n to pale, and low down in
the west a few fleecy clouds, gorgeously golden for a fleeting
instant, then crimson-crowned for another, shaded and darkened as
the setting sun sank behind the hills. Presently the red rays
disappeared, a pink glow suffused the heavens, and at last, as gray
twilight stole down over the hill-tops, the crescent moon peeped
above the wooded fringe of the western bluffs.

"Hard an' fast she is," sang out Jeff Lynn, as he fastened the rope
to a tree at the head of a small island. "All off now, and' we'll
hev' supper. Thar's a fine spring under yon curly birch, an' I
fetched along a leg of deer-meat. Hungry, little 'un?"

He had worked hard all day steering the rafts, yet Nell had seen him
smiling at her many times during the journey, and he had found time
before the early start to arrange for her a comfortable seat. There
was now a solicitude in the frontiersman's voice that touched her.

"I am famished," she replied, with her bright smile. "I am afraid I
could eat a whole deer."

They all climbed the sandy slope, and found themselves on the summit
of an oval island, with a pretty glade in the middle surrounded by
birches. Bill, the second raftsman, a stolid, silent man, at once
swung his axe upon a log of driftwood. Mr. Wells and Jim walked to
and fro under the birches, and Kate and Nell sat on the grass
watching with great interest the old helmsman as he came up from the
river, his brown hands and face shining from the scrubbing he had
given them. Soon he had a fire cheerfully blazing, and after laying
out the few utensils, he addressed himself to Joe:

"I'll tell ye right here, lad, good venison kin be spoiled by bad
cuttin' and cookin'. You're slicin' it too thick. See--thar! Now
salt good, an' keep outen the flame; on the red coals is best."

With a sharpened stick Jeff held the thin slices over the fire for a
few moments. Then he laid them aside on some clean white-oak chips
Bill's axe had provided. The simple meal of meat, bread, and
afterward a drink of the cold spring water, was keenly relished by
the hungry voyagers. When it had been eaten, Jeff threw a log on the
fire and remarked:

"Seein' as how we won't be in redskin territory fer awhile yit, we
kin hev a fire. I'll allow ye'll all be chilly and damp from
river-mist afore long, so toast yerselves good."

"How far have we come to-day?" inquired Mr. Wells, his mind always
intent on reaching the scene of his cherished undertak