1 files changed, 8094 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/old/7cacr10.txt b/old/7cacr10.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..df9eb23
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/7cacr10.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,8094 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Canadian Crusoes, by Catherine Parr Traill
+#3 in our series by Catherine Parr Traill
+
+Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the
+copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing
+this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook.
+
+This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project
+Gutenberg file.  Please do not remove it.  Do not change or edit the
+header without written permission.
+
+Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the
+eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file.  Included is
+important information about your specific rights and restrictions in
+how the file may be used.  You can also find out about how to make a
+donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved.
+
+
+**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts**
+
+**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971**
+
+*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!*****
+
+
+Title: Canadian Crusoes
+
+Author: Catherine Parr Traill
+
+Release Date: June, 2005 [EBook #8382]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on July 5, 2003]
+
+Edition: 10
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CANADIAN CRUSOES ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Juliet Sutherland, David Widger,
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
+
+
+
+
+CANADIAN CRUSOES.
+
+A Tale
+
+of
+
+THE RICE LAKE PLAINS.
+
+CATHARINE PARR TRAIL,
+
+AUTHORESS OF "THE BACKWOODS OF CANADA, ETC."
+
+EDITED BY AGNES STRICKLAND.
+
+ILLUSTRATED BY HARVEY.
+
+LONDON:
+
+ARTHUR HALL, VIRTUE, & CO.
+
+25, PATERNOSTER ROW.
+
+1852. DEDICATED
+
+TO THE CHILDREN OF THE SETTLERS
+
+ON
+
+THE RICE LAKE PLAINS,
+
+BY THEIR
+
+FAITHFUL FRIEND AND WELL-WISHER
+
+THE AUTHORESS.
+
+OAKLANDS, RICE LAKE,
+
+15_th Oct_ 1850 PREFACE
+
+IT will be acknowledged that human sympathy irresistibly responds to any
+narrative, founded on truth, which graphically describes the struggles of
+isolated human beings to obtain the aliments of life. The distinctions
+of pride and rank sink into nought, when the mind is engaged in the
+contemplation of the inevitable consequences of the assaults of the gaunt
+enemies, cold and hunger. Accidental circumstances have usually given
+sufficient experience of their pangs, even to the most fortunate, to make
+them own a fellow-feeling with those whom the chances of shipwreck, war,
+wandering, or revolutions have cut off from home and hearth, and the
+requisite supplies; not only from the thousand artificial comforts which
+civilized society classes among the necessaries of life, but actually from
+a sufficiency of "daily bread."
+
+Where is the man, woman, or child who has not sympathized with the poor
+seaman before the mast, Alexander Selkirk, typified by the genius of Defoe
+as his inimitable Crusoe, whose name (although one by no means uncommon
+in middle life in the east of England,) has become synonymous for all who
+build and plant in a wilderness, "cut off from humanity's reach?" Our
+insular situation has chiefly drawn the attention of the inhabitants of
+Great Britain to casualties by sea, and the deprivations of individuals
+wrecked on some desert coast; but it is by no means generally known that
+scarcely a summer passes over the colonists in Canada, without losses of
+children from the families of settlers occurring in the vast forests of the
+backwoods, similar to that on which the narrative of the Canadian Crusoes
+is founded. Many persons thus lost have perished in the wilderness; and it
+is to impress on the memory the natural resources of this country, by the
+aid of interesting the imagination, that the author of the well-known and
+popular work, "The Backwoods of Canada," has written the following pages.
+
+She has drawn attention, in the course of this volume, to the practical
+solution [Footnote: See Appendix A; likewise p. 310.] of that provoking
+enigma, which seems to perplex all anxious wanderers in an unknown land,
+namely, that finding themselves, at the end of a day's toilsome march,
+close to the spot from which they set out in the morning, and that this
+cruel accident will occur for days in succession. The escape of Captain
+O'Brien from his French prison at Verdun, detailed with such spirit in his
+lively autobiography, offers remarkable instances of this propensity of the
+forlorn wanderer in a strange land. A corresponding incident is recorded in
+the narrative of the "Escape of a young French Officer from the depot near
+Peterborough during the Napoleon European war." He found himself thrice at
+night within sight of the walls of the prison from which he had fled in the
+morning, after taking fruitless circular walks of twenty miles. I do
+not recollect the cause of such lost labour being explained in either
+narrative; perhaps the more frequent occurrence of the disaster in the
+boundless backwoods of the Canadian colonies, forced knowledge, dearly
+bought, on the perceptions of the settlers. Persons who wander without
+knowing the features and landmarks of a country, instinctively turn their
+faces to the sun, and for that reason always travel in a circle, infallibly
+finding themselves at night in the very spot from which they started in
+the morning. The resources and natural productions of the noble colony of
+Canada are but superficially known. An intimate acquaintance with its rich
+vegetable and animal productions is most effectually made under the high
+pressure of difficulty and necessity. Our writer has striven to interest
+children, or rather young people approaching the age of adolescence, in the
+natural history of this country, simply by showing them how it is possible
+for children to make the best of it when thrown into a state of destitution
+as forlorn as the wanderers on the Rice Lake Plains. Perhaps those who
+would not care for the berry, the root, and the grain, as delineated and
+classified technically in books of science, might remember their uses
+and properties when thus brought practically before their notice as the
+aliments of the famishing fellow-creature, with whom their instinctive
+feelings must perforce sympathies. When parents who have left home comforts
+and all the ties of gentle kindred for the dear sakes of their rising
+families, in order to place them in a more independent position, it is well
+if those young minds are prepared with some knowledge of what they are to
+find in the adopted country; the animals, the flowers, the fruits, and even
+the minuter blessings which a bountiful Creator has poured forth over that
+wide land.
+
+The previous work of my sister, Mrs. Traill, "The Backwoods of Canada, by
+the Wife of an Emigrant Officer," published some years since by Mr. C.
+Knight, in his Library of Useful Knowledge, has passed through many
+editions, and enjoyed, (anonymous though it was,) too wide a popularity as
+a standard work for me to need to dwell on it, further than to say that
+the present is written in the same _naive_, charming style, with the
+same modesty and uncomplaining spirit, although much has the sweet and
+gentle--author endured, as every English lady must expect to do who
+ventures to encounter the lot of a colonist. She has now devoted her
+further years of experience as a settler to the information of the
+younger class of colonists, to open their minds and interest them in the
+productions of that rising country, which will one day prove the mightiest
+adjunct of the island empire; our nearest, our soundest colony, unstained
+with the corruption of convict population; where families of gentle blood
+need fear no real disgrace in their alliance; where no one need beg, and
+where any one may dig without being ashamed. LIST OF ENGRAVINGS.
+
+LOUIS CONFESSING HIS DECEPTION OF CATHARINE
+
+THE FIRST BREAKFAST
+
+CATHARINE FOUND BY THE OLD DOG
+
+WOLF FINDING THE WOUNDED DOE
+
+HECTOR BRINGING THE INDIAN GIRL
+
+KILLING WILD FOWL
+
+INDIAN WOMAN AT THE DOOR OF THE HUT
+
+CATHARINE CARRIED OFF
+
+INDIANA BEFORE THE BALD EAGLE
+
+INDIANA AT THE STAKE
+
+ATTACK ON THE DEER
+
+RETURN HOME THE
+
+CANADIAN CRUSOES.
+
+
+
+
+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 lash'd 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, the heights of which were
+clothed chiefly with groves of oak and pine, though the sides of the hills
+and the alluvial bottoms gave a variety of noble timber trees of various
+kinds, as the maple, beech, hemlock, and others. This beautiful and highly
+picturesque valley is watered by many clear streams of pure refreshing
+water, from whence the spot has derived its appropriate appellation of
+"Cold Springs." At the time my little history commences, this now highly
+cultivated spot was an unbroken wilderness,--all tut two small farms, where
+dwelt the only occupiers of the soil,--which 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.
+
+To those who travel over beaten roads, now partially planted, among
+cultivated fields and flowery orchards, and see cleared farms and herds of
+cattle and flocks of sheep, the change would be a striking one. I speak of
+the time when the neat and flourishing town of Cobourg, now an important
+port on the 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 wheels, 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 "without the Lord
+build the city, 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 with sick and
+disabled men, he was lodged 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, which consisted
+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 little 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 corps 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 them. 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, while Pierre promised to watch over his friend's
+interests and keep alive Catharine's love; for, said he, artlessly, "la
+belle Catrine is pretty and lively, and may have many suitors before she
+sees you again, mon ami."
+
+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 re-union 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 the 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, with the constancy of his nature, 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 the 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 themselves down at once 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; but 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
+older 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 the 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 slowly 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, and food and warm clothing were not wanted in the homesteads.
+Catharine had become, in course of time, the happy mother of four healthy
+children; her sister-in-law had even 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 the
+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, which was to her even as fairyland; often would her plaintive
+ballads and old tales, related in the hut or the wigwam to her attentive
+auditors, wile away heavy thoughts; Louis and Mathilde, her cousins,
+sometimes wondered how Catharine had acquired such a store of ballads and
+wild tales as she could tell.
+
+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 enchroma, or painted-cup; the
+large pure white blossoms of the lily-like trillium; 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
+cyprepedium, or mocassin 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, were 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 melodies. 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 eye that was 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, Louis, 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 the top of 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 on
+her lap, and would not disturb the poor sick thing for all the fruit and
+flowers in Canada. Marie cried sadly to go with us, but I promised her and
+petite Louise lots of flowers and berries if we get them, and the dear
+children were as happy as queens when I left them."
+
+"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 hiccory for axe handles; so now you have the reason why I take the
+axe with me."
+
+The children now 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 both 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 grey 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 all 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 bright sparkling of the forest rill.
+
+"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
+hiccory for his axe handle, 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 hiccory 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 dinners."
+
+"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 here 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 from the stream, which wound its way
+among the bushes. Catharine neglected not to reach down flowery bunches of
+the fragrant white-thorn and of the high-bush cranberry, then radiant with
+nodding umbels of snowy blossoms, or to wreath 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 and 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 had now 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 sound, save the lulling
+murmur of the rippling stream below, was 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
+to-night."
+
+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 the kinder 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 stem 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 spoke 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 morrow!
+
+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, for they slept that night 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."
+
+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
+paliasses 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 giddy 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 our settlers, lest haply
+they should fall into the hands of the bloody Mohawks, whose merciless
+dispositions 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 the 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, as chanted in many a genuine pastoral of our olden time; but when our
+simple Catharine drew down the flowery branches to wreathe about her hat,
+she loved the flowers for their own native sweetness and beauty, not
+because poets had sung of them;--but young minds have a natural poetry in
+themselves, unfettered by rule or rhyme.
