flung back the thick clusters of soft fair hair that
+shaded her eyes. The deadly glare of a pair of dark eyes fixed upon
+her met her terrified gaze, gleaming with sullen ferocity from the
+angle of the door-post, whence the upper part of the face alone was
+visible, partly concealed by a mat of tangled, shaggy black hair.
+Paralyzed with fear, the poor girl neither spoke nor moved; she
+uttered no cry; but pressing her hands tightly across her breast, as
+if to still the loud beating of her heart, she sat gazing upon that
+fearful appearance, while, with stealthy step, the savage advanced
+from his lurking-place, keeping, as he did so, his eyes riveted upon
+hers, with such a gaze as the wily serpent is said to fascinate its
+prey. His hapless victim moved not:--whither could she flee to escape
+one whose fleet foot could so easily have overtaken her in the race?
+where conceal herself from him whose wary eye fixed upon her seemed to
+deprive her of all vital energy?
+
+Uttering that singular, expressive guttural which seems with the
+Indian to answer the purpose of every other exclamation, he advanced,
+and taking the girl's ice-cold hands in his, tightly bound them with a
+thong of deer-hide, and led her unresistingly away. By a circuitous
+path through the ravine they reached the foot of the mount, where lay
+a birch canoe, rocking gently on the waters, in which a middle-aged
+female and a young girl were seated. The females asked no questions,
+and expressed no word indicative of curiosity or surprise, as the
+strong arm of the Indian lifted his captive into the canoe, and made
+signs to the elder squaw to push from the shore. When all had taken
+their places, the woman, catching up a paddle from the bottom of the
+little vessel, stood up, and with a few rapid strokes sent it skimming
+over the lake.
+
+The miserable captive, overpowered with the sense of her calamitous
+situation, bowed down her head upon her knees, and concealing her
+agitated face in her garments, wept in silent agony. Visions of horror
+presented themselves to her bewildered brain; all that Indiana had
+described of the cruelty of this vindictive race came vividly before
+her mind. Poor child, what miserable thoughts were thine during that
+brief voyage!
+
+Had the Indians also captured her friends? or was she alone to be the
+victim of their vengeance? What would be the feelings of those beloved
+ones on returning to their home and finding it desolate! Was there no
+hope of release? As these ideas chased each other through her agitated
+mind, she raised her eyes, all streaming with tears, to the faces of
+the Indian and his companions with so piteous a look that any heart
+but the stoical one of an Indian would have softened at its sad
+appeal; but no answering glance of sympathy met hers, no eye gave back
+its silent look of pity--not a nerve or a muscle moved the cold,
+apathetic features of the Indians; and the woe-stricken girl again
+resumed her melancholy attitude, burying her face in her heaving bosom
+to hide its bitter emotions from the heartless strangers.
+
+She was not fully aware that it is part of the Indian's education to
+hide the inward feelings of the heart, to check all those soft and
+tender emotions which distinguish the civilized man from the savage.
+
+It does indeed need the softening influence of that powerful Spirit,
+which was shed abroad into the world to turn the hearts of the
+disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to break down the strongholds
+of unrighteousness, and to teach man that he is by nature the child of
+wrath and victim of sin, and that in his unregenerated nature his
+whole mind is at enmity with God and his fellow-men, and that in his
+flesh dwelleth no good thing. And the Indian has acknowledged that
+power; he has cast his idols of cruelty and revenge, those virtues on
+which he prided himself in the blindness of his heart, to the moles
+and the bats; he has bowed and adored at the foot of the Cross. But it
+was not so in the days whereof I have spoken.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+
+  "Must this sweet new-blown rose find such a winter
+   Before her spring be past?"
+
+  BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER
+
+The little bark touched the stony point of Long Island. The Indian
+lifted his weeping prisoner from the canoe, and motioned to her to
+move forward along the narrow path that led to the camp, about twenty
+yards higher up the bank, where there was a little grassy spot
+enclosed with shrubby trees; the squaws tarried at the lake-shore to
+bring up the paddles and secure the canoe.
+
+It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of an enemy, but doubly
+so when that enemy is a stranger to the language in which we would
+plead for mercy, whose god is not our God, nor his laws those by which
+we ourselves are governed. Thus felt the poor captive as she stood
+alone, mute with terror, among the half-naked, dusky forms with which
+she now found herself surrounded. She cast a hurried glance round that
+strange assembly, if by chance her eye might rest upon some dear
+familiar face; but she saw not the kind but grave face of Hector, nor
+met the bright sparkling eyes of her cousin Louis, nor the soft,
+subdued, pensive features of the Indian girl, her adopted sister. She
+stood alone among those wild, gloomy-looking men; some turned away
+their eyes as if they would not meet her woe-stricken countenance,
+lest they should be moved to pity her sad condition. No wonder that,
+overcome by the sense of her utter forlornness, she hid her face with
+her fettered hands and wept in despair. But the Indian's sympathy is
+not moved by tears and sighs; calmness, courage, defiance of danger,
+and contempt of death, are what he venerates and admires even in an
+enemy.
+
+The Indians beheld her grief unmoved. At length the old man, who
+seemed to be a chief among the rest, motioned to one of the women who
+leaned against the side of the wigwam to come forward and lead away
+the stranger. Catharine, whose senses were beginning to be more
+collected, heard the old man give orders that she was to be fed and
+cared for. Gladly did she escape from the presence of those pitiless
+men, from whose gaze she shrunk with maidenly modesty. And now when
+alone with the women she hesitated not to make use of that natural
+language which requires not the aid of speech to make itself
+understood. Clasping her hands imploringly, she knelt at the feet of
+the Indian woman, her conductress, kissed her dark hands, and bathed
+them with her fast-flowing tears, while she pointed passionately to
+the shore where lay the happy home from which she had been so suddenly
+torn.
+
+The squaw, though she evidently comprehended the meaning of her
+imploring gestures, shook her head, and in plaintive earnest tone
+replied in her own language that she must go with the canoes to the
+other shore, and she pointed to the north as she spoke. She then
+motioned to the young girl--the same that had been Catharine's
+companion in the canoe--to bring a hunting-knife which was thrust into
+one of the folds of the birch-bark of the wigwam. Catharine beheld the
+deadly weapon in the hands of the Indian woman with a pang of agony as
+great as if its sharp edge was already at her throat. So young--so
+young, to die by a cruel bloody death! what had been her crime? How
+should she find words to soften the heart of her murderess? The power
+of utterance seemed denied. She cast herself on her knees and held up
+her hands in silent prayer; not to the dreaded Indian woman, but to
+Him who heareth the prayer of the poor destitute--who alone can order
+the unruly wills and affections of men.
+
+The squaw stretched forth one dark hand and grasped the arm of the
+terror-stricken girl, while the other held the weapon of destruction.
+With a quick movement she severed the thongs that bound the fettered
+wrists of the pleading captive, and with a smile that seemed to light
+up her whole face she raised her from her prostrate position, laid her
+hand upon her young head and with an expression of good-humoured
+surprise lifted the flowing tresses of her sunny hair and spread them
+over the back of her own swarthy hand; then, as if amused by the
+striking contrast, she shook down her own jetty-black hair and twined
+a tress of it with one of the fair-haired girl's, then laughed till
+her teeth shone like pearls within her red lips. Many were the
+exclamations of childish wonder that broke from the other females as
+they compared the snowy arm of the stranger with their own dusky
+skins: it was plain that they had no intention of harming her, and by
+degrees distrust and dread of her singular companions began in some
+measure to subside.
+
+The squaw motioned her to take a seat on a mat beside her, and gave
+her a handful of parched rice and some deer's flesh to eat; but
+Catharine's heart was too heavy. She was suffering from thirst; and on
+pronouncing the Indian word for water, the young girl snatched up a
+piece of birch-bark from the floor of the tent, and gathering the
+corners together, ran to the lake, and soon returned with water in
+this most primitive drinking-vessel, which she held to the lips of her
+guest, and she seemed amused by the long, deep draught with which
+Catharine slaked her thirst. Something like a gleam of hope came over
+Catharine's mind as she marked the look of kindly feeling with which
+she caught the young Indian girl regarding her, and she strove to
+overcome the choking sensation that would from time to time rise to
+her throat as she fluctuated between hope and fear. The position of
+the Indian camp was so placed that it was quite hidden from the shore
+and Catharine could neither see the mouth of the ravine, nor the steep
+side of the mount that her brother and cousin were accustomed to
+ascend and descend in their visits to the lake-shore, nor had she any
+means of making a signal to them even if she had seen them on the
+beach.
+
+The long, anxious, watchful night passed, and soon after sunrise,
+while the morning mists still hung over the lake, the canoes of the
+Indians were launched, and long before noon they were in the mouth of
+the river. Catharine's heart sunk within her as the fast receding
+shores of the lake showed each minute fainter in the distance. At
+mid-day they halted at a fine bend in the river, and landed on a small
+open place where a creek flowing down through the woods afforded them
+cool water; here they found several tents put up and a larger party
+awaiting their return. The river was here a fine, broad, deep, and
+tranquil stream; trees of many kinds fringed the edge, beyond was the
+unbroken forest, whose depths had never been pierced by the step of
+man--so thick and luxuriant was the vegetation that even the Indian
+could hardly have penetrated through its dark, swampy glades: far as
+the eye could reach, that impenetrable, interminable wall of verdure
+stretched away into the far-off distance.
+
+All the remainder of that sad day Catharine sat on the grass under a
+shady tree, her eyes mournfully fixed on the slow-flowing waters, and
+wondering at her own hard fate in being thus torn from her home and
+its dear inmates. Bad as she had thought her separation from her
+father and mother and her brothers, when she first left her home to
+become a wanderer on the Rice Lake Plains, how much more dismal now
+was her situation, snatched from the dear companions who had upheld
+and cheered her on in all her sorrows! Now that she was alone with
+none to love or cherish or console her, she felt a desolation of
+spirit that almost made her forgetful of the trust that had hitherto
+always sustained her in time of trouble or sickness. She looked round,
+and her eye fell on the strange, unseemly forms of men and women who
+cared not for her, and to whom she was an object of indifference or
+aversion; she wept when she thought of the grief her absence would
+occasion to Hector and Louis; the thought of their distress increased
+her own.
