ngle sable steersman coming to his rescue. He felt
tempted to communicate the vision to his sleeping partner; but, thinking
it unkind to disturb her slumbers, he desists from his resolution,
reclines on the ground, and without intending it, he falls fast asleep.
But imagine his astonishment and alarm when he came to consciousness, to
find that he had slept for three full hours without interruption. He
could hardly realize it, the interval seemed like an instant. However,
all was well; his wife and babe were still enjoying unbroken rest, and
no foe had discovered their retreat; and withal, the gladsome light of
day is now breaking in around them and eclipsing the glare of the
smouldering embers. Up starts our hero much refreshed and invigorated,
and exulting in surprising buoyancy of spirit for running the race of
the new day now ushering in. He withdraws a gunshot from the camp: and
what does he descry in the grey dawn but, apparently, a small skiff with
a single rower crossing the river towards them, but a short distance
down the stream. The advancing light of day soon confirmed his hopes. He
at once started in the direction of the skiff, having armed himself with
his loaded musket, and resolved to get possession of it by fair means or
by foul. A few minutes brought him to the spot, and to his great
astonishment he found himself in the undisputed possession of the object
of his wishes, a tiny little canoe drawn up on the beach. In connection
with the night's vision he would have positively declared that there was
something supernatural in the affair, but having marked the bare
footprints of its late occupant on the muddy soil, and heard the
rustling of leaves in the distance, calling attention to the woolly head
of its owner getting out of sight through the bush, and making his way
for a neighboring plantation. He could explain the event upon strict
natural principles. The happy coincidence, however, filled him with
emotions of joy, in so readily securing the means of an earlier and more
expeditious transit. He retraces his steps and joins his little circle,
and in joyous ecstacy relates to his sympathetic spouse, just aroused
from her long slumbers, the tenor of his lucky adventure. There is now
no time to lose. The crimson rays of the rising sun peering through a
dense morning atmosphere and a dense forest, are reflected upon the
surface of the stream to which they are about to commit their fortune,
and admonish them t