+
+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 is now known as Sackville's Mill-dike. The hand of man has
+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.
+[Footnote: This place was originally owned by a man of taste, who resided
+for some time upon the spot, till finding it convenient to return to his
+native country, the saw-mill passed into other hands. The old log-house on
+the green bank above the mill-stream is still standing, though deserted;
+the garden fence, broken and dilapidated, no longer protects the enclosure,
+where the wild rose mingles with that of Provence,--the Canadian creeper
+with the hop.]
+
+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 a
+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 headwaters 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," [Footnote: Now
+the site of a pleasant cottage, erected by an enterprising gentleman from
+Devonshire, who has cleared and cultivated a considerable portion of the
+ground described above; a spot almost unequalled in the plains for its
+natural beauties and extent of prospect.] said Hector, "though I am not
+quite sure that the land is as good just here as it is at Cold Springs;
+but all these 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 bedewed 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 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 partridge [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 sympathise 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 cedars, poplars, and birch, which were wreathed
+together by the flexile branches of the vine and bitter-sweet,
+which climbed to a height of fifteen feet [Footnote: _Solatnum
+dulcamara_,--Bitter-sweet or Woody nightshade. This plant, like the
+red-berried briony of England, is highly ornamental. It possesses powerful
+properties as a medicine, and is in high reputation among the Indians.]
+among the branches [Illustration: THE FIRST BREAKFAST] 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 shingles 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, [Footnote: The long-spurred American
+hawthorn may be observed by our young readers among that beautiful
+collection of the hawthorn family and its affinities, which flourish on the
+north side of Kensington Gardens.] 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 embittered 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 deadfalls, 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 both 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, unheeding and unharmed. Twice that day, misled by
+following the track of the deer, had they returned to the same spot,--a
+deep and lovely glen, which had once been a water-course, but 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 the 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 ragged 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 chipmunks, 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--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 racoons, 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?"
+
+Lords 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-chasse_. 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 grand-uncle 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 grand-uncle. 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 voting 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 of 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 mocassins."
+
+"Indeed, Louis, that must have been a very unsavoury dish," said Catharine.
+
+"That old buckskin vest would have made a famous pot of soup of itself,"
+added Hector, "or the deer-skin hunting shirt." "Well, they might have been
+reduced even to that," said Louis, laughing, "but for the good fortune that
+befel 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."
+
+"Well now, 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 that 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
+up 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. You know what a noble hand old Jacob used to be at making
+up a roaring fire; he thought, I suppose, if he could not have warmth
+within, he would have plenty of it without. The wood was dry pine and cedar
+and birch, and it blazed away, and crackled and burnt 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 but-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;
+but Jacob seeing the huge black brute all in a flame of fire, began to
+think it was Satan's own self come to carry him off, and he roared with
+fright, and 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 quarter; 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
+to-morrow 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 and 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 moonlight 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 which
+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 clifflike 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 track, 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 water 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 car; 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 a grisly beast 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, 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 agonising pain in one of her ancles, 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 grisly
+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
+wandering 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 a full
+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 racoon 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 the fall 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 often 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 the
+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 in," 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 manufacturing 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 the
+birch baskets and canoes.] "I have a substitute at hand, ma belle," and
+Louis pointed to the strips of leatherwood that he had collected for
+binding the dressings on his cousin's 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 trunk 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
+are 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. The 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 ancle 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 checks, 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.
+[Footnote: The mouth of this ravine is now under the plough, and waving
+fields of golden grain and verdant pastures have taken place of the wild
+shrubs and flowers that formerly adorned it. The lot belongs to G. Ley,
+Esq.]
+
+These children were not insensible to the beauties of nature, and both
+Hector and his sister had insensibly imbibed a love of the grand and the
+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, yet 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, and neither woodchuck, partridge, nor squirrel had been
+killed; and our poor wanderers now endured the agonising 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 all the mysteries of it, 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 was 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 that 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,
+apostrophising 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 sprung to her
+feet, but as quickly sunk 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 [Footnote: See account of the "Wolf Tower," in the Appendix.] 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 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 over-hanging cedars and birches, festooned with wild vines, which,
+closely woven, formed a natural bower, quite impervious to the rays of
+the sun. A clear spring flowing from the upper part of the bank among the
+hanging network of loose fibres and twisted roots, fell tinkling over a
+mossy log at her feet, and quietly spread itself among the round shingly
+pebbles 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 ancle 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, and this they did very
+expeditiously, as soon as the more difficult part, that of kindling up 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 loth 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, and 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 heavily laden with the fish. The purple shades of twilight soon clouded
+the scene, deepened by the heavy masses of foliage, which cast a greater
+degree of 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, can it be matter of surprise if 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 land-mark 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 bigstone," 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, and the crushing of branches and the rush
+of many feet on the high bank above, was followed by the prolonged cry of
+some 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 terrors 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 wakened 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
+huckle-berries were ripening too, and soon afforded them a never-failing
+source of food; there were also an abundance of bilberries, the sweet rich
+berries 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 Louis.
+
+"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 berries, nor game to be had as there is here, and we
+might be soon 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 wood-chucks 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 connexion 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."
+
+It is one of the bewildering mistakes that all persons who lose their way
+in the pathless woods fall into, they have no idea of distance, or the
+points of the compass, unless they can see the sun rise and set, which 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
+his 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 ancle 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 their household utensils, which consisted only of the axe, which
+he would trust to no one but himself, the tin-pot, and the birch-basket.
+Louis had his cousin to assist 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 under-growth 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, 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 course 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 denies. What a sight of sublime desolation must
+that outpouring of the waters have presented, when those steep 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 basis 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 surmountable impediment
+turned the current the subsiding waters; but they all find an outlet
+through their connexion with ravines communicating with the lake.
+
+There is a beautiful level tract of land, with only here and there a
+solitary oak growing upon it, or a few stately pines; it is commonly
+called the "upper Race-course," merely on account of the smoothness of the
+surface; it forms a high tableland, 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 _enchroma_, or
+painted cup, the azure lupine and snowy _trillium_ roses scent the evening
+air, and grow as if planted by the hand of taste.
+
+A carpeting of the small downy saxifrage [Footnote: Saxifraga nivalis.] with
+its white silky leaves covers the ground in early spring. In the fall, it
+is red with the bright berries and dark box-shaped leaves of a species of
+creeping winter-green, that the Indians call spiceberry; 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 martagon lilies 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: Gentiana
+linearis, G. crenata.] 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: Pyrola rotundifolia, P. asarifolia.] 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:
+_Pedophyllnm galmata_,--Mandrake, or May-apple.] 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: Kilvert's Ravine, above Pine-tree
+Point.] 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, while 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 head-quarters 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 bed, and also to strew Indian-fashion over the floor
+of the hut by way of a carpet. This sort of carpeting reminds one of, the
+times when the palaces of our English kings were strewed with rushes, and
+brings to mind the old song:--
+
+  "Oh! the golden days of good Queen Bess,
+  When the floors were strew'd with rushes,
+  And the doors went on the latch----"
+
+Despise not then, you, my refined young readers, the rude expedients
+adopted by these simple children of the forest, who knew nothing of the
+luxuries that were to be met with in the houses of the great and the rich.
+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 bed of freshly gathered grass and leaves, raised
+from the earth by a heap of branches carefully arranged, was to them as
+pleasant as beds of down, and the rude hut of bark and poles, as curtains
+of silk or damask.
+
+Having collected as much of these materials as she deemed sufficient for
+the purpose, Catharine next gathered up dry oak branches, plenty of which
+lay scattered here and there, to make a watch-fire for the night, and 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, even when all the rest were still.
+
+She watched the gathering of the distant thunder-clouds, 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 verandah, 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 eye 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 sunk 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 sprang 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 the 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, and 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 this 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 ah
+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 that attended him in prison,
+whose heart 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, by its intense brightness, 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-peal 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-peal 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 grey 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 'mid the raging of the elements, they fancied they could
+distinguish familiar voices calling upon their names. "If our father had
+not been near, Wolfe would not have come hither."
+
+"Ah, if our father should have perished in this fearful storm," said
+Catharine, weeping, "or have been starved to death while seeking for us!"
+and Catharine 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 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, and this they gladly fanned up into a blaze, with which
+they dried their wet clothes, and warmed themselves. The air was now cool
+almost to chilliness, and 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 night 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 bees,
+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 sunbeam 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 the fell. 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 last pinched their fingers very
+spitefully. The mussels were not very palateable, 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 sun-fish; 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 age 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 woodchucks, stretched, and scraped and dried, and rendered pliable
+by rubbing and drawing through the hands, answered for a bowstring; 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 longbow, 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 grey, 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 grey in the "oak openings." [Footnote: Within the
+last three 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 tread to which they had teen 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:
+_Podophyllum peltatum_-May-apple, or Mandrake. 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 acid pulp in which the seeds are imbedded 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 some 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 wood-chucks, 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 the fall, 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
+eyeing 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, eyeing 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 and, clap your hands, and they will turn either to the ten
+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 hi 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, it 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 mocassins, 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 bow-strings, 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 basswood, 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 mocassins."
+
+"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 would 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 Catherine; "for you may remember, Hec.,
+that the last journey my father made to the Bay, [Footnote: Bay of Quints.]
+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."
+
+"Yes, and you cried because you got a fall off the shed when if was only
+four logs high."
+
+"It was not for the fall that I cried," said Catharine, resentfully, "but
+because cousin Louis and you laughed at me, and said, 'Cats, you know, have
+nine lives, and seldom are hurt, because they light on their feet,' and I
+thought it was very cruel to laugh at me when I was in pain. Beside, you
+called me 'puss,' and 'poor pussie' all the rest of the _Bee_."
+
+"I am sure, ma belle, I am very sorry if I was rude to you," said Louis,
+trying to look penitent for the offence. "For my part, I had forgotten all
+about the fall; I only know that we passed a very merry day. Dear aunt made
+us a fine Johnny-cake for tea, with lots of maple molasses; and the shed
+was a capital shed, and the cow must have thought us fine builders, to have
+made such a comfortable shelter for her, with no better 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'ercanopied by huge roots, intertwined,
+  Of wildest texture, blacken'd o'er with age,
+  Bound them their mantle green the climbers twine.
+  Beneath whose mantle--pale,
+  Fann'd by the breathing gale,
+  We shield us from the fervid mid-day rage,
+  Thither, while the murmuring throng
+  Of wild bees hum their drowsy song."--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."
+
+"Don't teaze, ma belle. 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 holes
+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 cautions 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's river, that I am as familiar with the idea of
+a boat, as if I had been born in one. Only think now, ma belle," 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 gather in the harvest of wild rice."
+
+"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 wiled 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
+[Footnote: Now the fertile firm of Joe Harris, a Yankee settler whose
+pleasant meadows and fields of grain form a pretty feature from the lake.