+
+The soothing quiet of the scene, with the low, lulling sound of the
+little brook as its tiny wavelets fell tinkling over the mossy roots
+and stones that impeded its course to the river, joined with fatigue
+and long exposure to the sun and air, caused her at length to fall
+asleep. The last rosy light of the setting sun was dyeing the waters
+with a glowing tint when she awoke; a soft blue haze hung upon the
+trees; the kingfisher and dragon-fly, and a solitary loon, were the
+only busy things abroad on the river,--the first darting up and down
+from an upturned root, near the water's edge, feeding its younglings;
+the dragon-fly hawking with rapid whirring sound for insects; and the
+loon, just visible from above the surface of the still stream, sailing
+quietly on companionless like her who watched its movements.
+
+The bustle of the hunters returning with game and fish to the
+encampment roused many a sleepy brown papoose; the fires were renewed,
+the evening was now preparing, and Catharine, chilled by the falling
+dew, crept to the enlivening warmth. And here she was pleased at being
+recognized by one friendly face; it was the mild, benevolent
+countenance of the widow Snowstorm, who, with her three sons, came to
+bid her to share their camp fire and food. The kindly grasp of the
+hand and the beaming smile that were given by this good creature,
+albeit she was ugly and ill-featured, cheered the sad captive's heart.
+She had given her a cup of cold water and such food as her log-cabin
+afforded; in return the good Indian took her to her wigwam and fed,
+warmed, and cherished her with the loving-kindness of a Christian.
+During all her sojourn in the Indian camp, the widow Snowstorm was as
+a tender mother to her, drying her tears and showing her those little
+acts of attention that even the untaught Indians know are grateful to
+the sorrowful and destitute. Catharine often forgot her own griefs to
+repay this worthy creature's kindness, by attending to her little
+babe, and assisting her in her homely cookery or household work. She
+knew that a selfish indulgence in sorrow would do her no good, and
+after the lapse of some days she so well disciplined her own heart as
+to check her tears, at least in the presence of the Indian women, and
+to assume an air of comparative cheerfulness. Once she found Indian
+words enough to ask the Indian widow to convey her back to the lake,
+but she shook her head and bade her not think anything about it; and
+added that in autumn, when the ducks came to the rice-beds, they
+should all return, and then if she could obtain leave from the chief,
+she would restore her to her lodge on the Plains; but signified to her
+that patience was her only present remedy, and that submission to the
+will of the chief was her wisest plan. Comforted by this vague
+promise, Catharine strove to be reconciled to her strange lot and
+still stranger companions. She was surprised at the want of curiosity
+respecting her evinced by the Indians in the wigwam when she was
+brought thither; they appeared to take little notice that a stranger,
+and one so dissimilar to themselves, had been introduced into the
+camp. Catharine learned, by long acquaintance with this people, that
+an outward manifestation of surprise is considered a want of etiquette
+and good-breeding, or rather a proof of weakness and childishness. The
+women, like other females, are certainly less disposed to repress this
+feeling of inquisitiveness than the men; and one of their great
+sources of amusement, when Catharine was among them, was examining the
+difference of texture and colour of her skin and hair, and holding
+long consultations over them. The young girl and her mother, who had
+paddled the canoe the day she was carried away to the island, showed
+her much kindness in a quiet way. The young squaw was grand-daughter
+to the old chief, and seemed to be regarded with considerable respect
+by the rest of the women; she was a gay, lively creature, often
+laughing, and seemed to enjoy an inexhaustible fund of good humour.
+She extended her patronage to the young stranger by making her eat out
+of her own bark-dish and sit beside her on her own mat. She wove a
+chain for her of the sweet-scented grass with which the Indians
+delight in adorning themselves, likewise in perfuming their lodges
+with bunches or strewings upon the floor. She took great pains in
+teaching her how to acquire the proper attitude of sitting, after the
+fashion of the Eastern nations, which position the Indian women assume
+when at rest in their wigwams.
+
+The Indian name of this little damsel signified the "snow-bird." She
+was, like that lively, restless bird, always flitting from tent to
+tent, as garrulous and as cheerful too as that merry little herald of
+the spring.
+
+Once she seemed particularly attracted by Catharine's dress, which she
+examined with critical minuteness, evincing great surprise at the cut
+fringes of dressed doe-skin with which Indiana had ornamented the
+border of the short jacket she had manufactured for Catharine. These
+fringes she pointed out to the notice of the women, and even the old
+chief was called in to examine the dress; nor did the leggings and
+moccasins escape their observation. There was something mysterious
+about her garments. Catharine was at a loss to imagine what caused
+those deep guttural exclamations, somewhat between a grunt and a
+groan, that burst from the lips of the Indians, as they one by one
+examined her dress with deep attention. These people had recognized in
+these things the peculiar fashion and handiwork of the young Mohawk
+girl whom they had exposed to perish by hunger and thirst on Bare
+Hill; and much their interest was excited to learn by what means
+Catharine had become possessed of a dress wrought by the hand of one
+whom they had numbered with the dead. Strange and mysterious did it
+seem to them, and warily did they watch the unconscious object of
+their wonder.
+
+The knowledge she possessed of the language of her friend Indiana
+enabled Catharine to comprehend a great deal of what was said; yet she
+prudently refrained from speaking in the tongue of one to whose whole
+nation she knew these people to be hostile. But she sedulously
+endeavoured to learn their own peculiar dialect; and in this she
+succeeded in an incredibly short time, so that she was soon able to
+express her own wants, and converse a little with the females who were
+about her.
+
+She had noticed that among the tents there was one which stood apart
+from the rest, and was only visited by the old chief and his
+grand-daughter, or by the elder women. At first she imagined it was
+some sick person, or a secret tent set apart for the worship of the
+Great Spirit; but one day, when the chief of the people had gone up
+the river hunting, and the children were asleep, the curtain of skins
+was drawn back, and a female of singular and striking beauty appeared
+in the open space in front. She was habited in a fine tunic of white
+dressed doe-skin, richly embroidered with coloured beads and stained
+quills; a full petticoat of dark cloth bound with scarlet descended to
+her ankles; leggings fringed with deerskin, knotted with bands of
+coloured quills, with richly wrought moccasins on her feet. On her
+head she wore a coronet of scarlet and black feathers; her long
+shining tresses of raven hair descended to her waist, each thick tress
+confined with a braided band of quills, dyed scarlet and blue. She was
+tall and well-formed; her large, liquid, dark eyes wore an expression
+so proud and mournful that Catharine felt her own involuntarily fill
+with tears as she gazed upon this singular being. She would have
+approached nearer to her, but a spell seemed on her; she shrunk back
+timid and abashed beneath that wild, melancholy glance. It was she,
+the Beam of the Morning, the self-made widow of the young Mohawk,
+whose hand had wrought so fearful a vengeance on the treacherous
+destroyer of her brother. She stood there, at the tent-door, arrayed
+in her bridal robes, as on the day when she received her death-doomed
+victim. And when she recalled her fearful deed, shuddering with
+horror, Catharine drew back and shrouded herself within the tent,
+fearing again to fall under the eye of that terrible woman. She
+remembered how Indiana had told her that since that fatal
+marriage-feast she had been kept apart from the rest of the tribe,--
+she was regarded by her people as a sacred character, entitled the
+_Great Medicine,_ a female _brave,_ a being whom they regarded
+with mysterious reverence. She had made this great sacrifice for the
+good of her nation. Indiana said it was believed among her own folk
+that she had loved the young Mohawk passionately, as a tender woman
+loves the husband of her youth; yet she had not hesitated to sacrifice
+him with her own hand. Such was the deed of the Indian heroine--and
+such were the virtues of the unregenerated Greeks and Romans!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+
+  "Now where the wave, with loud, unquiet song,
+   Dashed o'er the rocky channel, froths along,
+   Or where the silver waters soothed to rest,
+   The tree's tall shadow sleeps upon its breast."
+
+  --COLERIDGE.
+
+The Indian camp remained for nearly three weeks on this spot, and then
+early one morning the wigwams were all taken down, and the canoes, six
+in number, proceeded up the river. There was very little variety in
+the scenery to interest Catharine. The river still kept its
+slow-flowing course between low shores thickly clothed with trees,
+without an opening through which the eye might pierce to form an idea
+of the country beyond; not a clearing, not a sight or sound of
+civilized man was there to be seen or heard; the darting flight of the
+wild birds as they flitted across from one side to the other, the
+tapping of the woodpecker, or shrill cry of the blue jay was all that
+was heard, from sunrise to sunset, on that monotonous voyage. After
+many hours, a decided change was perceived in the current, which ran
+at a considerable increase of swiftness, so that it required the
+united energy of both men and women to keep the light vessels from
+drifting down the river again. They were in the rapids, and it was
+hard work to stem the tide and keep the upward course of the waters.
+At length the rapids were passed, and the weary Indian voyagers rested
+for a space on the bosom of a small but tranquil lake. The rising moon
+shed her silvery light upon the calm water, and heaven's stars shone
+down into its quiet depths, as the canoes with their dusky freight
+parted the glittering rays with their light paddles. As they proceeded
+onward the banks rose on either side, still fringed with pines,
+cedars, and oaks. At an angle of the lake the banks on either side ran
+out into two opposite peninsulas, forming a narrow passage or gorge,
+contracting the lake once more into the appearance of a broad river,
+much wider from shore to shore than any other part they had passed
+through since they had left the entrance at the Rice Lake.
