d to turn off here, and leave the open woods; the more so
that, just as we had reached the turning-point, the cry of the hounds
came swelling upon the air, loud and prolonged. From the direction of
the sound, I had no doubt but that they were already in the cane-field,
and lifting our trail of the preceding night.

For a few hundred yards farther the timber was thin. The axe had been
flourished there, as the numerous "stumps" testified. It was there the
"firewood" was procured for the use of the plantation, and "cords" of
it, already cut and piled, could be seen on both sides of our path. We
passed among these with trembling haste. We feared to meet with some of
the woodcutters, or the driver of a wood-wagon. Such an encounter would
have been a great misfortune; as, whoever might have seen us would have
guided our pursuers on the track.

Had I reasoned calmly I would not have felt uneasiness on this head. I
might have known, that if the dogs succeeded in tracking us thus far,
they would need no direction from either wagoner or wood-chopper. But
in the hurry of the moment I did not think of this; and I felt relief
when we had passed through the tract of broken woods, and were entering
under the more sombre shadow of the virgin forest.

It was now a question of time--a question of whether we should be able
to reach the lake, summon the Bambarra with his pirogue, and be paddled
out of sight, before the dogs should trail us to the edge of the water.
Should we succeed in doing so, we should then have a fair prospect of
escape. No doubt the dogs would guide our pursuers to the place of our
embarkation--the fallen tree--but then both dogs and men would be at
fault. That gloomy lake of the woods was a rare labyrinth. Though the
open water was a surface of small extent, neither it, nor the
island-like motte of timber in its centre, was visible from the place of
embarkation; and, besides the lake itself, the inundation covered a
large tract of the forest. Even should our pursuers be certain that we
had escaped by the water, they might despair of finding us in the midst
of such a maze--where the atmosphere at that season of fall foliage had
the hue of a dark twilight.

But they would hardly be convinced of our escape in that way. There was
no trace left where the pirogue was moored--no mark upon the tree. They
would scarce suspect the existence of a canoe in such an out-of-the-way
spot, where the water--a mere sta