he subtle and dark-
brewed savage was the perpetrator of the malicious deed.

In this suspicion, he was the more strongly confirmed by an event that
occurred a few days afterwards. It had been discovered that the stream
that ran so gently by the side of the encampment fell, at some distance
to the west, into a river of considerable size and depth, which then
ran on over a descending and rocky bed, forming alternately smooth
broad sheets of water and noisy broken falls, until it precipitated
itself over a sudden precipice of great depth, and fell dashing and
foaming into the basin which its continual fall had worn in the rocks
below. The distant roar of this cataract had frequently been heard in
the camp, when the wind came from that direction, and when the
stillness of the night--broken only by the occasional howl of wild
beasts seeking their prey, or the melancholy cry of the goat-sucker[*]--
succeeded to the sounds of labor or idleness that generally kept the
temporary village alive by day. But, hitherto, no one had had leisure
or inclination to leave the excitement and novelty of hunting to
explore the river, or ascertain its capabilities for fishing.

[Footnote: This mournful sound is believed by the Indians to be the
moaning of the departed spirits of women who have committed
infanticide; and who are, consequently, excluded by Mahneto from the
happy mountains which are the abode of the blessed.]

Now, however, Coubitant brought in a report one evening that the great
stream abounded in fish; and proposed in to Henrich that, as he was for
the present unable to join in the more active business of the chase, he
should assist him in forming a light canoe, in which they could go out
and spear the game that lay beneath the clear blue water in the smooth
reaches of the river.

To this proposal Henrich readily assented; for the sport was one of
which he had beard his Indian friends speak with great pleasure, and he
greatly wished to enjoy it. The canoe was immediately commenced; and as
it merely consisted of the trunk of a straight tulip-tree, hollowed out
by means of fire, and shaped with a hatchet, it was completed in a
couple of days.

The light spears that were to pierce the fish were prepared, and long
slender lines of twisted grass were fastened to their shafts for the
purpose of drawing in their prey; and the following morning, when the
hunters were ready to set out on their usual expedition, Coubitant
desired