+
+Catharine became interested in the change of scenery; her eye dwelt
+with delight on the forms of glorious spreading oaks and lofty pines,
+green cliff-like shores, and low wooded islands; while, as they
+proceeded, the sound of rapid-flowing waters met her ear, and soon the
+white and broken eddies, rushing along with impetuous course, were
+seen by the light of the moon; and while she was wondering if the
+canoes were to stem those rapids, at a signal from the old chief, the
+little fleet was pushed to shore on a low flat of emerald verdure,
+nearly opposite to the last island.
+
+Here, under the shelter of some beautiful spreading black oaks, the
+women prepared to set up their wigwams. They had brought the poles and
+birch-bark covering from the encampment below, and soon all was bustle
+and business, unloading the canoes and raising the tents. Even
+Catharine lent a willing hand to assist the females in bringing up the
+stores and sundry baskets containing fruits and other small wares. She
+then kindly attended to the Indian children--certain dark-skinned
+babes, who, bound upon their wooden cradles, were either set up
+against the trunks of the trees, or swung to some lowly depending
+branch, there to remain helpless and uncomplaining spectators of the
+scene.
+
+Catharine thought these Indian babes were almost as much to be pitied
+as herself, only that they were unconscious of their imprisoned state,
+having from birth been used to no better treatment, and moreover they
+were sure to be rewarded by the tender caresses of loving mothers when
+the season of refreshment and repose arrived but she, alas! was
+friendless and alone, bereft of father, mother, kindred, and friends.
+One Father, one Friend, poor Catharine, thou hadst, even he, the
+Father of the fatherless.
+
+That night, when the women and children were sleeping, Catharine stole
+out of the wigwam, and climbed the precipitous bank beneath the
+shelter of which the lodges had been erected. She found herself upon a
+grassy plain, studded with majestic oaks and pines, so beautifully
+grouped that they might have been planted by the hand of taste upon
+that velvet turf. It was a delightful contrast to those dense dark
+forests through which for so many many miles the waters of the
+Otonabee had flowed on monotonously; here it was all wild and free,
+dashing along like a restive steed rejoicing in its liberty, uncurbed
+and tameless.
+
+Yes, here it was beautiful! Catharine gazed with joy upon the rushing
+river, and felt her own heart expand as she marked its rapid course as
+it bounded murmuring and fretting over its rocky bed. "Happy, glorious
+waters! you are not subject to the power of any living creature; no
+canoe can ascend those surging waves. I would that I too, like thee,
+were free to pursue my onward way; how soon would I flee away and be
+at rest!" Such thoughts passed through the mind of the lonely captive
+girl, as she sat at the foot of a giant oak, and looked abroad over
+those moonlit waters, till oppressed by an overwhelming sense of the
+utter loneliness of the scene, the timid girl with faltering step
+hurried down once more to the wigwams, silently crept to the mat where
+her bed was spread, and soon forgot all her woes and wanderings in
+deep, tranquil sleep.
+
+Catharine wondered that the Indians in erecting their lodges always
+seemed to prefer the low, level, and often swampy grounds by the lakes
+and rivers in preference to the higher and more healthy elevations. So
+disregardful are they of this circumstance, that they do not hesitate
+to sleep where the ground is saturated with moisture. They will then
+lay a temporary flooring of cedar or any other bark beneath their
+feet, rather than remove the tent a few feet higher up, where a drier
+soil may always be found. This arises either from stupidity or
+indolence, perhaps from both, but it is no doubt the cause of much of
+the sickness that prevails among them. With his feet stretched to the
+fire, the Indian cares for nothing else when reposing in his wigwam,
+and it is useless to urge the improvement that might be made in his
+comfort; he listens with a face of apathy, and utters his everlasting
+guttural, which saves him the trouble of a more rational reply.
+
+"Snow-bird" informed Catharine that the lodges would not again be
+removed for some time, but that the men would hunt and fish, while the
+squaws pursued their domestic labours. Catharine perceived that the
+chief of the laborious part of the work fell to the share of the
+females, who were very much more industrious and active than their
+husbands; those, when not out hunting or fishing, were to be seen
+reposing in easy indolence under the shade of the trees, or before the
+tent fires, giving themselves little concern about anything that was
+going on. The squaws were gentle, humble, and submissive; they bore
+without a murmur pain, labour, hunger, and fatigue, and seemed to
+perform every task with patience and good-humour. They made the
+canoes, in which the men sometimes assisted them, pitched the tents,
+converted the skins of the animals which the men shot into clothes,
+cooked the victuals, manufactured baskets of every kind, wove mats,
+dyed the quills of the porcupine, sewed the moccasins, and, in short,
+performed a thousand tasks which it would be difficult to enumerate.
+
+Of the ordinary household work, such as is familiar to European
+females, they of course knew nothing; they had no linen to wash or
+iron, no floors to clean, no milking of cows, nor churning of butter.
+
+Their carpets were fresh cedar boughs spread on the ground, and only
+renewed when they became offensively dirty from the accumulation of
+fish-bones and other offal, which are carelessly flung down during
+meals. Of furniture they had none; their seat the ground, their table
+the same, their beds mats or skins of animals,--such were the domestic
+arrangements of the Indian camp. [Footnote: Much improvement has taken
+place of late years in the domestic economy of the Indians, and some
+of their dwellings are clean and neat even for Europeans.]
+
+In the tent to which Catharine belonged, which was that of the widow
+and her sons, a greater degree of order and cleanliness prevailed than
+in any other; for Catharine's natural love of neatness and comfort
+induced her to strew the floor with fresh cedar or hemlock every day
+or two, and to sweep round the front of the lodge, removing all
+unseemly objects from its vicinity. She never failed to wash herself
+in the river, and arrange her hair with the comb Louis had made for
+her; and she took great care of the little child, which she kept clean
+and well fed. She loved this little creature, for it was soft and
+gentle, meek and playful as a little squirrel; and the Indian mothers
+all looked with kinder eyes upon the white maiden, for the loving
+manner in which she tended their children. The heart of woman is
+seldom cold to those who cherish their offspring, and Catharine began
+to experience the truth that the exercise of human charities is
+equally beneficial to those who give and those who receive; these
+things fall upon the heart as dew upon a thirsty soil, giving and
+creating a blessing. But we will leave Catharine for a short season,
+among the lodges of the Indians, and return to Hector and Louis.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+
+  "Cold and forsaken, destitute of friends,
+   And all good comforts else, unless some tree
+   Whose speechless chanty doth better ours,
+   With which the bitter east winds made their sport,
+   And sang through hourly, hath invited thee
+   To shelter half a day. Shall she be thus,
+   And I draw in soft slumbers?"
+
+  BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER.
+
+It was near sunset before Hector and his companions returned on the
+evening of the eventful day that had found Catharine a prisoner on
+Long Island. They had met with good success in hunting, and brought
+home a fine half-grown fawn, fat and in good order. They were
+surprised at finding the fire nearly extinguished, and no Catharine
+awaiting their return. There, it is true, was the food that she had
+prepared for them, but she was not to be seen. Supposing that she had
+been tired of waiting for them, and had gone out to gather
+strawberries, they did not at first feel anxious, but ate of the rice
+and honey, for they were hungry with long fasting. Then taking some
+Indian meal cake in their hands, they went out to call her in; but no
+trace of her was visible. Fearing she had set off by herself to seek
+them, and had missed her way home again, they hurried back to the
+happy valley,--she was not there; to Pine-tree Point,--no trace of her
+there; to the edge of the mount that overlooked the lake,--she was not
+to be seen: night found them unsuccessful in their search. Sometimes
+they fancied that she had seated herself beneath some tree and fallen
+asleep; but no one imagined the true cause, nothing having been seen
+of the Indians since they had proceeded up the river.
+
+Again they retraced their steps back to the house; but they found her
+not there. They continued their unavailing search till the moon
+setting left them in darkness, and they lay down to rest, but not to
+sleep. The first streak of dawn saw them again hurrying to and fro,
+calling in vain upon the name of the loved and lost companion of their
+wanderings.
+
+Indiana, whose vigilance was untiring--for she yielded not easily to
+grief and despair--now returned with the intelligence that she had
+discovered the Indian trail, through the big ravine to the lake-shore;
+she had found the remains of a wreath of oak leaves which had been
+worn by Catharine in her hair; and she had seen the mark of feet,
+Indian feet, on the soft clay at the edge of the lake, and the
+furrowing of the shingles by the pushing off of a canoe. Poor Louis
+gave way to transports of grief and despair; he knew the wreath, it
+was such as Catharine often made for herself, and Mathilde, and petite
+Louise, and Marie; his mother had taught her to make them; they were
+linked together by the stalks, and formed a sort of leaf chain. Louis
+placed the torn relic in his breast, and sadly turned away to hide his
+grief from Hector and the Indian girl.
+
+Indiana now proposed searching the island for further traces, but
+advised wariness in so doing. They saw, however, neither smoke nor
+canoes. The Indians had departed while they were searching the ravines
+and flats round Mount Ararat, and the lake told no tales, The
+following day they ventured to land on Long Island, and on going to
+the north side saw evident traces of a temporary encampment having
+been made, but no trace of any violence having been committed. It was
+Indiana's opinion that, though a prisoner, Catharine was unhurt, as
+the Indians rarely killed women and children, unless roused to do so
+by some signal act on the part of their enemies, when an exterminating
+spirit of revenge induced them to kill and spare not; but where no
+offence had been offered, they were not likely to take the life of a
+helpless, unoffending female. The Indian is not cruel for the wanton
+love of blood, but to gratify revenge for some injury done to himself
+or to his tribe. But it was difficult to still the terrible
+apprehensions that haunted the minds of Louis and Hector. They spent
+much time in searching the northern shores and the distant islands, in
+the vain hope of finding her, as they still thought the camp might
+have been moved to the opposite side of the lake.