+It is one of the oldest clearings on the shore, and speaks well for the
+persevering industry of the settler and his family.] 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 waggon 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 grey 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 grey old oak or pine, while 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 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 regular blaze on the trees 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, a there were some striking peculiarities
+to mark it, and they had learned to be very minute in the remarks 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, viz. 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 and they should be warm 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 were 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 iron-wood, 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 framework
+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 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.[Footnote: This little
+stream flows through the green meadows of "Glenlynden," watering the
+grounds of Mr. Alfred Hayward, whose picturesque cottage forms a most
+attractive object to the eye of the traveller.] 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 mocassins,
+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 mocassins, 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 deadfalls, 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
+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 calicoes, 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 an attempt at making
+tea, on a small scale, of the leaves of the sweet fern,--a graceful woody
+fern, with a fine aromatic scent like nutmegs; this plant 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 could 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 live coals. 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, and make excellent meat of
+them; 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 all their happy
+days spent in the home which they now feared they were destined never again
+to behold. About the same time they lost the anxious hope of meeting
+some one from home in search of them at every turn when they went out.
+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 smoothe, 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.
+
+"Halloo! Louis, is it 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. They made
+for the mouth of the creek, and ran ashore among the thick bushes. 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. Well, 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 house-hold 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, and 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 favorite covert, on the
+low sheltered plain; where, being quite open, and almost, in parts, free
+from trees, the grass and herbage were sweeter and more abundant, and the
+springs of water 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 chipmunks 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 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 beep 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 grapevines 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 some of
+the clear spring; and after they had said their evening prayers, they
+laid 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-struck, 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 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 their 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
+dews, which, even on sultry summer's 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 racoon 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
+lighted an evening fire, at which they cooked as much 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 briars. 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. [Footnote: George Copway, an
+intelligent Rice Lake Indian, says the Indian hunting-grounds are parcelled
+out, and secured by right of law and custom among themselves, no one being
+allowed to hunt upon another's grounds uninvited. If any one belonging to
+another family or tribe is found trespassing, all his goods are taken from
+him; a handful of powder and shot, as much as he would need to shoot game
+for his sustenance in returning straight home, and his gun, knife, and
+tomahawk only are left, but all his game and furs are taken from him: a
+message is sent to his chief, and if he transgresses a third time, he
+is banished and outlawed.--_Life of G. Copway, Missionary, written by
+himself._] 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 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 befel 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, or 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 eye to penetrate the
+surrounding gloom, now straining his ear 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 "Whip-poor-will," as she 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 under
+tone, and dosed 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' grey 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 the fall 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 masses 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 shaw,'_ 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 thought it not impossible I might find something to repay me for my
+trouble--flint arrow-heads, 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,
+tied by thongs of hide to branches which they had bent down to fasten them
+to her feet, bound fast to the same tree as that against which her head was
+fastened; her position was one that must have been most painful: 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 wolf,
+and 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 immoveable 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 sunk 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 fancy she thought I was going to
+kill her. At last 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 face 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 grey 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 made "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
+characterised 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 produces a strong plant, we shall have a great increase,
+and beside 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 stir-about, 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, was quite on the
+_qui vive_, and 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 Louis 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 theshores
+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 soup 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 furthest from the fir; 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: _Gualtheria
+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 _dulcamara_, or 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. [Footnote: By the testimony of many of the Indians themselves,
+they appear to entertain a certain Polytheism in their belief. "We believed
+in one great wise benevolent being, Thesha-mon-e-doo, whose dwelling was
+in the sun. We believed also in many other lesser spirits--gods of the
+elements, and in one bad unappeasable spirit, Mah-je-mah-ne-doo, to whom
+we attributed bad luck, evil accidents, and sickness and death. This bad
+spirit has to be conciliated with meat and drink offerings."--_Life of
+George Copway, Native Missionary_]
+
+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 congeners.
+Her powers of imitation were also great; she brought patience and
+perseverance to assist her, and 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, mocassins, 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 was made and ornamented by
+her hands, that he carried his knife in; and the case for his arrows, of
+birch-bark, was 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,"--
+Ma-wah-osh.
+
+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 unburthen 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; but 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.] but it was not in these things alone she showed 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 occupation of the winter months. I must not forestall my
+narrative.
+
+
+
+
+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 was 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, just 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 not disposed to launch the
+raft on so stormy a surface, but they 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
+vessel; 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 his new
+fur cap, that he had made with great skill from an entire fox skin, in the
+air, 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 sung, and danced, and laughed, and
+shouted, till the lonely echoes of the islands and far-off hills returned
+the unusual sound, 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 great apparent ease, as
+a London or 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 with apparent ease the steep bank, and soon distanced her
+companions, to her great enjoyment. 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, after all, 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,
+was useful for drying the rice she meant to store. The very 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 knee; light vests bordered with fur
+completed the upper part, and leggings, terminated at the ankles by knotted
+fringes of the doe-skin, with mocassins turned over with a band of squirrel
+fur, completed the novel but not very unbecoming 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 parts, regarded them as most skilful
+dress-makers, and were never tired of admiring and commending their
+ingenuity in the cutting, 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 he more
+delightful than this sort of work to our young people, and merrily they
+worked, and laughed, and sung, as they came home each day with their light
+bark, laden with a store of grain that 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 bows and arrows, 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, and milking of
+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 down 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 that offered, 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.
+
+And Catharine was glad when, after many go 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, was, doubtless, a sacrifice 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 deeds of blood 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 and sharpened and driven into the ground; on these
+were laid four poles, so as to form a frame, over which she then 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, and this was effected by putting it
+by 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 Befel 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, that 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 Lewis, 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 was generally finished by 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 sins of the world,
+had satisfied his Father, the Great Spirit, an hundred-fold.
+
+They feasted now continually upon the waterfowl, 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 any of the birds that they did not
+require for present consumption, and these they dried for winter store,
+smoking some after the manner that the Shetlanders and 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 for 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 _Anderson's Point_, now the seat of the Indian village,
+used in former times to be a great place of rendezvous for the Indians,
+and was the site 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's warms
+the heart of any man, woman or child, saving myself 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 with slow but impassioned tone,
+"They left not one drop of living blood to flow in any veins but these,"
+and her eyes were raised, and her arms stretched upwards towards 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
+their movements. She told Hector to be under no apprehension if the Indians
+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 seemed intent only on the sport which they had come to enjoy,
+seeming in high glee, and as far as they could see quite peaceably
+disposed; every night they returned to the camp on the north side, and 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, and which I may as well relate, as I have raised
+the curiosity of my youthful readers, though to do so I must render it in
+my own language, as the broken half-formed sentences in which its facts
+were conveyed to the ears of my Canadian Crusoes would be unintelligible to
+my young friends. [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.]
+
+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 burnt 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 beside. 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 he must be
+pierced by his own father's hand, and his flesh 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 was 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, plunged the weapon
+into his heart with Spartan-like firmness. The fearful feast of human flesh
+was prepared, and that 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 fearful 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, 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 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
+wardance 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 and gory head of his only son, the _happy_
+bridegroom of 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 plunged the knife into 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; those 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 Indian girl 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 grey-head with the infant of days.
+But while the youths and old men tamely yielded to their enemies, there was
+one, whose 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 eye, 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, till not a victim was
+found, and again they went forth on their exterminating work. Lower down
+they found another encampment, and there also they slew all the inhabitants
+of the lodges; they then returned back to the island, to gather together
+their dead and collect the spoils of their tents. They were weary with
+the fatigue of the slaughter of that fearful day; they were tired of
+blood-shedding; 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, one 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, and 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, to
+perish with hunger and thirst on Bare-hill.
+
+Brooding with revenge in her heart, the young girl told them that she had
+stolen unperceived 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 chiefs 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 that 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.
+
+And she told 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; that the fire of revenge must be quenched within her heart, and
+the spirit of love alone find place within it, or she could not become the
+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 dovelike 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, and leading 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 me was a son of a
+Rice Lake chief, Mosang Poudash by name, who vouched for its truth as an
+historic fact remembered by his father, whose grandsire had been one of the
+actors in the massacre. Mosang Poudash promised to write down the legend,
+and did so in part, but made such confusion between his imperfect English
+and Indian language, that the MS. was unavailable for copying.]
+
+
+
+
+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
+wild fowl, and hunting and fishing by torch-light, 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,
+and all fear of detection had ceased for the time, they lighted up their
+shanty fire, and cooked a good supper, and also prepared sufficiency of
+food for the following day. 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 that 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; and what reliance could
+she feel in people who regarded deeds of blood and vengeance as acts of
+virtuous heroism?
+
+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 they
+had been too intent upon their game to notice the shanty, or had taken it
+for the shelter of some trapper if it had been seen, 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 when she saw them enter the ravine; and
+effectually hidden among the thick grey 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 for good or ill, she would not tell. On all matters connected with
+her religions 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 meanings 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 foretel 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 sung; 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, [Footnote: A lovely valley to the east of
+Mount Ararat, now belonging to a worthy and industrious family of the name
+of Brown. I wish Hector could see it as it now is,--a cultivated fertile
+farm.] 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 peas, 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 Catherine. "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 mocassins; beside, 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 grey;
+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. Beside porcupines, Indiana told her
+companions, there were some fine butter-nut trees on the island, and they
+could collect a bag full 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 council 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 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, 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 over-loaded 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
+elder, high-bush cranberries, dogwood, willows, and, as they proceeded
+further, and there was ground of a more solid nature, cedar, poplar, swamp
+oak, and soft maple, with silver birch and wild cherries. Long strings of
+silvery-grey 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, and the little band of voyagers were not very sorry when the
+water became too shallow to admit of the canoe making its way through the
+swampy channel, and they landed on the banks 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,
+and 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 pounced upon, and 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
+redar, 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
+mocassin, which he chucked 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
+mouldering 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 to 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 coals, 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 butternuts which Hector
+cracked with stones by way of nut-crackers, finished their sylvan meal. The
+boys stretched themselves to sleep on the ground, with their feet, Indian
+fashion, to the fire; while the two girls 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,
+[Footnote: Sugar Island, a charming object from the picturesque cottage
+of Alfred Hayward, Esq.] 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: The Beaver, 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. This island is nearly opposite to Gore's
+Landing, and forms a pleasing object from the windows and verandah of
+Claverton, the house of my esteemed friend, William Falkner, Esq., the
+Patriarch of the Plains, as he has often been termed; one of the only
+residents on the Rice Lake plains for many years; one of the few gentlemen
+who had taste enough to be charmed with this lovely tract of country, and
+to appreciate its agricultural resources, which, of late, have been so
+fully developed.] 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 Spooke Island, [Footnote: Appendix H.] which means in the
+Indian tongue, a place for the dead; it is sometimes called Spirit Island,
+and here, in times past, used the Indian people 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 shores.
