or, which,
being padded with buckskin, could be opened and shut without a sound, so
that not a ray of light at present escaped.

"Moose won't stand to watch a jack as deer do," he said. "Twill only
scare 'em off. They're a heap too cute to be taken in by an onnatural
big star floating over the water. But 'taint the lucky side of the moon
for us. She'll rise late, and her light'll be so feeble that it wouldn't
show us an elephant clearly if he was under our noses. So if I succeed
in coaxing a bull to the brink of the water, I'll open the jack, and
flash our light on him. He'll bolt the next minute as quick as greased
lightning on skates; but if you only get a short sight of him, I promise
that 'twill be one you'll remember."

"And if he should take a notion to come for us?" said Cyrus.

"He won't, if we don't fire. The boat will be lying among the black
shadows, snug in by the bank, and he'll see nothing but the dazzling
light. But you fellows must keep still as death. Off we go now, boys,
and mum's the word!"

This was almost the last sentence spoken. Not a syllable moved the lips
of any one of the four, as the boat glided away from camp towards the
south end of the lake, the oars making scarcely a sound as Herb handled
them. By and by he ceased rowing for an instant, took his pipe from his
mouth, knocked out its ashes, and put it in his pocket with a wise look
at his companions, murmuring, "Don't want no tobacco incense floating
around!"

At the same time, from a distant ridge upon the eastern shore, covered
with evergreens which stood out like dark steeples against the evening
sky, came a faint, dull noise, as if some belated woodsman was driving a
blunt axe against a tree. The sound itself would scarcely have awakened
a hope of anything unusual in the minds of the inexperienced; but,
combined with the guide's aspect as he pocketed his pipe, it made Cyrus
and his comrades sit suddenly erect, listening as if ears were the only
organs they possessed.

The queer, dull noise was once repeated. Then again there was silence
almost absolute, Herb's oars moving with the softest swish imaginable,
as the boat skimmed along the lonely, curved bay which he had chosen for
a calling-place. It came to a stop amid shadows so dense and black that
they seemed almost tangible, close to a bank fringed with overhanging
bushes, having a background of evergreens. These last, in the
fast-gathering darkness, looked like a sable array o