+
+Inconsolable for the loss of their beloved companion, Hector and Louis
+no longer took interest in what was going on; they hardly troubled
+themselves to weed the Indian corn, in which they had taken such great
+delight; all now seemed to them flat, stale, and unprofitable; they
+wandered listlessly to and fro, silent and sad; the sunshine had
+departed from their little dwelling; they ate little, and talked less,
+each seeming absorbed in his own painful reveries.
+
+In vain the gentle Indian girl strove to revive their drooping
+spirits; they seemed insensible to her attentions, and often left her
+for hours alone. They returned one evening about the usual hour of
+sunset, and missed their meek, uncomplaining guest from the place she
+was wont to occupy. They called, but there was none to reply,--she too
+was gone. They hurried to the shore just time enough to see the canoe
+diminishing to a mere speck upon the waters, in the direction of the
+mouth of the river; they called to her, in accents of despair, to
+return, but the wind wafted back no sound to their ears and soon the
+bark was lost to sight, and they sat them down disconsolately on the
+shore.
+
+"What is she doing?" said Hector. "It is cruel to abandon us thus."
+
+"She has gone up the river, in the hope of bringing us some tidings of
+Catharine," said Louis.
+
+"How came you to think that such is her intention?"
+
+"I heard her say the other day that she would go and bring her back,
+or die."
+
+"What! do you think she would risk the vengeance of the old chief
+whose life she attempted to take?"
+
+"She is a brave girl; she does not fear pain or death to serve those
+she loves."
+
+"How can she, unprotected and alone, dare such perils? Why did she not
+tell us? We would have shared her danger."
+
+"She feared for our lives more than for her own; that poor Indian girl
+has a noble heart. I care not now what befalls us; we have lost all
+that made life dear to us," said Louis gloomily, sinking his head
+between his knees.
+
+"Hush, Louis; you are older than I, and ought to bear these trials
+with more courage. It was our own fault Indiana's leaving us; we left
+her so much alone to pine after her lost companion, she seemed to
+think that we did not care for her. Poor Indiana, she must have felt
+lonely and sad."
+
+"I tell you what we will do, Hec,--make a log canoe. I found an old
+battered one lying on the shore, not far from Pine-tree Point. We have
+an axe and a tomahawk,--what should hinder us from making one like
+it?"
+
+"True! we will set about it to-morrow."
+
+"I wish it were morning, that we might set to work to cut down a good
+pine for the purpose."
+
+"As soon as it is done, we will go up the river; anything is better
+than this dreadful suspense and inaction."
+
+The early dawn saw the two cousins busily engaged chopping at a tree
+of suitable dimensions. They worked hard all that day, and the next,
+and the next, before the canoe was hollowed out; but, owing to their
+inexperience and the bluntness of their tools, their first attempt
+proved abortive--it was too heavy at one end, and did not balance well
+in the water.
+
+Louis, who had been quite sure of success, was disheartened; not so
+Hector.
+
+"Do not let us give it up: my maxim is perseverance; let us try again,
+and again--ay, and a fourth and a fifth time. I say, never give it up;
+that is the way to succeed at last."
+
+"You have ten times my patience, Hec."
+
+"Yes; but you are more ingenious than I, and are excellent at starting
+an idea."
+
+"We are a good pair then for partnership."
+
+"We will begin anew and this time I hope we shall profit by our past
+blunders."
+
+"Who would imagine that it is now more than a month since we lost
+Catharine?"
+
+"I know it--long, long, weary month," replied Louis; and he struck his
+axe sharply into the bark of the pine as he spoke, and remained silent
+for some minutes. The boys, wearied by chopping down the tree, rested
+from their work, and sat down on the side of the condemned canoe to
+resume their conversation. Suddenly Louis grasped Hector's arm, and
+pointed to a bark canoe that appeared making for the westernmost point
+of the island. Hector started to his feet, exclaiming, "It is Indiana
+returned!"
+
+"Nonsense! Indiana!--it is no such thing. Look you, it is a stout man
+in a blanket coat."
+
+"The Indians?" asked Hector, inquiringly.
+
+"I do not think he looks like an Indian; but let us watch. What is he
+doing?"
+
+"Fishing. See now, he has just caught a fine bass--another--he has
+great luck--now he is pushing the canoe ashore."
+
+"That man does not move like an Indian--hark! he is whistling. I ought
+to know that tune. It sounds like the old _chanson_ my father used to
+sing;" and Louis, raising his voice, began to sing the words of an old
+French Canadian song, which we will give in the English, as we heard
+it sung by an old lumberer,--
+
+  "Down by those banks where the pleasant waters flow,
+   Through the wild woods we'll wander, and we'll chase the buffalo.
+   And we'll chase the buffalo."
+
+"Hush, Louis! you will bring the man over to us," said Hector.
+
+"The very thing I am trying to do, mon ami. This is our country, and
+that may be his; but we are lords here, and two to one, so I think he
+will not be likely to treat us ill. I am a man now, and so are you,
+and he is but one; so he must mind how he affronts us," replied Louis,
+laughing.
+
+"Hark, if he is not singing now! ay, and the very chorus of the old
+song"--and Louis raised his voice to its highest pitch as he repeated,--
+
+  "'Through the wild woods we'll wander,
+   And we'll chase the buffalo
+   --And we'll chase the buffalo.'
+
+"What a pity I have forgotten the rest of that dear old song. I used
+to listen with open ears to it when I was a boy. I never thought to
+hear it again, and to hear it here of all places in the world!"
+
+"Come, let us go on with our work," said Hector, with something like
+impatience in his voice, and the strokes of his axe fell once more in
+regular succession on the log; but Louis's eye was still on the
+mysterious fisher, whom he could discern lounging on the grass and
+smoking his pipe. "I do not think he sees or hears us," said Louis to
+himself, "but I think I'll manage to bring him over soon;" and he set
+himself busily to work to scrape up the loose chips and shavings, and
+soon began to strike fire with his knife and flint.
+
+"What are you about, Louis?" asked Hector.
+
+"Lighting a fire."
+
+"It is warm enough without a fire, I am sure."
+
+"I know that; but I want to attract the notice of yonder tiresome
+fisherman."
+
+"And perhaps bring a swarm of savages down upon us, who may be lurking
+in the bushes of the island."
+
+"Pooh, pooh! Hec; there are no savages. I am weary of this place--
+anything is better than this horrible solitude." And Louis fanned the
+flame into a rapid blaze, and heaped up the light dry branches till it
+soared up among the bushes. Louis watched the effect of his fire, and
+rubbed his hands gleefully as the bark canoe was pushed off from the
+island, and a few vigorous strokes of the paddle sent it dancing over
+the surface of the calm lake.
+
+Louis waved his cap above his head with a cheer of welcome as the
+vessel lightly glided into the little cove, near the spot where the
+boys were chopping, and a stout-framed, weather-beaten man, in a
+blanket coat, also faded and weather-beaten, with a red worsted sash
+and worn moccasins, sprang upon one of the timbers of Louis's old
+raft, and gazed with a keen eye upon the lads. Each party silently
+regarded the other. A few rapid interrogations from the stranger,
+uttered in the broad _patois_ of the Lower Province, were answered in
+a mixture of broken French and English by Louis.
+
+A change like lightning passed over the face of the old man as he
+cried out--"Louis Perron, son of my ancient compagnon!"
+
+"Oui! oui!"--with eyes sparkling through tears of joy, Louis threw
+himself into the broad breast of Jacob Morelle, his father's friend
+and old lumbering comrade.
+
+"Hector, son of la belle Catharine Perron!" and Hector, in his turn,
+received the affectionate embrace of the warm-hearted old man.
+
+"Who would have thought of meeting with the children of my old comrade
+here at the shore of the Rice Lake? Oh! what a joyful meeting!"
+
+Jacob had a hundred questions to ask--Where were their parents? did
+they live on the Plains now? how long was it since they had left the
+Cold Springs? were there any more little ones? and so forth.
+
+The boys looked sorrowfully at each other. At last the old man stopped
+for want of breath, and remarked their sad looks.
+
+Hector told the old lumberer how long they had been separated from
+their families, and by what sad accident they had been deprived of the
+society of their beloved sister. When they brought their narrative
+down to the disappearance of Catharine, the whole soul of the old
+trapper seemed moved; he started from the log on which they were
+sitting, and with one of his national asseverations, declared "that
+he, her father's old friend, would go up the river and bring her back
+in safety, or leave his gray scalp behind him among the wigwams."
+
+"It is too late, Jacob, to think of starting to-day," said Hector.
+"Come home with us, and eat some food, and rest a bit."
+
+"No need of that, my son I have a lot of fish here in the canoe; and
+there is an old shanty on the island yonder, if it be still
+standing--the Trapper's Fort I used to call it some years ago. We will
+go off to the island and look for it."
+
+"No need for that," replied Louis, "though I can tell you the old
+place is still in good repair, for we used it this very spring as a
+boiling-house for our maple sap. We have a better place of our own
+nearer at hand--just two or three hundred yards over the brow of
+yonder hill. So come with us, and you shall have a good supper, and
+bed to lie upon."
+
+"And you have all these, boys!" said Jacob opening his merry black
+eyes, as they came in sight of the little log-house and the field of
+green corn.
+
+The old man praised the boys for their industry and energy. "Ha! here
+is old Wolfe too," as the dog roused himself from the hearth, and gave
+one of his low grumbling growls. He had grown dull and dreamy, and
+instead of going out as usual with the young hunters, he would lie for
+hours dozing before the dying embers of the fire. He pined for the
+loving hand that used to pat his sides, caress his shaggy neck, and
+pillow his great head upon her lap, or suffer him to put his huge paws
+on her shoulders, while he licked her hands and face; but she was
+gone, and the Indian girl was gone, and the light of the shanty had
+gone with them. Old Wolfe seemed dying of sorrow.
+
+That evening, as Jacob sat on the three-legged stool smoking his short
+Indian pipe, he again would have the whole story of their wanderings
+over, and the history of all their doings and contrivances.