+
+"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 awhile 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 water-falls 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 high road 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 grey cedars,--the pure
+ivory 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 lingered on the soft maples and crimson-tinted
+oaks, but the glory of the forest had departed; the silent fall of many a
+sear and yellow leaf told of the death of summer and of winter's coming
+reign. Yet the air was wrapt 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
+wood-pecker, or the shrill scream of the blue jay; the whirring sound of
+the large white and grey duck, (called by the frequenters of these lonely
+waters the whistle-wing,) 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 harbinger 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 them 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, excepting 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 honey-comb,
+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 house-keepers: the dry pine
+knots that are found in the woods are the settlers' candles; but 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 it into the
+unwary creature, she dragged it to the surface. Many a noble fish did the
+young squaw bring home, and lay 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 mocassins, 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 mocassins and an arrow case for Hector,
+besides making a sheath for Louis's _couteau-du-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 hiccory; 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 battledore and shuttlecock,"--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 that
+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 ancles ache, and that she preferred the mocassins
+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.
+[Footnote: One of these hoary monarchs of the Oak-lulls still stands at the
+head of the lawn at Oaklands, formerly the property of Mr, W. Falkner, now
+the residence of the Authoress.] 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. This circumstance gives a singular aspect to this 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 tableland, 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 that 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 the
+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 maybe a 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 even 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
+bass-wood 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 entire distance that
+their little, settlement was from any town or village had necessarily
+forced their families 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 little 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; and 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 could 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 long be prudent to remain 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, that
+came, guided by that instinct that never errs, from their abiding-places
+in far-off lands; and 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 redheaded
+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 his 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, and for
+such they listened with eager ears, for they told them--
+
+  "That winter, cold winter, was past,
+  And that spring, lovely spring, was approaching at last."
+
+They watched for the first song of the robin, [Footnote: _Turdus
+miyratorius_, or American robin.] and the full melody of the red thrush
+[Footnote: _Turdus melodus,_ or wood-thrush.]; the rushing sound of the
+passenger-pigeon, 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 has access to
+the earth much easier than in the close, dense forest; and Hector and Louis
+were soon able to move about with axe in hand, to cut the logs for the
+addition to the house which 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 which they had marked out, they
+proceeded to enclose it with a "brush fence", which 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 brush-wood. 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, and the two cousins were sitting 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 towards 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,[Footnote: Appendix I.] 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 which 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
+daytime. 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 daytime. 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 that they had no power to stop its onward course, as they possessed
+no implement better than a rough wood 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 applause, 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 storehouse for their goods, and would 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
+also from 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 fires 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 naming 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 safely, 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 near 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 burnt pine-woods look for years!" said Louis;
+"I do not think there is a more melancholy sight in life than one of those
+burnt pine-woods. There it stands, year after year, the black, branchless
+trees pointing up to the blue sky, as if crying for vengeance against those
+that kindled the fires."
+
+"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 fires 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
+(Andersen's Point, as it is now called), on the other side, they concluded
+the fires 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; and 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 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 was 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 lads, 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 "baines."] 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 Snow-storm, 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 loghouse 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 very decent 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 mate, woven by
+Indiana and Catharine, from rushes which they cut and dried; but the little
+squaw herself preferred lying on a mat or deer-skin on the floor before the
+fire, as she had been accustomed.
+
+A new field had been enclosed, and a fresh crop of corn planted, and
+was now green and flourishing. Peace and happiness dwelt within the
+loghouse;--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. Much they felt they had to be
+grateful for. Many privations, it is true, and much anxiety they had felt;
+but they had enjoyed blessings above all that they could have expected, and
+they 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 befal 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, which, with plenty of stewed rice, Indian meal
+cake, and maple sugar, was to make 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 her tack against the doorpost, and closed her eyes.
+Perhaps the poor child's thoughts were wandering back to her far-off,
+never-to-be-forgotten 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 lid.
+
+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 grey squirrel, a pet which she had
+tamed and taught to run to her and 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 scared thee by
+her own foolish fears. See now, there is neither cat-a-mount 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. Paralysed 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 his
+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's
+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 I 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 folly 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. [Footnote:
+Appendix K.]
+
+
+
+
+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 eye 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 friendliness, 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 leant 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-struck 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; and something like a gleam
+of hope came over her 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 neither
+could Catharine see the mouth of the ravine, nor the steep side of the
+mount that her brothers 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 midday they halted at a
+fine bend in the river, where a small open place and a creek flowing down
+through the woods afforded them cool water; and 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.
+
+On that spot where our Indian camp then stood, are now pleasant open
+meadows, with an avenue of fine pines and balsams; showing on the eminence
+above, a large substantial dwelling-house surrounded by a luxuriant orchard
+and garden, the property of a naval officer, [Footnote: Lt. Rubidge,
+whose interesting account of his early settlement may be read in a letter
+inserted in Captain Basil Hall's Letters from Canada.] who with the
+courage and perseverance that mark brave men of his class, first ventured
+to break the bush and locate himself and his infant family in the lonely
+wilderness, then far from any beaten road or the haunts of his fellow-men.
+
+But at the period of which I write, the axe of the adventurous settler had
+not levelled one trunk of that vast forest, neither had the fire scathed
+it; no voices of happy joyous children had rung through those shades, nor
+sound of rural labour nor bleating flock awakened its echoes.
+
+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! But
+now she was alone with none to love or cherish or console her, she felt a
+desolation of spirit that almost made her forgetful of that 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 that 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 massy 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 youngings; the dragon-fly hawking with rapid whirring sound for
+insects, and the loon, just visible from above the surface of the still
+stream, sailed 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, and the evening
+meal was now preparing,--and Catharine, chilled by the falling dew, crept
+to the enlivening warmth. And here she was pleased at being recognised by
+one friendly face--it was the mild and 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, the beaming smile that was
+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 what
+food her log-cabin afforded, and in return the good Indian took her to her
+wigwam and fed, and warmed, and cherished her with the loving-kindness of
+a Christian; and during all her sojourn in the Indian camp she was as a
+tender mother over 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 some of her homely preparations of 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
+the fall, 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 could not help being
+surprised at the want of curiosity respecting her that was shown 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, for before her they asked no questions about her,
+whatever they might do when she was absent, though they surveyed her with
+silent attention. Catharine learned, by long acquaintance with this people,
+that an outward manifestation of surprise [Footnote: See Appendix L.] 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, those
+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 granddaughter
+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 was inclined to
+extend her patronage to the young stranger, making her eat out of her own
+bark dish, and sit beside her on her own mat. She wove a chain 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 to and fro 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 doeskin with which Indiana had ornamented the border of
+the short jacket which 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 mocassins 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 them with deep attention.
+These people had recognised 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 know
+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 that 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 granddaughter, 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, she perceived the curtain of skins drawn back, and a female of
+singular and striking beauty appeared standing in the open space in front.
+She was habited in a fine tunic of white dressed doeskin richly embroidered
+with coloured beads and stained quills, a full petticoat of dark cloth
+bound with scarlet descended to her ancles, leggings fringed with deer-skin
+knotted with bands of coloured quills, with richly wrought mocassins 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; her stature
+was tall and well-formed; her large, liquid, dark eye 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, a 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 folks that she had loved the young Mohawk passionately, as a
+tender woman loves the husband of her youth; yet she had hesitated not
+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,
+  Dash'd 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, [Footnote:
+Now known by the name of Cambelltown, though, there is but one log-house
+and some pasture fields; it is a spot long used as a calling place for the
+steamer that plies on the Otoanbee, between Gore's Landing on the Rice Lake
+and Peterborough, to take in fire-wood.] 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 woodpeckers 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, [Footnote: Formerly known as Whitla's Rapids, now
+the site of the Locks.] 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. [Footnote: The little lake about a mile below Peterborough
+and above the Locks, formerly girt in by woods of pine and beech and maple,
+now entirely divested of trees and forming part of the suburbs of the town.
+] The rising moon shed her silvery light upon the calm waters, 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 pine,
+cedar 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. [Footnote:
+Over the Otonabee, just between the rapids and the island, a noble and
+substantial bridge has been built.]
+
+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 living mothers when the season of
+refreshment and repose arrived; but she alas! was friendless and alone, an
+orphan girl, reft 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 perhaps might have passed through the mind of the lonely captive
+girl, as she sat at the foot of one giant oak, and looked abroad over those
+moonlit waters, till, oppressed by the 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 either
+arises 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; these, 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 mocassins, 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 upon 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 that Louis had
+made for her; and 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 those human charities is equally beneficial to those who
+give and those that 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?"
+  BRAUMONT AND FLETCHER.
+
+It was near sunset before Hector and his cousin 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 very anxious, but ate some
+of the rice and honey, for they were hungry with long fasting; and taking
+some Indian meal cake in their hands, they went out to call her in, but no
+trace of her was visible. They now became alarmed, fearing that 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--no, she was not to be seen; night found them still 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, having
+seen nothing of the Indians.
+
+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 laid 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. Desolation had
+fallen upon their house, and the evil which of all others they had most
+feared, had happened to them.
+
+Indiana, whose vigilance was more untiring, for she yielded not so 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 woven by
+Catharine, and probably been about 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. It was evident
+that she had been taken away from her home by these people. 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. The remembrance of many of
+their joyous days of childhood made Louis weep sorrowful tears for happy
+days, never to return again; he 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, no 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. This was all they could do, further
+search was unavailing; as they found no trace of any violence having been
+committed, they still cherished hopes that no personal harm had been done
+to the poor captive, It was Indiana's opinion that, though a prisoner, she
+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
+an 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; "this is cruel to abandon us thus."
+
+"She has gone up the river, with 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."
+
+"Alas!" said Hector, "she will perish miserably and to no avail; they would
+not restore our dear sister, even at the sacrifice of Indiana's life."
+
+"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 befals 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 dread suspense and inaction."
+
+The early dawn saw the two cousins busily engaged chopping at a tree of
+suitable dimensions, and they worked hard all that day, and the next, and
+the next, before the canoe was hollowed out, and then, 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--aye! and a third and a fourth 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, a 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.
+
+"I wish the old fellow was inclined to be sociable. Hark, if he is not
+singing now! aye, and the very chorus of the old song,"--and Louis raised
+his voice to its highest pitch as he repeated,
+
+  "Through the wild woods well wander,
+  And well chase the buffalo--
+  And we'll chase the buflalo."
+
+"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 mocassins,
+sprung 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.
