ing now been used four or five years for
the same purpose. To pass between this clearing and the cabins would
have been too hazardous, and it became necessary to direct the march in
a way to turn the former.

The cow-paths answered as guides for quite a mile, Mike being
thoroughly acquainted with all their sinuosities. The captain and
serjeant, however, each carried a pocket compass, an instrument without
which few ventured far into the forests. Then the blows of the axes
served as sounds to let the adventurers know their relative position,
and, as they circled the place whence they issued, they gave the
constant assurance of their own progress, and probable security.

The reader will probably comprehend the nature of the ground over which
our party was now marching. The 'flats' proper, or the site of the old
Beaver Dam, have already been described. The valley, towards the south,
terminated at the rocks of the mill, changing its character below that
point, to a glen, or vast ravine. On the east were mountains of
considerable height, and of unlimited range; to the north, the level
land extended miles, though on a platform many feet higher than the
level of the cleared meadows; while, to the west, along the route the
adventurers were marching, broad slopes of rolling forest spread their
richly-wooded surfaces, filled with fair promise for the future. The
highest swell of this undulating forest was that nearest to the Hut,
and it was its elevation only that gave the home-scene the character of
a valley.

Captain Willoughby's object was to gain the summit of this first ridge
of land, which would serve as a guide to his object, since it
terminated at the line of rocks that made the water-fall, quite a mile,
however, in the rear of the mills. It would carry him also quite beyond
the clearing of the wood-choppers, and be effectually turning the whole
of the enemy's position. Once at the precipitous termination caused by
the face of rock that had been thrown to the surface by some geological
phenomenon, he could not miss his way, since these rugged marks must of
themselves lead him directly to the station known to be occupied by the
body of his foes.

Half an hour served to reach the desired ridge, when the party changed
its march, pursuing a direction nearly south, along its summit.

"Those axes sound nearer and nearer, serjeant," Captain Willoughby
observed, after the march had lasted a long time in profound silence.
"W