+
+"And how far do you think you are from the Cold Springs?"
+
+"At least twenty miles, perhaps fifty; for it is a long, long time now
+since we left home--three summers ago."
+
+"Well, boys, you must not reckon distance by the time you have been
+absent," said the old man. "Now, I know the distance through the
+woods, for I have passed through them on the Indian trail, and by my
+reckoning, as the bee flies, it cannot be more than seven or eight
+miles--no, nor that either."
+
+The boys opened their eyes. "Jacob, is this possible? So near, and yet
+to us the distance has been as great as though it were a hundred miles
+or more."
+
+"I tell you, boys, that is the provoking part of it. I remember, when
+I was out on the St. John lumbering, missing my comrades, and I was
+well-nigh starving, when I chanced to come back to the spot where we
+parted; and I verily believe I had not been two miles distant the
+whole eight days that I was moving round and round, and backward and
+forward, just in a circle, because, d'ye see, I followed the sun, and
+that led me astray the whole time."
+
+"Was that when you well-nigh roasted the bear?" asked Louis, with a
+sly glance at Hector.
+
+"Well, no--that was another time; your father was out with me then."
+And old Jacob, knocking the ashes out of his pipe, settled himself to
+recount the adventure of the bear. Hector, who had heard Louis's
+edition of the roast bear, was almost impatient at being forced to
+listen to old Jacob's long-winded history, which included about a
+dozen other stories, all tagged on to this, like links of a lengthened
+chain; and he was not sorry when the old lumberer, taking his red
+night-cap out of his pocket, at last stretched himself out on a
+buffalo skin he had brought up from the canoe, and soon was soundly
+sleeping.
+
+The morning was yet gray when the old man shook himself from his
+slumber; and, after having roused up a good fire, which, though the
+latter end of July, at that dewy hour was not unwelcome, he lighted
+his pipe, and began broiling a fish for his breakfast; and was thus
+engaged when Hector and Louis wakened.
+
+"I have been turning over in my mind about your sister," said he, "and
+have come to the resolution of going up the river alone without any
+one to accompany me. I know the Indians: they are a suspicious people;
+they deal much in stratagems; and they are apt to expect treachery in
+others. Perhaps they have had some reason; for the white men have not
+always kept good faith with them, which I take to be the greater
+shame, as they have God's laws to guide and teach them to be true and
+just in their dealing, which the poor benighted heathen have not, the
+more's the pity. Now, d'ye see, if the Indians see two stout lads with
+me, they will say to themselves there may be more left behind,
+skulking in ambush. So, boys, I go to the camp alone; and, God
+willing, I will bring back your sister, or die in the attempt. I shall
+not go empty-handed; see, I have here scarlet cloth, beads, and powder
+and shot. I carry no fire-water: it is a sin and a shame to tempt
+these poor wretches to their own destruction; it makes fiends of them
+at once."
+
+It was to no purpose that Hector and Louis passionately besought old
+Jacob to let them share the dangers of the expedition; the old man was
+firm, and would not be moved from his purpose.
+
+"Look you, boys," he said, "if I do not return by the beginning of the
+rice-harvest, you may suppose that evil has befallen me and the girl.
+Then I would advise you to take care for your own safety; for if they
+do not respect my gray head, neither will they spare your young ones.
+In such case make yourselves a good canoe--a dug-out [Footnote:
+Log-canoe] will do--and go down the lake till you are stopped by the
+rapids; [Footnote: Heeley's Falls, on the Trent] make a portage there;
+but as your craft is too weighty te carry far, e'en leave her and chop
+out another, and go down to the falls; [Footnote: Crook's Rapids.]
+then, if you do not like to be at any further trouble, you may make
+out your journey to the bay [Footnote: Bay Quinte] on foot, coasting
+along the river; there you will fall in with settlers who know old
+Jacob Morelle, ay, and your two fathers, and they will put you in the
+way of returning home. If I were to try ever so to put you on the old
+Indian trail in the woods, though I know it myself right well, you
+might be lost, and maybe never return home again. I leave my traps and
+my rifle with you; I shall not need them. If I come back I may claim
+the things; if not, they are yours. So now I have said my say, had my
+_talk_, as the Indians say. Farewell. But first let us pray to
+Him who alone can bring this matter to a safe issue." And the old man
+devoutly kneeled down, and prayed for a blessing on his voyage and on
+those he was leaving; and then hastened down to the beach, and the
+boys, with full hearts, watched the canoe till it was lost to their
+sight on the wide waters of the lake.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+
+  "Where wild in woods the lordly savage ran."
+
+  --DRYDEN
+
+The setting sun was casting long shadows of oak and weeping elm
+athwart the waters of the river; the light dip of the paddle had
+ceased on the water, the baying of hounds and life-like stirring
+sounds from the lodges came softened to the listening ear. The hunters
+had come in with the spoils of a successful chase; the wigwam tires
+are flickering and crackling, sending up their light columns of thin
+blue smoke among the trees; and now a goodly portion of venison is
+roasting on the forked sticks before the fires. Each lodge has its own
+cooking utensils. That jar embedded in the hot embers contains
+sassafras tea, an aromatic beverage in which the squaws delight when
+they are so fortunate as to procure a supply. This has been brought
+from the Credit, far up in the west, by a family who have come down on
+a special mission from some great chief to his brethren on the
+Otonabee, and the squaws have cooked some in honour of the guests.
+That pot that sends up such a savoury steam is venison-pottage, or
+soup, or stew, or any name you choose to give the Indian mess that is
+concocted of venison, wild rice, and herbs. Those tired hounds that
+lie stretched before the fire have been out, and now they enjoy the
+privilege of the fire, some praise from the hunters, and receive
+withal an occasional reproof from the squaws, if they approach their
+wishful noses too close to the tempting viands.
+
+The elder boys are shooting at a mark on yonder birch-tree, the girls
+are playing or rolling on the grass, the "Snow-Bird" is seated on the
+floor of the wigwam braiding a necklace of sweet grass, which she
+confines in links by means of little bands of coloured quills,
+Catharine is working moccasins beside her. A dark shadow falls across
+her work from the open tent door; an exclamation of surprise and
+displeasure from one of the women makes Catharine raise her eyes to
+the doorway. There, silent, pale, and motionless, the mere shadow of
+her former self, stands Indiana; a gleam of joy lights for an instant
+her large lustrous eyes. Amazement and delight at the sight of her
+beloved friend for a moment deprive Catharine of the power of speech,
+then terror for the safety of her friend takes the place of her joy at
+seeing her. She rises regardless of the angry tones of the Indian
+woman's voice, and throws her arms about Indiana, as if to shield her
+from threatened danger, and sobs her welcome in her arms.
+
+"Indiana, dear sister! how came you hither, and for what purpose?"
+
+"To free you, and then die," was the soft, low, tremulous answer.
+"Follow me."
+
+Catharine, wondering at the calm and fearless manner with which the
+young Mohawk waved back the dusky matron who approached as if with the
+design of laying hands upon her unwelcome guest, followed with beating
+heart till they stood in the entrance of the lodge of the Bald Eagle.
+It was filled with the hunters, who were stretched on skins on the
+floor, reposing in quiet after the excitement of the chase.
+
+The young Mohawk bent her head down and crossed her arms over her
+breast, an attitude of submission, as she stood in the opening of the
+lodge; but she spoke no word till the old chief, waving back the men
+who, starting to their feet, were gathering round him as if to shield
+him from danger, and sternly regarding her, demanded from whence she
+came and for what purpose.
+
+"To submit myself to the will of my Ojebwa father," was the meek
+reply. "May the daughter of the Bald Eagle's enemy speak to her great
+father?"
+
+"Say on," was the brief reply; "the Bald Eagle's ears are open."
+
+"The Bald Eagle is a mighty chief, the conqueror of his enemies, and
+the father of his people," replied the Mohawk girl, and again was
+silent.
+
+"The Mohawk squaw speaks well; let her say on."
+
+"The heart of the Mohawk is an open flower; it can be looked upon by
+the eye of the Great Spirit. She speaks the words of truth. The Ojebwa
+chief slew his enemies: they had done his good heart wrong; he
+punished them for the wrong they wrought; he left none living in the
+lodges of his enemies save one young squaw, the daughter of a brave,
+the grand-daughter of the Black Snake. The Bald Eagle loves even an
+enemy that is not afraid to raise the war-whoop or fling the tomahawk
+in battle. The young girl's mother was a brave." She paused, while her
+proud eyes were fixed on the face of her aged auditor. He nodded
+assent, and she resumed, while a flush of emotion kindled her pale
+cheek and reddened her lips:--
+
+"The Bald Eagle brought the lonely one to his lodge; he buried the
+hatchet and the scalping-knife, he bade his squaws comfort her: but
+her heart was lonely, she pined for the homes of her fathers. She
+said, I will revenge my father, my mother, and my brothers and
+sisters; and her heart burned within her. But her hand was not strong
+to shed blood; the Great Spirit was about my Ojebwa father. She
+failed, and would have fled, for an arrow was in her flesh. The people
+of the Bald Eagle took her; they brought her down the great river to
+the council hill; they bound her with thongs, and left her to die. She
+prayed, and the Great Spirit heard her prayer and sent her help. The
+white man came; his heart was soft: he unbound her, he gave water to
+cool her hot lips, he led her to his lodge. The white squaw (and she
+pointed to Catharine) was there; she bound up her wounds, she laid her
+on her own bed, she gave her meat and drink, and tended her with love.