+
+"What, mes fils, are your parents dead? Ah well! I did not think to have
+outlived them; but they have not led such healthy lives as old Jacob
+Morelle--hunting, fishing, lumbering, trapping,--those are the things to
+harden a man and make him as tough as a stock-fish--eh! mes enfans, is it
+not so?"
+
+Hector then 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 la bonne fille should not remain
+an hour longer than he could help among those savage wretches. Yes, he, her
+father's old friend, would go up the river and bring her back in safety, or
+leave his grey scalp behind him among the wigwams."
+
+"It is too late, Jacob, to think of starting today," 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, "for 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, yet 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, and caress his shaggy neck, and pillow his great head upon her
+lap, or suffer him to put his huge paws upon 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, mes enfans, 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 "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 what, boys, that is the provoking part of it. I remember when
+I was out on the St. John's, 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 was not sorry when the
+old lumberer, taking his red nightcap out of his pocket, at last stretched
+himself out on a buffalo skin that he had brought up from the canoe, and
+soon was soundly sleeping.
+
+The morning was yet grey when the old man shook himself from his slumber,
+which, if not deep, had been loud; 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 on the coals for his
+breakfast; and was thus engaged when Hector and Louis wakened.
+
+"Mes enfans," said Jacob, "I have been turning over in my mind about your
+sister, 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 single-handed; see, I have here
+scarlet-cloth, beads, and powder and shot. I carry no firewater; 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 grey 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:
+Crook's Rapids.] make a portage there; but as your craft is too weighty to
+carry far, e'en leave her and chop out another, and go down to the Falls;
+[Footnote: Heeley's Falls, on the Trent.] 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--aye, 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.
+
+What changes a few years make in places! That spot over which the Indians
+roved, free of all control, is now a large and wide-spreading town. Those
+glorious old trees are fast fading away, the memory only of them remains to
+some of the first settlers, who saw them twenty-five years ago, shadowing
+the now open market-place; the fine old oaks have disappeared, but the
+green emerald turf that they once shaded still remains. The wild rushing
+river still pours down its resistless spring floods, but its banks have
+been levelled, and a noble bridge now spans its rapid waters. It has seen
+the destruction of two log-bridges, but this new, substantial, imposing
+structure bids fair to stand from generation to generation. The Indian
+regards it with stupid wonder: he is no mechanic; his simple canoe of birch
+bark is his only notion of communication from one shore to another. The
+towns-people and country settlers view it with pride and satisfaction,
+as a means of commerce and agricultural advantage. That lonely hill, from
+which Catharine viewed the rapid-flowing river by moonlight, and marvelled
+at its beauty and its power, is now the Court-house Hill, the seat of
+justice for the district,--a fine, substantial edifice; its shining roof
+and pillared portico may be seen from every approach to the town. That grey
+village spire, with its groves of oak and pine, how invitingly it stands!
+those trees that embower it, once formed a covert for the deer. Yonder
+scattered groups of neat white cottages, each with its garden of flowers
+and fruit, are spread over what was once an open plain, thinly planted with
+poplar, oaks, and pine. See, there is another church; and nearer, towards
+the west end of the town, on that fine slope, stands another, and another.
+That sound that falls upon the ear is not the rapids of the river, but the
+dash of mill wheels and mill dams, worked by the waters of that lovely
+winding brook which has travelled far through woods and deep forest dingles
+to yield its tribute to the Otonabee. There is the busy post-office, on the
+velvet carpet of turf; a few years, yes, even a few years ago, that spot
+was a grove of trees. The neat log building that stood then alone there,
+was inhabited by the Government Agent, now Colonel Macdonald, and groups
+of Indians might be seen congregated on the green, or reposing under the
+trees, forming meet subjects for the painter's pencil, for he knew them
+well, and was kind to them.
+
+The Indian only visits the town, once the favourite site for his hunting
+lodge, to receive his annual government presents, to trade his simple wares
+of basket and birch-bark work, to bring in his furs, or maybe to sell his
+fish or venison, and take back such store goods as his intercourse with his
+white brethren has made him consider necessary to his comforts, to supply
+wants which have now become indispensable, before undreamed of. He
+traverses those populous, busy streets, he looks round upon dwellings, and
+gay clothes, and equipages, and luxuries which he can neither obtain nor
+imitate; and feels his spirit lowered--he is no more a people--the tide of
+intellect has borne him down, and swept his humble wigwam from the earth.
+He, too, is changing: he now dwells, for the most part, in villages, in
+houses that cannot be moved away at his will or necessity; he has become a
+tiller of the ground, his hunting expeditions are prescribed within narrow
+bounds, the forest is disappearing, the white man is everywhere. The Indian
+must also yield to circumstances; he submits patiently. Perhaps he
+murmurs in secret; but his voice is low, it is not heard; he has no
+representative in the senate to take interest in his welfare, to plead in
+his behalf. He is anxious, too, for the improvement of his race: he gladly
+listens to the words of life, and sees with joy his children being brought
+up in the fear and nurture of the Lord; he sees with pride some of his own
+blood going forth on the mission of love to other distant tribes; he is
+proud of being a Christian; and if there be some that still look back to
+the freedom of former years, and talk of "the good old times," when they
+wandered free as the winds and waters through those giant woods, they are
+fast fading away. A new race is rising up, and the old hunter will soon
+become a being unknown in Canada.
+
+There is an old gnarled oak that stands, or lately stood, on the turfy
+bank, just behind the old Government-house (as the settlers called it),
+looking down the precipitous cliff on the river and the islands. The
+Indians called it "the white girl's rest," for it was there that Catharine
+delighted to sit, above the noise and bustle of the camp, to sing her
+snatches of old Scottish songs, or pray the captive exile's prayer, unheard
+and unseen.
+
+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 fires 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 lay 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 mocassins
+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 deprives Catharine of the
+power of speech; then terror for the safety of her friend takes 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 anger, 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, an attitude of
+submission, over her breast 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 eye was 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 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 instead the rebellious daughter of the Ojebwa's
+enemy, to die or be his servant; she fears nothing 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 open. The white squaw shall be
+restored to her brother's lodge--but thou remainest. I have spoken."
+
+Catharine in tears cast her arms around 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 in 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 and death-song
+are 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
+were the tempting stores of scarlet cloth and beads for the women, with
+powder and shot, laid before the chief: the arrows of six warriors were
+fitted to the string, and again the dance and song commenced, as if, like
+the roll of the drum and clangour of the trumpet, it were necessary to the
+excitement of strong and powerful feelings, and the suppression of all
+tenderer emotions.
+
+And now a wild and solemn voice was heard, unearthly in its tones, rising
+above the yells of those savage men. At that sound every cheek became pale:
+it struck upon the ear as some funeral wail. Was 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 deemed her, advanced to the criminal. But it
+was not to shed the heart's blood of the Mohawk girl, but to severe the
+thongs that bound her to the deadly stake, for which that glittering blade
+was drawn, and to bid her depart in peace whithersoever she would go.
+
+Then, turning to the Bald Eagle, she thus addressed 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 Snowbird. 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 Snowbird; 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 sun-rise 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, [Footnote: Appendix M] mocassins 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 her brothers 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 light 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, then 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, eyeing his arrangements for their night
+shelter with great satisfaction.
+
+He then proceeded to bait his line, and in a few minutes had a dish of
+splendid bass ready for the coals. 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 wile 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 fireflies 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 lightly did they spring from their low bed, wakened by the early song
+of the forest birds! The light curling mist hung in fleecy volumes upon
+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 sylvan 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 oarlike 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 bowstring, 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 of 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 are 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 eat her 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 red-wings
+rise from among them as the canoe passes near--their bright shoulder-knots
+glance like flashes of lightning in the sun-beams.
+
+This low swampy island, filled with driftwood, these grey hoary trees, half
+choked and killed with grey moss and lichens--those straggling alders and
+black ash look melancholy--they are like premature old age, grey-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, and
+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--Gores'
+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 belong 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. [Footnote: Appendix N.] 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 steep cliff-like shoulder of
+that steep bank, and now, out of breath, 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 grey
+ashes--old Wolfe is not there--all is silent--and Catharine sits down
+to still the beating of her heart and await the coming up 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 with 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 their 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 its 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; but 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 father's 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 she would have said.
+"Thy home shall be my home, thy God my God."
+
+"Well, mon ami, 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. Well, 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 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."--_New Testament_.
+
+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 is shared with
+silver, her cheek is pale as wax, and her hand is 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. "Ha,
+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.
+
+"How is ma chere mere, and the young ones?" asked the old man, in a husky
+voice--his kind heart was full. "Can you receive me, and those I have with
+me, for the night? A spare corner, a shake-down, will do; we travellers in
+the bush are no wise nice."
+
+"The best we have, and kindly welcome; it is gude for saer een to see you,
+Jacob. How many are ye in all?"
+
+"There are just four, beside 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. Oh! 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 that 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 het 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;"
+and Hector hurried to Indiana and half leading, half carrying the reluctant
+girl, brought her to his parents and bade them be kind to and cherish the
+young stranger, to whom they all owed so much.
+
+I will not dwell upon the universal joy that filled that humble dwelling,
+or tell the delight of Kenneth and Donald at the return of their lost
+brother and sister, for my story hurries to a close.
+
+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, hardly 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 road-side on either hand, and fancy that thereabouts
+our Canadian Crusoes' home once stood--he sees the lofty wood-crowned
+hill, and sees 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
+colonists.
+
+Not long after the Maxwells took possession of a grant of land, and cleared
+and built for themselves and their family. That year 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. As to Catharine and Louis, I am not sufficiently skilled in the laws
+of their church to tell how the difficulty of nearness of kin was obviated,
+but they were married on the same day as Hector and Indiana, and lived a
+happy and prosperous life; and often by their fireside would delight their
+children by recounting the history of their wanderings on the Rice Lake
+Plains.
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX
+
+
+APPENDIX A.--_Preface._
+
+Page vii.
+
+Sarah Campbell, of Windsor, who was lost in the woods on the 11th of
+August, 1848, returned to her home on the 31st, having been absent
+twenty-one days. A friend has sent us a circumstantial account of her
+wanderings, of the efforts made in her behalf, and her return home, from
+which we condense the following statements:--
+
+It appears that on the 11th of August, in company with two friends, she
+went fishing on the north branch of Windsor-brook; and that on attempting
+to return she became separated from her companions, who returned to her
+mother's, the Widow Campbell, expecting to find her at home. Several of her
+neighbours searched for her during the night, without success. The search
+was continued during Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, by some fifty or sixty
+individuals, and although her tracks, and those of a dog which accompanied
+her, were discovered, no tidings of the girl were obtained. A general
+sympathy for the afflicted widow and her lost daughter was excited, and
+notwithstanding the busy season of the year, great numbers from Windsor and
+the neighbouring townships of Brompton, Shipton, Melbourne, Durham, Oxford,
+Sherbrooke, Lennoxville, Stoke, and Dudswell, turned out with provisions
+and implements for camping in the woods, in search of the girl, which was
+kept up without intermission for about fourteen days, when it was generally
+given up, under the impression that she must have died, either from
+starvation, or the inclemency of the weather, it having rained almost
+incessantly for nearly a week of the time. On the 3lst her brother returned
+home from Massachusetts, and with two or three others renewed the search,
+but returned the second day, and learned to their great joy that the lost
+one had found her way home the evening previous.
