e, "it 'ud be a powerful shame to fling it away."

"Well, lads," said Redhand, "it's evident that we can't drink it just
now, for it would unsteady our hands for the work we have to do this
night. It's also clear we can't carry it with us on a war expedition;
so I propose that we should put it where we found it an' come back for
it when we've done wi' the redskins."

This plan was finally agreed to; the keg was reburied at the foot of the
poplar, and the party continued their journey, carrying the much-prized
tobacco along with them.

The sun was still blazing above the mountains in the west, tingeing
their snowy spires with rosy red, when the trappers came upon the first
indication of the neighbourhood of Indians in the shape of recent
footprints and cuttings in the woods. A large canoe was also found
lying bottom up on the bank of the creek. This Redhand examined, and
found it to be in good condition, although, from the marks in the
vicinity, it was evident that it had not been recently used.

Men who spend their lives in the backwoods of America are celebrated for
the closeness with which they observe every object and circumstance
which happens to pass within the range of their perceptions. This habit
and acuteness of observation is the result of necessity. The trapper
and the Red Indian are alike dependent very much on this faculty for
their sustenance and for their safety. Surrounded as they are by perils
of every kind, their eyes and ears are constantly on the alert, as they
pass through the pathless wilderness on the hunt or on the war trail.
No object within the range of vision is passed with indifference.
Everything is carefully yet quickly noted--the breaking of a twig, the
crushing of a blade of grass, or the footprint of man or beast. Hence
the backwoodsman acquires the habit of turning all things in his path to
account, or notes them in case they should, by any possibility, be
required by him at a future time.

Redhand had no definite object in view when, with the assistance of
March Marston, he lifted the canoe and placed it in the stream to
ascertain that it was water-tight, and then replaced it on the bank with
the paddles close beside it. But he had a general idea, founded on
experience, that a good canoe was a useful thing in many supposable
circumstances, and that it was as well to know where such an article was
to be found.

"We shall have to go cautiously now," said he before resuming