+She taught her to pray to the Good Spirit, and told her to return good
+for evil, to be true and just, kind and merciful. The hard heart of
+the young girl became soft as clay when moulded for the pots, and she
+loved her white sister and brothers, and was happy. The Bald Eagle's
+people came when my white brothers were at peace; they found a
+trembling fawn within the lodge; they led her away; they left tears
+and loneliness where joy and peace had been. The Mohawk squaw could
+not see the hearth of her white brothers desolate. She took the canoe;
+she came to the lodge of the great father of his tribe, and she says
+to him, Give back the white squaw to her home on the Rice Lake, and
+take in her stead the rebellious daughter of the Ojebwa's enemy, to
+die or be his servant; she fears not now the knife or the tomahawk,
+the arrow or the spear: her life is in the hand of the great chief."
+She sank on her knees as she spoke these last words, and bowing down
+her head on her breast remained motionless as a statue.
+
+There was silence for some minutes, and then the old man rose and
+said:--
+
+"Daughter of a brave woman, thou hast spoken long, and thou hast
+spoken well; the ears of the Bald Eagle have been opened. The white
+squaw shall be restored to her brother's lodge; but thou remainest. I
+have spoken."
+
+Catharine, in tears, cast her arms round her disinterested friend and
+remained weeping: how could she accept this great sacrifice? She, in
+her turn, pleaded for the life and liberty of the Mohawk, but the
+chief turned a cold ear to her passionate and incoherent pleading. He
+was weary--he was impatient of further excitement--he coldly motioned
+to them to withdraw; and the friends in sadness retired to talk over
+all that had taken place since that sad day when Catharine was taken
+from her home. While her heart was joyful at the prospect of her own
+release, it was clouded with fears for the uncertain fate of her
+beloved friend.
+
+"They will condemn me to a cruel death," said Indiana; "but I can
+suffer and die for my white sister."
+
+That night the Indian girl slept sweetly and tranquilly beside
+Catharine. But Catharine could not sleep; she communed with her own
+heart in the still watches of the night; it seemed as if a new life
+had been infused within her. She no longer thought and felt as a
+child; the energies of her mind had been awakened, ripened into
+maturity, as it were, and suddenly expanded. When all the inmates of
+the lodges were profoundly sleeping, Catharine arose: a sudden thought
+had entered into her mind, and she hesitated not to put her design
+into execution. There was no moon, but a bright arch of light spanned
+the forest to the north; it was mild and soft as moonlight, but less
+bright, and cast no shadow across her path; it showed her the sacred
+tent of the widow of the murdered Mohawk. With noiseless step she
+lifted aside the curtain of skins that guarded it, and stood at the
+entrance. Light as was her step, it awakened the sleeper; she raised
+herself on her arm, and looked up with a dreamy and abstracted air as
+Catharine, stretching forth her hand, in tones low and tremulous, thus
+addressed her in the Ojebwa tongue:--
+
+"The Great Spirit sends me to thee, O woman of much sorrow; he asks of
+thee a great deed of mercy and goodness. Thou hast shed blood, and he
+is angry. He bids thee to save the life of an enemy--the blood of thy
+murdered husband flows in her veins. See that thou disobey not the
+words that he commands."
+
+She dropped the curtain and retired as she had come, with noiseless
+step, and lay down again in the tent beside Indiana. Her heart beat as
+though it would burst its way through her bosom. What had she
+done?--what dared? She had entered the presence of that terrible woman
+alone, at the dead hour of night! she had spoken bold and presumptuous
+words to that strange being whom even her own people hardly dared to
+approach uncalled for! Sick with terror at the consequences of her
+temerity, Catharine cast her trembling arms about the sleeping Indian
+girl, and, hiding her head in her bosom, wept and prayed till sleep
+came over her wearied spirit. It was late when she awoke. She was
+alone; the lodge was empty. A vague fear seized her: she hastily arose
+to seek her friend. It was evident that some great event was in
+preparation. The Indian men had put on the war-paint, and strange and
+ferocious eyes were glancing from beneath their shaggy locks. A stake
+was driven in the centre of the cleared space in front of the chief's
+lodge: there, bound, she beheld her devoted friend; pale as ashes, but
+with a calm, unshaken countenance, she stood. There was no sign of
+woman's fear in her fixed dark eye, which quailed not before the sight
+of the death-dooming men who stood round her, armed with their
+terrible weapons of destruction. Her thoughts seemed far away: perhaps
+they were with her dead kindred, wandering in that happy land to which
+the Indian hopes to go after life; or, inspired with the new hope
+which had been opened to her, she was looking to Him who has promised
+a crown of life to such as believe in his name. She saw not the look
+of agony with which Catharine regarded her; and the poor girl, full of
+grief, sunk down at the foot of a neighbouring tree, and, burying her
+face between her knees, wept and prayed-oh, how fervently! A hope
+crept to her heart--even while the doom of Indiana seemed
+darkest--that some good might yet accrue from her visit to the wigwam
+of the Great Medicine squaw. She knew that the Indians have great
+belief in omens, and warnings, and spirits both good and evil; she
+knew that her mysterious appearance at the tent of the Mohawk's widow
+would be construed by her into spiritual agency; and her heart was
+strengthened by this hope. Yet just now there seems little reason to
+encourage hope: the war-whoop is given, the war-dance is begun--first
+slow, and grave, and measured; now louder, and quicker, and more wild
+become both sound and movement. But why is it hushed again? See, a
+strange canoe appears on the river; anon an old weather-beaten man,
+with firm step, appears on the greensward, and approaches the area of
+the lodge.
+
+The Bald Eagle greets him with friendly courtesy, the dance ceases and
+the death-song is hushed; a treaty is begun. It is for the deliverance
+of the captives. The chief points to Catharine--she is free; his white
+brother may take her--she is his. But the Indian law of justice must
+take its course: the condemned, who raised her hand against an Ojebwa
+chief, must die. In vain are the tempting stores of scarlet cloth and
+beads for the women, with powder and shot, laid before the chief: the
+arrows of six warriors are fitted to the string, and again the dance
+and song commence, as if, like the roll of the drum and, clangour of
+the trumpet, they were necessary to the excitement of strong and
+powerful feelings, and the suppression of all tenderer emotions.
+
+And now a wild and solemn voice is heard, unearthly in its tones,
+rising above the yells of those savage men. At the sound every cheek
+becomes pale: it strikes upon the ear as some funeral wail. Is it the
+death-song of the captive girl bound to that fearful stake? No; for
+she stands unmoved, with eyes raised heavenward, and lips apart,--
+
+   "In still but brave despair."
+
+Shrouded in a mantle of dark cloth, her long black hair unbound and
+streaming over her shoulders, appears the Mohawk widow, the daughter
+of the Ojebwa chief. The gathering throng fall back as she approaches,
+awed by her sudden appearance among them. She stretches out a hand on
+which dark stains are visible--it is the blood of her husband,
+sacrificed by her on that day of fearful deeds: it has never been
+effaced. In the name of the Great Spirit she claims the captive
+girl--the last of that devoted tribe--to be delivered over to her
+will. Her right to this remnant of her murdered husband's family is
+acknowledged. A knife is placed in her hand, while a deafening yell of
+triumph bursts from the excited squaws, as this their great high
+priestess, as they deem her, advances to the criminal. But it is not
+to shed the heart's blood of the Mohawk girl, but to sever the thong
+that bind her to the deadly stake, for which that glittering blade is
+drawn, and to bid her depart in peace whithersoever she would go.
+
+Then, turning to the Bald Eagle, she thus addresses him: "At the dead
+of night, when the path of light spanned the sky, a vision stood
+before mine eyes. It came from the Great and Good Spirit, and bade me
+to set free the last of a murdered race, whose sun had gone down in
+blood shed by my hand and by the hands of my people. The vision told
+me that if I did this my path should henceforth be peace, and that I
+should go to the better land and be at rest if I did this good deed."
+She then laid her hands on the head of the young Mohawk, blessed her,
+and, enveloping herself in the dark mantle, slowly retired back to her
+solitary tent once more.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+
+  "Hame, hame, hame,
+     Hame I soon shall be--
+   Hame, hame, hame,
+     In mine own countrie"
+
+  --_Scotch Ballad_
+
+Old Jacob and Catharine, who had been mute spectators of the scene so
+full of interest to them, now presented themselves before the Ojebwa
+chief and besought leave to depart. The presents were again laid
+before him, and this time were graciously accepted. Catharine, in
+distributing the beads and cloth, took care that the best portion
+should fall to the grand-daughter of the chief, the pretty,
+good-humoured "Snow-bird." The old man was not insensible to the noble
+sacrifice which had been made by the devoted Indiana, and he signified
+his forgiveness of her fault by graciously offering to adopt her as
+his child, and to give her in marriage to one of his grandsons, an
+elder brother of the "Snow-bird;" but the young girl modestly but
+firmly refused this mark of favour, for her heart yearned for those
+whose kindness had saved her from death, and who had taught her to
+look beyond the things of this world to a brighter and a better state
+of being. She said "she would go with her white sister, and pray to
+God to bless her enemies, as the Great Spirit had taught her to do."
+
+It seems a lingering principle of good in human nature that the
+exercise of mercy and virtue opens the heart to the enjoyment of
+social happiness. The Indians, no longer worked up by excitement to
+deeds of violence, seemed disposed to bury the hatchet of hatred, and
+the lodge was now filled with mirth and the voice of gladness,
+feasting, and dancing. A covenant of peace and good-will was entered
+upon by old Jacob and the chief, who bade Catharine tell her brothers
+that from henceforth they should be free to hunt the deer, fish, or
+shoot the wild-fowl of the lake whenever they desired to do so, "he,
+the Bald Eagle, had said so."
+
+On the morrow, with the first dawn of day, the old trapper was astir;
+the canoe was ready, with fresh cedar boughs strewed at the bottom. A
+supply of parched rice and dried fish had been presented by the Indian
+chief for the voyage, that his white brother and the young girls might
+not suffer from want. At sunrise the old man led his young charges to
+the lodge of the Bald Eagle, who took a kindly farewell of them. The
+"Snow-bird" was sorrowful, and her bright, laughing eyes were dimmed
+with tears at parting with Catharine. She was a gentle, loving thing,
+as soft and playful as the tame fawn that nestled its velvet head
+against her arm. She did not let Catharine depart without many tokens
+of her regard, the work of her own hands,--bracelets of porcupine
+quills cut in fine pieces, and strung in fanciful patterns, moccasins
+richly wrought, and tiny bark dishes and boxes, such as might have
+graced a lady's work-table, so rare was their workmanship.