+
+On hearing of her return, our correspondent made a visit to Widow Campbell,
+to hear from her daughter the story of her wanderings. She was found,
+as might be supposed, in a very weak and exhausted condition, but quite
+rational, as it seems she had been during the whole period of her absence.
+From her story the following particulars were gathered:--
+
+When first lost she went directly from home down "Open Brooke," to a
+meadow, about a mile distant from where she had left her companions, which
+she mistook for what is called the "_Oxias_ opening," a mile distant in
+the opposite direction. On Sabbath morning, knowing that she was lost, and
+having heard that lost persons might be guided by the sun, she undertook
+to follow the sun during the day. In the morning she directed her steps
+towards the East, crossed the north Branch, mistaking it for "Open Brooke,"
+and travelled, frequently running, in a south-east direction (her way home
+was due north) seven or eight miles till she came to the great Hay-meadow
+in Windsor. There she spent Sabbath night, and on Monday morning directed
+her course to, and thence down, the South Branch in the great Meadow.
+
+After this, she appears to have spent her time, except while she was
+searching for food for herself and dog, in walking and running over
+the meadow, and up and down the south branch, in search of her home,
+occasionally wandering upon the highlands, and far down towards the
+junction of the two main streams, never being more than seven or eight
+miles from home.
+
+For several days, by attempting to follow the sun, she travelled in a
+circle, finding herself at night near the place where she left in the
+morning. Although she often came across the tracks of large parties of men,
+and their recently-erected camps, and knew that multitudes of people were
+in search of her, she saw no living person, and heard no sound of trumpet,
+or other noise, except the report of a gun, as she lay by a brook, early on
+Thursday morning, the sixth day of her being lost. Thinking the gun to have
+been fired not more than half a mile distant, she said she "screamed and
+run" to the place from whence she supposed the noise came, but found
+nothing. Early in the day, however, she came to the camp where this gun was
+fired, but not until after its occupants had left to renew their search for
+her. This camp was about four miles from the great meadow, where she spent
+the Sabbath previous. There she found a fire, dried her clothes, and found
+a partridge's gizzard, which she cooked and ate, and laid down and slept,
+remaining about twenty-four hours.
+
+In her travels she came across several other camps, some of which she
+visited several times, particularly one where she found names cut upon
+trees, and another in which was a piece of white paper. Except three or
+four nights spent in these camps, she slept upon the ground, sometimes
+making a bed of moss, and endeavouring to shelter herself from the
+drenching rains with spruce boughs. For the two first weeks she suffered
+much from the cold, shivering all night, and sleeping but little. The last
+week she said she had got "toughened," and did not shiver. When first
+lost she had a large trout, which was the only food she ate, except
+choke-berries, the first week, and part of this she gave to her dog, which
+remained with her for a week, day and night. The cherries, which she ate
+greedily, swallowing the stones, she found injured her health; and for the
+last two weeks she lived upon cranberries and wood sorrel. While the dog
+remained with her, she constantly shared her food with him, but said she
+was glad when he left her, as it was much trouble to find him food.
+
+On Thursday of last week she followed the south towards the junction with
+the north branch, where it appeared she had been before, but could not ford
+the stream; and in the afternoon of Friday crossed the north, a little
+above its junction with the south branch, and following down the stream,
+she found herself in the clearing, near Moor's Mill. Thence directing
+her steps towards home, she reached Mr. McDale's, about a mile from her
+mother's, at six o'clock, having walked five miles in two hours, and
+probably ten miles during the day. Here she remained till the next day,
+when she was carried home, and was received by friends almost as one raised
+from the dead. Her feet and ankles were very much swollen and lacerated;
+but strange to say, her calico gown was kept whole, with the exception of
+two small rents.
+
+Respecting her feelings during her fast in the wilderness, she says she
+was never frightened, though sometimes, when the sun disappeared, she felt
+disheartened, expecting to perish; but when she found, by not discovering
+any new tracks, that the people had given over searching for her, she was
+greatly discouraged. On the morning of Friday, she was strongly inclined to
+give up, and lie down and die; but the hope of seeing her mother stimulated
+her to make one more effort to reach home, which proved successful. When
+visited, she was in a state of feverish excitement and general derangement
+of the system, and greatly emaciated, with a feeble voice, but perfectly
+sane and collected.
+
+It is somewhat remarkable that a young girl (aged seventeen), thinly clad,
+could have survived twenty-one days, exposed as she was to such severe
+storms, with no other food but wild berries. It is also very strange that
+she should have been so frequently on the tracks of those in search of her,
+sleeping in the camps, and endeavouring to follow their tracks home, and
+not have heard any of their numerous trumpets, or been seen by any of the
+hundreds of persons who were in search for her.
+
+A more dismal result than the deprivations endured by Sarah Campbell, is
+the frightful existence of a human creature, called in the American papers,
+the "Wild Man of the far West." From time to time, these details approach
+the terrific, of wild men who have grown up from childhood in a state of
+destitution in the interminable forests, especially of this one, who, for
+nearly a quarter of a century, has occasionally been seen, and then either
+forgotten, or supposed to be the mere creation of the beholder's brain. But
+it appears that he was, in March, 1850, encountered by Mr. Hamilton, of
+Greene County, Arkansas, when hunting. The wild man was, likewise, chasing
+his prey. A herd of cattle fled past Mr. Hamilton and his party, in an
+agony of terror, pursued by a giant, bearing a dreadful semblance to
+humanity. His face and shoulders were enveloped with long streaming hair,
+his body was entirely hirsute, his progression was by great jumps of twelve
+or thirteen feet at a leap. The creature turned and gazed earnestly on the
+hunters, and fled into the depths of the forest, where he was lost to view.
+His foot-prints were thirteen inches long. Mr. Hamilton published the
+description of the savage man in the _Memphis Inquirer_. Afterwards several
+planters deposed to having, at times, for many years, seen this appearance.
+All persons generally agreed that it was a child that had been lost in the
+woods, at the earthquake in 1811, now grown to meridian strength, in a
+solitary state. Thus the possibility of an European child living, even
+unassisted, in the wilderness, is familiar to the inhabitants of the
+vast American continent. Although we doubt that any human creature would
+progress by leaps, instead of the paces familiar to the human instinct. It
+is probable that the wild man of the Arkansas is, in reality, some species
+of the oran-outang, or chimpanzee.
+
+
+APPENDIX B.
+
+Page 72.--_"where Wolf Tower now stands."_
+
+The Wolf Tower is among the very few structures in Canada not devoted to
+purposes of strict utility. It was built by a gentleman of property as a
+_belle vue,_ or fanciful prospect residence, in order to divert his mind
+from the heavy pressure of family affliction. It was once lent by him to
+the author, who dwelt here some time during the preparation of another
+house in the district.
+
+
+APPENDIX C.
+
+Page 113.--_"... as civilization advances."_
+
+Formerly the Rice Lake Plains abounded in deer, wolves, bears, raccoons,
+wolverines, foxes, and wild animals of many kinds. Even a few years ago,
+and bears and wolves were not unfrequent in their depredations; and the
+ravines sheltered herds of deer; but now the sight of the former is a thing
+of rare occurrence, and the deer are scarcely to be seen, so changed is
+this lovely wilderness, that green pastures and yellow cornfields now meet
+the eye on every side, and the wild beasts retire to the less frequented
+depths of the forest.
+
+From the undulating surface, the alternations of high hills, deep valleys,
+and level table-lands, with the wide prospect they command, the Rice Lake
+Plains still retain their picturesque beauty, which cannot be marred by the
+hand of the settler even be he ever so devoid of taste; and many of those
+who have chosen it as their home are persons of taste and refinement, who
+delight in adding to the beauty of that which Nature had left so fair.
+
+APPENDIX D. Page 157, _note_.
+
+"I will now," says our Indian historian, "narrate a single circumstance
+which will convey a correct idea of the sufferings to which Indians were
+often exposed. To obtain furs of different kinds for the traders, we had to
+travel far into the woods, and remain there the whole winter. Once we left
+Rice Lake in the fall, and ascended the river in canoes as far as Belmont
+Lake. There were five families about to hunt with my father on his ground.
+The winter began to set in, and the river having frozen over, we left the
+canoes, the dried venison, the beaver, and some flour and pork; and when we
+had gone further north, say about sixty miles from the white settlements,
+for the purpose of hunting, the snow fell for five days in succession,
+to such a depth, that it was impossible to shoot or trap anything; our
+provisions were exhausted, and we had no means of procuring any more. Here
+we were, the snow about five feet deep, our wigwam buried, the branches of
+the trees falling all about us, and cracking with the weight of the snow.
+
+"Our mother (who seems, by-the-bye, from the record of her son, to have
+been a most excellent woman) boiled birch-bark for my sister and myself,
+that we might not starve. On the seventh day some of us were so weak they
+could not guard themselves, and others could not stand alone. They could
+only crawl in and out of the wigwam. We parched beaver skins and old
+mocassins for food. On the ninth day none of the men could go abroad except
+my father and uncle. On the tenth day, still being without food, the only
+ones able to walk about the wigwam were my father, my grandmother, my
+sister, and myself. Oh, how distressing to see the starving Indians lying
+about the wigwam with hungry and eager looks!--the children would cry for
+something to eat! My poor mother would heave bitter sighs, of despair, the
+tears falling profusely from her cheeks as she kissed us! Wood, though in
+plenty, could not be obtained on account of the feebleness of our limbs. My
+father would at times draw near the fire and rehearse some prayer to the
+gods. It appeared to him that there was no way of escape; the men, women,
+and children, dying; some of them were speechless, the wigwam was cold and
+dark, and covered with snow!
+
+"On the eleventh day, just before daylight, my father fell into a sleep; he
+soon awoke, and said to me: 'My son, the good Spirit is about to bless us
+this night; in my dream I saw a person coming from the east walking on
+the tops of the trees; he told me we should obtain two beavers about nine
+o'clock. Put on your mocassins, and go along with me to the river, and we
+will hunt beaver, perhaps, for the last time.' I saw that his countenance
+beamed with delight and hope; he was full of confidence. I put on my
+mocassins and carried my snow-shoes, staggering along behind him about half
+a mile. Having made a fire near the river, where there was an air-hole
+through which the beaver had come up during the night, my father tied a gun
+to a stump with the muzzle towards the air-hole; he also tied a string to
+the trigger, and said, 'Should you see the beaver rise pull the string, and
+you will kill it.' I stood by the fire, with the string in my hand; I soon
+heard the noise occasioned by the blow of his tomahawk; he had killed a
+beaver and brought it to me. As he laid it down, he said, 'Then the great
+Spirit will not let us die here;' adding, as before, 'if you see the beaver
+rise, pull the string;' and he left me. I soon saw the nose of one, but I
+did not shoot. Presently, another came up; I pulled the trigger, and off
+the gun went. I could not see for some moments for the smoke. My father ran
+towards me with the two beavers, and laid them side by side; then, pointing
+to the sun,--'Do you see the sun?' he said; 'the great Spirit informed me
+that we should kill these two about this time in the morning. We will yet
+see our relatives at Rice Lake. Now let us go home, and see if our people
+are yet alive.' We arrived just in time to save them from death. Since
+which we have visited the same spot the year the missionaries came among
+us.
+
+"My father knelt down, with feelings of gratitude, on the very spot where
+we had nearly perished. Glory to God! I have heard of many who have
+perished in this way far up in the woods."--_Life of George Copway, written
+by himself_, p. 44.
+
+APPENDIX E.
+
+Page 184.--"_... on first deciding that it was a canoe._"
+
+The Indians say, that before their fathers had tools of iron and steel
+in common use, a war canoe was the labour of three generations. It was
+hollowed out by means of fire, cautiously applied, or by stone hatchets;
+but so slowly did the work proceed, that years were passed in its
+excavation. When completed, it was regarded as a great achievement, and its
+launching on the waters of the lake or river was celebrated by feasting
+and dancing. The artizans were venerated as great patriots. Possibly the
+birch-bark canoe was of older date, as being more easily constructed, and
+needing not the assistance of the axe in forming it; but it was too frail
+to be used in war, or in long voyages, being liable to injuries.
+
+The black stone wedges, so often found on the borders of our inland waters,
+were used by the Indians in skinning the deer and bear. Their arrow-heads
+were of white or black flint, rudely chipped into shape, and inserted in
+a cleft stick. A larger sort were used for killing deer; and blunt wooden
+ones were used by the children, for shooting birds and small game.
+
+APPENDIX F.
+
+Page 195.--_"... the Christian mind revolts with horror."_
+
+There is, according to the native author, George Copway, a strong feeling
+in the Indians for conversion and civilization, and a concentration of all
+the Christianised tribes, now scattered far and wide along the northern
+banks of the lakes and rivers, into one nation, to be called by one name,
+and united in one purpose--their general improvement. To this end, one of
+the most influential of their chiefs, John Jones, of Dover Sound, offered
+to give up to his Indian brethren, free of all cost, a large tract of
+unceded land, that they might be gathered together as one nation.
+
+In the council held at Sangeeny, where were convened Indian chiefs from
+lakes St. Clare, Samcoe, Huron, Ontario, and Rice, and other lakes, it was
+proposed to devise a plan by which the tract owned by the Sangeenys could
+be held for the benefit of the Ojebwas, to petition Government for aid in
+establishing a manual-labour school, and to ascertain the general feeling
+of the chiefs in relation to forming one large settlement at Owen's Sound.
+At this meeting forty-eight chiefs were assembled.
+
+There is much to admire in the simple, earnest, and courteous style of the
+oration delivered by Chief John Jones, and will give to my readers some
+idea of the intelligence of an educated Indian:--
+
+"Brothers, you have been called from all your parts of Canada, even from
+the north of Georgian Bay. You are from your homes, your wives, and your
+children. We might regret this, were it not for the circumstances that
+require you here.
+
+"Fellow-chiefs and brothers, I have pondered with deep solicitude our
+present condition and the future welfare of our children, as well as of
+ourselves. I have studied deeply and anxiously, in order to arrive at a
+true knowledge of the proper course to be pursued to secure to us and our
+descendants, and even to those around us, the greatest amount of peace,
+health, happiness, and usefulness. The interests of the Ojebwas and Ottawas
+are near and dear to my heart; for them I have often passed sleepless
+nights, and have suffered from an agitated mind. These nations, I am proud
+to say, are my brothers, many of them bone of my bone; and for them, if
+needs be, I would willingly sacrifice anything. Brothers, you see my
+heart." [Here he held out a piece of white paper, emblematical of a pure
+heart.]
+
+"Fellow-chiefs and warriors, I have looked over your wigwams throughout
+Canada, and have come to the conclusion that you are in a warm place
+[_query_, too hot to hold you]. The whites are kindling fires all round you
+[_i.e._ clearing land].
+
+"One purpose for which you have been called together, is to devise some
+plan by which we can live together, and become a happy people; so that our
+dying fires may not go out, _i.e._ our people become extinct, but may be
+kindled, and burn brightly, in one place. We now offer you any portion of
+the land we own in this region, that we may smoke the pipe of peace, and
+live and die together, and see our children play and be reared on the same
+spot. We ask no money of you. We love you; and because we love you, and
+feel for you, we propose this.
+
+"My chiefs, brothers, warriors. This morning" [the speaker now pointed with
+his finger towards the heavens], "look up and see the blue sky: there are
+no clouds; the sun is bright and clear. Our fathers taught us, that when
+the sky was without clouds, the Great Spirit was smiling upon them. May he
+now preside over us, that we may make a long, smooth, and straight path for
+our children. It is true I seldom see you all, but this morning I shake
+hands with you all, in my heart.
+
+"Brothers, this is all I have to say."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+APPENDIX G.
+
+Page 213.--_"... and aimed a knife at his throat"_
+
+The period at which these events are said to have occurred was some sixty
+or eighty years ago, according to the imperfect chronology of my informant.
+At first, I hesitated to believe that such horrible deeds as those recorded
+could have taken place almost within the memory of men. My Indian narrator
+replied--"Indians, no Christians in those days, do worse than that very few
+years ago,--do as bad now in far-west."
+
+The conversion of the Rice Lake Indians, and the gathering them together
+in villages, took place, I think, in the year 1825, or thereabouts. The
+conversion was effected by the preaching of missionaries from the Wesleyan
+Methodist Church; the village was under the patronage of Captain Anderson,
+whose descendants inherit much land on the north shore on and about
+Anderson's Point, the renowned site of the great battle. The war-weapon and
+bones of the enemies the Ojebwas are still to be found in this vicinity.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+APPENDIX H.
+
+Page 232.--_"This place she called Spooke Island"_
+
+Spooke Island. A singular and barren island in the Rice Lake, seventh from
+the head of the lake, on which the Indians used formerly to bury their
+dead, for many years held as a sacred spot, and only approached with
+reverence. Now famous for two things, _picnics_ and _poison ivy, rhus
+toxicodendron,_--many persons having suffered for their temerity in landing
+upon it and making it the scene of their rural festivities.
+
+
+APPENDIX I.
+
+Page 253.--_"and nothing but fire."_
+
+The Indians call the Rice Lake, in allusion to the rapidity with which
+fires run over the dry herbage, the Lake of the Burning Plains. Certainly,
+there is much poetical fitness and beauty in many of the Indian names,
+approximating very closely to the figurative imagery of the language of the
+East; such is "Mad-wa-osh," the music of the winds.
+
+
+APPENDIX K.
+
+Page 272.--_"but it was not so in the days whereof I have spoken."_
+
+_From George Copway's Life._
+
+Converted Indians are thus described in the "Life" of their literary
+countryman, George Copway:--
+
+_Chippewas of the River Credit._--These Indians are the remnant of a tribe
+which formerly possessed a considerable portion of the Elome and Gore
+Districts, of which, in 1818, they surrendered the greater part for an
+annuity of 532_l._ 10_s._ reserving only certain small tracts at the River
+Credit; and at sixteen and twelve miles creeks they were the first tribe
+converted to Christianity. Previous to the year 1823 they were wandering
+pagans. In that year Peter Jones, and John his brother, the sons of a white
+by a Mississaga woman, having been converted to Christianity, and admitted
+as members of the Wesleyan Methodist Church, became anxious to redeem
+their countrymen from their degraded state of heathenism and spiritual
+destitution. They collected a considerable number together, and by rote and
+frequent repetitions, taught the first principles of Christianity to such
+as were too old to learn to read, and with the Lord's Prayer, the Creed,
+and Commandments, were thus committed to memory. As soon as the tribes
+were converted they perceived the evils attendant on their former state
+of ignorance and vagrancy. They began to work, which they had never done
+before; they recognised the advantage of cultivating the soil; they gave
+up drinking, to which they had been greatly addicted, and became sober,
+consistent, industrious Christians.
+
+J. Sawyer, P. Jones, Chiefs; J. Jones, War-chief.
+
+The _Chippewas of Alnwick_ were converted in 1826-7 They were wandering
+pagans, in the neighbourhood of Belleville, Kingston, and Gannoyne,
+commonly known as Mississagas of the Bay of Quinte; they resided on Grape
+Island, in the Bay of Quinte, six miles from Belleville. They resided
+eleven years on the island, subsisting by hunting and agriculture. Their
+houses were erected partly by their own labour and by the Wesleyan
+Missionary funds; these consist of twenty-three houses, a commodious chapel
+and school, an infant school, hospital, smithy, shoemaker's shop and
+joiner's. There are upwards of 300 of these Indians.
+
+The chiefs are--Sunday; Simpson; G. Corrego, chief and missionary
+interpreter.
+
+_Rice Lake Chippewas_.--In 1818 the greater part of the Newcastle and
+Colburn districts were surrendered, for an annuity of 940_l_. These Indians
+have all been reclaimed from their wandering life, and settled in their
+present locations, within the last ten or twelve years. [Footnote: I think
+G. Copway is incorrect as to the date of the settling of the village, as it
+was pointed out to me in 1832. Note,--In the year 1822 the larger part
+of the Indian village on Anderson's Point was built and cultivated.]
+The settlement is on the north side of the lake, twelve miles from
+Peterborough. Number of Indians, 114; possessing 1,550 acres, subdivided in
+50-acre lots.
+
+Chiefs--Pondash, Copway, Crow.
+
+Deer were plenty a few years ago, but now only few can be found. The
+Ojebwas are at present employed in farming instead of hunting; many of them
+have good and well-cultivated farms; they not only raise grain, enough, for
+their own use, but often sell much to the whites.
+
+
+APPENDIX L.