+
+Just as they were about to step into the canoe, the "Snow-bird"
+reappeared, bearing a richly worked bark box, "From the Great
+Medicine," she said in a low voice, "to the daughter of the Mohawk
+brave." The box contained a fine tunic, soft as a lady's glove,
+embroidered and fringed, and a fillet of scarlet and blue feathers,
+with the wings and breast of the war-bird as shoulder ornaments. It
+was a token of reconciliation and good-will worthy of a generous
+heart.
+
+The young girl pressed the gifts to her bosom and to her lips
+reverentially, and the hand that brought them to her heart, as she
+said in her native tongue, "Tell the Great Medicine I kiss her in my
+heart, and pray that she may have peace and joy till she departs for
+the spirit land."
+
+With joyful heart they bade adieu to the Indian lodges, and rejoiced
+in being once more afloat on the bosom of the great river. To
+Catharine the events of the past hours seemed like a strange
+bewildering dream. She longed for the quiet repose of home; and how
+gladly did she listen to that kind old man's plans for restoring
+Hector, Louis, and herself to the arms of their beloved parents. How
+often did she say to herself, "Oh that I had wings like a dove, for
+then would I flee away and be at rest!"--in the shelter of that dear
+mother's arms whom she now pined for with a painful yearning of the
+heart that might well be called home-sickness. But in spite of anxious
+wishes, the little party were compelled to halt for the night some few
+miles above the lake. There is on the eastern bank of the Otonabee a
+pretty, rounded knoll, clothed with wild cherries, hawthorns, and
+pine-trees, just where a creek half hidden by alder and cranberry
+bushes works its way below the shoulder of the little eminence. This
+creek grows broader and becomes a little stream, through which the
+hunters sometimes paddle their canoes, as a short cut to the lower
+part of the lake near Crook's Rapids.
+
+To this creek old Jacob steered his little craft, and bidding the
+girls collect a few dry sticks and branches for an evening fire on the
+sheltered side of the little bank, he soon lighted the pile into a
+cheerful blaze by the aid of birch bark, the hunter's tinder--a sort
+of fungus that is found in the rotten oak and maple trees--and a knife
+and flint. He then lifted the canoe, and having raised it on its side,
+by means of two small stakes which he cut from a bush hard by, he
+spread down his buffalo robe on the dry grass.
+
+"There is a tent fit for a queen to sleep under, _mes cheres filles_,"
+he said, eying his arrangements for their night shelter with great
+satisfaction.
+
+He baited his line, and in a few minutes had a dish of splendid bass
+ready for the fire. Catharine selected a large flat block of limestone
+on which the fish when broiled was laid; but old Jacob opened his wide
+mouth and laughed when she proceeded to lay her bush table with large
+basswood leaves for platters. Such nicety he professed was unusual on
+a hunter's table. He was too old a forester to care how his food was
+dished, so that he had wherewithal to satisfy his hunger.
+
+Many were the merry tales he told and the songs he sung, to while away
+the time, till the daylight faded from the sky, and the deep blue
+heavens were studded with bright stars, which were mirrored in
+countless hosts deep deep down in that calm waveless river, while
+thousands of fire-flies lighted up the dark recesses of the forest's
+gloom. High in the upper air the hollow booming of the night-hawk was
+heard at intervals; and the wild cry of the night-owl from a dead
+branch, shouting to its fellow, woke the silence of that lonely river
+scene.
+
+The old trapper, stretched before the crackling fire, smoked his pipe
+or hummed some French _voyageur's_ song. Beneath the shelter of the
+canoe soundly slept the two girls; the dark cheek of the Indian girl
+pillowed on the arm of her fairer companion, her thick tresses of
+raven hair mingling with the silken ringlets of the white maiden. They
+were a lovely pair--one fair as morning, the other dark as night.
+
+How gaily did they spring from their low bed, wakened by the early
+song of the forest birds! The light curling mist hung in fleecy
+volumes on the river, like a flock of sheep at rest; the tinkling
+sound of the heavy dew-drops fell in mimic showers upon the stream.
+See that red squirrel, how lightly he runs along that fallen trunk!
+how furtively he glances with his sharp bright eye at the intruders on
+his silvan haunts! Hark! there is a rustling among the leaves; what
+strange creature works its way to the shore? A mud turtle: it turns,
+and now is trotting along the little sandy ridge to some sunny spot,
+where, half buried, it may lie unseen near the edge of the river. See
+that musk-rat, how boldly he plunges into the stream, and, with his
+oar-like tail, stems the current till he gains in safety the sedges on
+the other side.
+
+What gurgling sound is that?--it attracts the practised ear of the old
+hunter. What is that object which floats so steadily down the middle
+of the stream, and leaves so bright a line in its wake?--it is a noble
+stag. Look at the broad chest with which he breasts the water so
+gallantly; see how proudly he carries his antlered head! He has no
+fear in those lonely solitudes--he has never heard the crack of the
+hunter's rifle--he heeds not the sharp twang of that bow-string, till
+the arrow rankles in his neck, and the crimson flood dyes the water
+around him. He turns, but it is only to present a surer mark for the
+arrow from the old hunter's bow. And now the noble beast turns to bay,
+and the canoe is rapidly launched by the hand of the Indian girl. Her
+eye flashes with the excitement; her whole soul is in the chase; she
+stands up in the canoe, and steers it full upon the wounded buck,
+while a shower of blows is dealt upon his head and neck with the
+paddle. Catharine buries her face in her hands: she cannot bear to
+look upon the sufferings of the noble animal. She will never make a
+huntress; her heart is cast in too soft a mould. See they have towed
+the deer ashore, and Jacob is in all his glory. The little squaw is an
+Indian at heart--see with what expertness she helps the old man. And
+now the great business is completed, and the venison is stowed away at
+the bottom of the canoe. They wash their hands in the river, and come
+at Catharine's summons to their breakfast.
+
+The sun is now rising high above the pine-trees; the morning mist is
+also rising and rolling off like a golden veil as it catches those
+glorious rays; the whole earth seems wakening into new life: the dew
+has brightened every leaf and washed each tiny flower-cup: the pines
+and balsams give out their resinous fragrance: the aspens flutter and
+dance in the morning breeze, and return a mimic shower of dew-drops to
+the stream; the shores become lower and flatter; the trees less lofty
+and more mossy; the stream expands, and wide beds of rushes spread out
+on either side; what beds of snowy water-lilies: how splendid the rose
+tint of those perseicarias that glow so brightly in the morning sun;
+the rushes look like a green meadow, but the treacherous water lies
+deep below their grassy leaves; the deer delights in these verdant
+aquatic fields: and see what flocks of redwings rise from among them
+as the canoe passes near--their bright shoulder-knots glance like
+flashes of lightning in the sunbeams.
+
+This low swampy island, filled with drift-wood; these gray hoary
+trees, half choked and killed with gray moss and lichens, those
+straggling alders and black ash, look melancholy; they are like
+premature old age, gray-headed youths. That island divides the channel
+of the river: the old man takes the nearest, the left hand. And now
+they are upon the broad Rice Lake, and Catharine wearies her eye to
+catch the smoke of the shanty rising among the trees: one after
+another the islands steal out into view; the capes, bays, and shores
+of the northern side are growing less distinct. Yon hollow bay, where
+the beaver has hidden till now, backed by that bold sweep of hills
+that look in the distance as if only covered with green ferns, with
+here and there a tall tree, stately as a pine or oak,--that is the
+spot where Louis saw the landing of the Indians: now a rising
+village--Gore's Landing. On yon lofty hill now stands the village
+church,--its white tower rising amongst the trees forms a charming
+object from the lake; and there, a little higher up, not far from the
+plank road, now stand pretty rural cottages: one of these belongs to
+the spirited proprietor of the village that bears his name. That
+tasteful garden before the white cottage, to the right, is Colonel
+Brown's, and there are pretty farms and cultivated spots; but silence
+and loneliness reigned there at the time of which I write.
+
+Where those few dark pines rise above the oak groves like the spires
+of churches in a crowded city, is Mount Ararat. The Indian girl steers
+straight between the islands for that ark of refuge, and Catharine's
+eyes are dimmed with grateful tears as she pictures to herself the
+joyful greeting in store for her. In the overflowings of her gladness
+she seizes the old man's rugged hand and kisses it, and flings her
+arms about the Indian girl and presses her to her heart, when the
+canoe has touched the old well-remembered landing-place, and she finds
+herself so near, so very near her lost home. How precious are such
+moments--how few we have in life! They are created from our very
+sorrows; without our cares our joys would be less lively. But we have
+no time to moralize. Catharine flies with the speed of a young fawn to
+climb the cliff-like shoulder of that steep bank; and now; out of
+breath, she stands at the threshold of her log-house. How neat and
+nice it looks compared with the Indians' tents! The little field of
+corn is green and flourishing. There is Hector's axe in a newly-cut
+log: it is high noon; the boys ought to have been there taking their
+mid-day meal, but the door is shut. Catharine lifts the wooden latch,
+and steps in. The embers are nearly burned out to a handful of gray
+ashes. Old Wolfe is not there--all is silent; and Catharine sits down
+to still the beating of her heart, and await the coming of her slower
+companions, and gladdens her mind with the hope that her brother and
+Louis will soon be home. Her eye wanders over every old familiar
+object. All things seem much as she had left them; only, the maize is
+in the ear, and the top feather waves gracefully in the summer breeze.