+
+Page 282.--_"... that an outward manifestation of surprise."_
+
+A young friend, who was familiar with Indian character from frequent
+intercourse with them in his hunting expeditions, speaking of their
+apparent absence of curiosity, told me that, with a view to test it, he
+wound up a musical snuff-box, and placed it on a table in a room where
+several Indian hunters and their squaws were standing together, and
+narrowly watched their countenances, but they evinced no sort of surprise
+by look or gesture, remaining apathetically unmoved. He retired to an
+adjoining room, where, unseen, he could notice what passed, and was amused
+at perceiving, that the instant they imagined themselves free from his
+surveillance, the whole party mustered round the mysterious toy like a
+parcel of bees, and appeared to be full of conjecture and amazement, but
+they did not choose to be entrapped into showing surprise. This perfect
+command over the muscles of the face, and the glance of the eye, is one of
+the remarkable traits in the Indian character. The expression of the
+Indian face, if I may use so paradoxical a term, consists in a want of
+expression--like the stillness of dark deep water, beneath which no object
+is visible. APPENDIX M.
+
+Page 332.--_"bracelets of porcupine quills cut in fine pieces and strung in
+fanciful patterns."_
+
+The Indian method of drawing out patterns on the birch bark, is simply
+scratching the outline with some small-pointed instrument, Canadian thorn,
+a bodkin of bone, or a sharp nail. These outlines are then pierced with
+parallel rows of holes, into which the ends of the porcupine quills are
+inserted, forming a rich sort of embroidery on the surface of the bark.
+
+The Indian artistes have about as much notion of perspective, or the
+effects of light and shade, as the Chinese or our own early painters; their
+attempts at delineating animals, or birds, are flat, sharp, and angular;
+and their groups of flowers and trees not more graceful or natural than
+those on a china plate or jar; nevertheless, the effect produced is rich
+and striking, from the vivid colours and the variety of dyes they contrive
+to give to this simple material, the porcupine quills. The sinew of the
+deer, and some other animals, furnish the Indian women with thread, of any
+degree of fineness or strength. The wants of these simple folk are few,
+and those easily supplied by the adaptation of such materials as they can
+command with ease, in their savage state.
+
+
+APPENDIX N.
+
+Page 339.--_"is Mount Ararat."_
+
+Mount Ararat, the highest elevation on the Rice Lake Plains, for nearly two
+years the residence of the Authoress and her family.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Canadian Crusoes, by Catherine Parr Traill
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CANADIAN CRUSOES ***
+
+This file should be named 7cacr10.txt or 7cacr10.zip
+Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, 7cacr11.txt
+VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, 7cacr10a.txt
+
+Produced by Juliet Sutherland, David Widger,
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
+
+Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we usually do not
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+We are now trying to release all our eBooks one year in advance
+of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing.
+Please be encouraged to tell us about any error or corrections,
+even years after the official publication date.
+
+Please note neither this listing nor its contents are final til
+midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement.
+The official release date of all Project Gutenberg eBooks is at
+Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month.  A
+preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment
+and editing by those who wish to do so.
+
+Most people start at our Web sites at:
+http://gutenberg.net or
+http://promo.net/pg
+
+These Web sites include award-winning information about Project
+Gutenberg, including how to donate, how to help produce our new
+eBooks, and how to subscribe to our email newsletter (free!).
+
+
+Those of you who want to download any eBook before announcement
+can get to them as follows, and just download by date.  This is
+also a good way to get them instantly upon announcement, as the
+indexes our cataloguers produce obviously take a while after an
+announcement goes out in the Project Gutenberg Newsletter.
+
+http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext03 or
+ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext03
+
+Or /etext02, 01, 00, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90
+
+Just search by the first five letters of the filename you want,
+as it appears in our Newsletters.
+
+
+Information about Project Gutenberg (one page)
+
+We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work.  The
+time it takes us, a rather conservative estimate, is fifty hours
+to get any eBook selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright
+searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc.   Our
+projected audience is one hundred million readers.  If the value
+per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2
+million dollars per hour in 2002 as we release over 100 new text
+files per month:  1240 more eBooks in 2001 for a total of 4000+
+We are already on our way to trying for 2000 more eBooks in 2002
+If they reach just 1-2% of the world's population then the total
+will reach over half a trillion eBooks given away by year's end.
+
+The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away 1 Trillion eBooks!
+This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers,
+which is only about 4% of the present number of computer users.
+
+Here is the briefest record of our progress (* means estimated):
+
+eBooks Year Month
+
+    1  1971 July
+   10  1991 January
+  100  1994 January
+ 1000  1997 August
+ 1500  1998 October
+ 2000  1999 December
+ 2500  2000 December
+ 3000  2001 November
+ 4000  2001 October/November
+ 6000  2002 December*
+ 9000  2003 November*
+10000  2004 January*
+
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been created
+to secure a future for Project Gutenberg into the next millennium.
+
+We need your donations more than ever!
+
+As of February, 2002, contributions are being solicited from people
+and organizations in: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut,
+Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois,
+Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts,
+Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New
+Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio,
+Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South
+Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West
+Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
+
+We have filed in all 50 states now, but these are the only ones
+that have responded.
+
+As the requirements for other states are met, additions to this list
+will be made and fund raising will begin in the additional states.
+Please feel free to ask to check the status of your state.
+
+In answer to various questions we have received on this:
+
+We are constantly working on finishing the paperwork to legally
+request donations in all 50 states.  If your state is not listed and
+you would like to know if we have added it since the list you have,
+just ask.
+
+While we cannot solicit donations from people in states where we are
+not yet registered, we know of no prohibition against accepting
+donations from donors in these states who approach us with an offer to
+donate.
+
+International donations are accepted, but we don't know ANYTHING about
+how to make them tax-deductible, or even if they CAN be made
+deductible, and don't have the staff to handle it even if there are
+ways.
+
+Donations by check or money order may be sent to:
+
+Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+PMB 113
+1739 University Ave.
+Oxford, MS 38655-4109
+
+Contact us if you want to arrange for a wire transfer or payment
+method other than by check or money order.
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been approved by
+the US Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) organization with EIN
+[Employee Identification Number] 64-622154.  Donations are
+tax-deductible to the maximum extent permitted by law.  As fund-raising
+requirements for other states are met, additions to this list will be
+made and fund-raising will begin in the additional states.
+
+We need your donations more than ever!
+
+You can get up to date donation information online at:
+
+http://www.gutenberg.net/donation.html
+
+
+***
+
+If you can't reach Project Gutenberg,
+you can always email directly to:
+
+Michael S. Hart <hart@pobox.com>
+
+Prof. Hart will answer or forward your message.
+
+We would prefer to send you information by email.
+
+
+**The Legal Small Print**
+
+
+(Three Pages)
+
+***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS**START***
+Why is this "Small Print!" statement here? You know: lawyers.
+They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with
+your copy of this eBook, even if you got it for free from
+someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our
+fault. So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement
+disclaims most of our liability to you. It also tells you how
+you may distribute copies of this eBook if you want to.
+
+*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS EBOOK
+By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm
+eBook, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept
+this "Small Print!" statement. If you do not, you can receive
+a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this eBook by
+sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person
+you got it from. If you received this eBook on a physical
+medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request.
+
+ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM EBOOKS
+This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBooks,
+is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor Michael S. Hart
+through the Project Gutenberg Association (the "Project").
+Among other things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright
+on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and
+distribute it in the United States without permission and
+without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth
+below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this eBook
+under the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark.
+
+Please do not use the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark to market
+any commercial products without permission.
+
+To create these eBooks, the Project expends considerable
+efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain
+works. Despite these efforts, the Project's eBooks and any
+medium they may be on may contain "Defects". Among other
+things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other
+intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged
+disk or other eBook medium, a computer virus, or computer
+codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment.
+
+LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES
+But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below,
+[1] Michael Hart and the Foundation (and any other party you may
+receive this eBook from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook) disclaims
+all liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including
+legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR
+UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT,
+INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE
+OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE
+POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
+
+If you discover a Defect in this eBook within 90 days of
+receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any)
+you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that
+time to the person you received it from. If you received it
+on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and
+such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement
+copy. If you received it electronically, such person may
+choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to
+receive it electronically.
+
+THIS EBOOK IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS". NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS
+TO THE EBOOK OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT
+LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A
+PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
+
+Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or
+the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the
+above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you
+may have other legal rights.
+
+INDEMNITY
+You will indemnify and hold Michael Hart, the Foundation,
+and its trustees and agents, and any volunteers associated
+with the production and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm
+texts harmless, from all liability, cost and expense, including
+legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the
+following that you do or cause:  [1] distribution of this eBook,
+[2] alteration, modification, or addition to the eBook,
+or [3] any Defect.
+
+DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm"
+You may distribute copies of this eBook electronically, or by
+disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this
+"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg,
+or:
+
+[1]  Only give exact copies of it.  Among other things, this
+     requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the
+     eBook or this "small print!" statement.  You may however,
+     if you wish, distribute this eBook in machine readable
+     binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form,
+     including any form resulting from conversion by word
+     processing or hypertext software, but only so long as
+     *EITHER*:
+
+     [*]  The eBook, when displayed, is clearly readable, and
+          does *not* contain characters other than those
+          intended by the author of the work, although tilde
+          (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may
+          be used to convey punctuation intended by the
+          author, and additional characters may be used to
+          indicate hypertext links; OR
+
+     [*]  The eBook may be readily converted by the reader at
+          no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent
+          form by the program that displays the eBook (as is
+          the case, for instance, with most word processors);
+          OR
+
+     [*]  You provide, or agree to also provide on request at
+          no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the
+          eBook in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC
+          or other equivalent proprietary form).
+
+[2]  Honor the eBook refund and replacement provisions of this
+     "Small Print!" statement.
+
+[3]  Pay a trademark license fee to the Foundation of 20% of the
+     gross profits you derive calculated using the method you
+     already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  If you
+     don't derive profits, no royalty is due.  Royalties are
+     payable to "Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation"
+     the 60 days following each date you prepare (or were
+     legally required to prepare) your annual (or equivalent
+     periodic) tax return.  Please contact us beforehand to
+     let us know your plans and to work out the details.
+
+WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO?
+Project Gutenberg is dedicated to increasing the number of
+public domain and licensed works that can be freely distributed
+in machine readable form.
+
+The Project gratefully accepts contributions of money, time,
+public domain materials, or royalty free copyright licenses.
+Money should be paid to the:
+"Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+If you are interested in contributing scanning equipment or
+software or other items, please contact Michael Hart at:
+hart@pobox.com
+
+[Portions of this eBook's header and trailer may be reprinted only
+when distributed free of all fees.  Copyright (C) 2001, 2002 by
+Michael S. Hart.  Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be
+used in any sales of Project Gutenberg eBooks or other materials be
+they hardware or software or any other related product without
+express permission.]
+
+*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS*Ver.02/11/02*END*
+