+It promises an abundant crop. But that harvest is not to be gathered
+by the hands of the young planters: it was left to the birds of the
+air and the beasts of the field--to those humble reapers who sow not,
+neither do they gather into barns, for the heavenly Father feedeth
+them. While the two girls busied themselves in preparing a fine roast
+of venison, old Jacob stalked away over the hills to search for the
+boys, and it was not long before he returned with Hector and Louis.
+
+I must not tell tales, or I might say what tears of joy were mingled
+with the rapturous greetings with which Louis embraced his beloved
+cousin; or I might tell that the bright flush that warmed the dusky
+cheek of the young Indian and the light that danced in her soft black
+eyes owed their origin to the kiss that was pressed on her red lips by
+her white brother. Nor will we say whose hand held hers so long in
+his, while Catharine related the noble sacrifice made for her sake,
+and the perils encountered by the devoted Indiana, whose eyes were
+moistened with tears as the horrors of that fearful trial were
+described; or who stole out alone over the hills, and sat him down in
+the hush and silence of the summer night to think of the acts of
+heroism displayed by that untaught Indian girl, and to dream a dream
+of youthful love: with these things, my young readers, we have nothing
+to do.
+
+"And now, my children," said old Jacob, looking round the little
+dwelling, "have you made up your minds to live and die here on the
+shores of this lake, or do you desire again to behold your fathers'
+home? Do your young hearts yearn after the hearth of your childhood?"'
+
+"After our fathers' home!" was Louis's emphatic reply. "After the home
+of our childhood!" was Catharine's earnest answer. Hector's lips
+echoed his sister's words, while a furtive troubled glance fell upon
+the orphan stranger; but her timid eye was raised to his young face
+with a trusting look, as if she would have said, "Thy home shall be my
+home, thy God my God."
+
+"Well, I believe, if my old memory fails me not, I can strike the
+Indian trail that used to lead to the Cold Springs over the pine
+hills. It will not be difficult for an old trapper to find his way."
+
+"For my part, I shall not leave this lovely spot without regret," said
+Hector. "It would be a glorious place for a settlement--all that one
+could desire--hill and valley, and plain, wood, and water. I will try
+and persuade my father to leave the Cold Springs, and come and settle
+hereabouts. It would be delightful--would it not, Catharine?--especially
+now we are friends with the Indians."
+
+With their heads full of pleasant schemes for the future, our young
+folks laid them down that night to rest. In the morning they rose,
+packed up such portable articles as they could manage to carry, and
+with full hearts sat down to take their last meal in their home--in
+that home which had sheltered them so long--and then, with one accord,
+they knelt down upon its hearth, so soon to be left in loneliness, and
+breathed a prayer to Him who had preserved them thus far in their
+eventful lives; and then they journeyed forth once more into the
+wilderness. There was one, however, of their little band they left
+behind this was the faithful old dog Wolfe. He had pined during the
+absence of his mistress, and only a few days before Catharine's return
+he had crept to the seat she was wont to occupy, and there died. Louis
+and Hector buried him, not without great regret beneath the group of
+birch-trees on the brow of the slope near the corn-field.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+
+"I will arise, and go to my father."--St. Luke.
+
+It is the hour of sunset; the sonorous sound of the cattle-bells is
+heard, as they slowly emerge from the steep hill-path that leads to
+Maxwell and Louis Perron's little clearing; the dark shadows are
+lengthening that those wood-crowned hills cast over that sunny spot, an
+oasis in the vast forest desert that man, adventurous, courageous man, has
+hewed for himself in the wilderness. The little flock are feeding among
+the blackened stumps of the uncleared chopping: those timbers have lain
+thus untouched for two long years; the hand was wanting that should have
+given help in logging and burning them up. The wheat is ripe for the
+sickle, and the silken beard of the corn is waving like a fair girl's
+tresses in the evening breeze. The tinkling fall of the cold spring in
+yonder bank falls soothingly on the ear. Who comes from that low-roofed
+log-cabin to bring in the pitcher of water--that pale, careworn, shadowy
+figure that slowly moves along the green pasture, as one without hope or
+joy; her black hair shared with silver, her cheek pale as wax, and her
+hand so thin it looks as though the light might be seen through if she
+held it towards the sun? It is the heart-broken mother of Catharine and
+Hector Maxwell. Her heart has been pierced with many sorrows; she cannot
+yet forget the children of her love, her first-born girl and boy. Who
+comes to meet her, and with cheerful voice chides her for the tear that
+seems ever to be lingering on that pale cheek,--yet the premature furrows
+on that broad, sunburnt, manly brow speak, too, of inward care? It is the
+father of Hector and Catharine. Those two fine, healthy boys, in homespun
+blouses, that are talking so earnestly as they lean across the rail-fence
+of the little wheat field, are Kenneth and Donald; their sickles are on
+their arms--they have been reaping. They hear the sudden barking of Bruce
+and Wallace, the hounds, and turn to see what causes the agitation they
+display.
+
+An old man draws near; he has a knapsack on his shoulders, which he casts
+down on the corner of the stoup; he is singing a line of an old French
+ditty; he raps at the open door. The Highlander bids him welcome, but
+starts with glad surprise as his hand is grasped by the old trapper.
+
+"Hah, Jacob Morelle, it is many a weary year since your step turned this
+way." The tear stood in the eye of the soldier as he spoke.
+
+"Can you receive me and those I have with me for the night?" asked the
+old man; in a husky voice--his kind heart was full. "A spare corner, a
+shake-down, will do; we travellers in the bush are no wise nice."
+
+"The best we have, and kindly welcome, Jacob. How many are ye in all?"
+
+"There are just four, besides myself,--young people. I found them where
+they had been long living, on a lonely lake, and I persuaded them to come
+with me."
+
+The strong features of the Highlander worked convulsively, as he drew his
+faded blue bonnet over his eyes. "Jacob, did ye ken that we lost our
+eldest bairns some three summers since?" he faltered in a broken voice.
+
+"The Lord, in his mercy, has restored them to you, Donald, by my hand,"
+said the trapper.
+
+"Let me see, let me see my children! To Him be the praise and the glory,"
+ejaculated the pious father, raising his bonnet reverently from his head;
+"and holy and blessed be His name for ever! I thought not to have seen
+this day. O Catharine, my dear wife, this joy will kill you!"
+
+In a moment his children were enfolded in his arms. It is a mistaken idea
+that joy kills; it is a life restorer. Could you, my young readers, have
+seen how quickly the bloom of health began to reappear on the faded cheek
+of that pale mother, and how soon that dim eye regained its bright
+sparkle, you would have said joy does not kill.
+
+"But where is Louis, dear Louis, our nephew, where is he?"
+
+Louis, whose impetuosity was not to be restrained by the caution of old
+Jacob, had cleared the log-fence at a bound, had hastily embraced his
+cousins Kenneth and Donald, and in five minutes more had rushed into his
+father's cottage, and wept his joy in the arms of father, mother, and
+sisters by turns, before old Jacob had introduced the impatient Hector and
+Catharine to their father.
+
+"But while joy is in our little dwelling, who is this that sits apart
+upon that stone by the log-fence, her face bent sadly down upon her knees,
+her long raven hair shading her features as with a veil?" asked the
+Highlander Maxwell, pointing as he spoke to the spot where, unnoticed and
+unsharing in the joyful recognition, sat the poor Indian girl. There was
+no paternal embrace for her, no tender mother's kiss imprinted on that
+dusky cheek and pensive brow; she was alone and desolate in the midst of
+that scene of gladness.
+
+"It is my Indian sister," said Catharine; "she also must be your child."
+
+Hector hurried to Indiana, and taking her by the hand led her to his
+parents, and bade them be kind to and cherish the young stranger, to whom
+they all owed so much.
+
+Time passes on--years, long years have gone by since the return of the
+lost children to their homes, and many changes have those years effected.
+The log-houses have fallen to decay--a growth of young pines, a waste of
+emerald turf with the charred logs that once formed part of the enclosure,
+now scarcely serve to mark out the old settlement; no trace or record
+remains of the first breakers of the bush--another race occupy the ground.
+The traveller as he passes along on that smooth turnpike road that leads
+from Coburg to Cold Springs, and from thence to Gore's Landing, may notice
+a green waste by the roadside on either hand, and fancy that thereabouts
+our Canadian Crusoes' home once stood: he sees the lofty wood-crowned
+hill, and in spring time--for in summer it is hidden by the luxuriant
+foliage--the little forest creek; and he may, if thirsty, taste of the
+pure, fresh, icy water, as it still wells out from a spring in the
+steep bank, rippling through the little cedar-trough that Louis Perron
+placed there for the better speed of his mother when filling her water
+jug. All else is gone. And what wrought the change a few words will
+suffice to tell. Some travelling fur merchants brought the news to
+Donald Maxwell that a party of Highlanders had made a settlement above
+Montreal, and among them were some of his kindred. The old soldier
+resolved to join them, and it was not hard to prevail upon his
+brother-in-law to accompany him, for they were all now weary of living
+so far from their fellow-men; and bidding farewell to the little
+log-houses at Cold Springs, they now journeyed downwards to the new
+settlement, where they were gladly received, their long experience of
+the country making their company a most valuable acquisition to the
+new-come colonists.
+
+Not long after, the Maxwells took possession of a grant of land, and
+cleared and built for themselves and their family. Hector, now a fine
+industrious young man, presented at the baptismal font, as a candidate
+for baptism, the Indian girl, and then received at the altar his
+newly-baptized bride. Catharine and Louis were married on the same day
+as Hector and Indiana. They lived happy and prosperous lives; and
+often, by their firesides, would delight their children by recounting
+the history of their wanderings on the Rice Lake Plains.
+
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[About this edition: _Lost in the Woods_ was originally published in
+1852 under the title _The Canadian Crusoes: A Tale of the Rice Lake
+Plains_. After several editions, it was republished in 1882 under its
+present title, as _Lost in the Backwoods_.]
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Lost in the Backwoods, by Catherine Parr Traill
+
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