liquid gold.
The light only extended over a semicircle. From the manner in which the
torch was placed, its light did not fall upon the other half of the
circle, and this, by contrast, appeared even darker than it would
otherwise have done.

The advantage of the plan which Norman had adopted was at once apparent
to all. Ahead of the canoe the whole river was plainly seen for a
distance of several hundred yards. No object larger than a cork could
have floated on its surface, without being visible to those in the
vessel--much less the great white body of a trumpeter swan. Astern of
the canoe, on the other hand, all was pitchy darkness, and any one
looking at the vessel from a position ahead could have seen nothing but
the bright torch and the black uniform surface behind it. As I have
already stated, the concave side of the bark was towards the blaze, and
the pan containing the torch being placed close in to the screen, none
of the light could possibly fall upon the forms of those within the
canoe. They were therefore invisible to any creature from the front,
while they themselves could see everything before them.

Two questions yet remained unanswered. First,--would our hunters find
any swans on the river? Second,--if they should, would these birds
allow themselves to be approached near enough to be shot at? The first
question Norman, of course, could not answer. That was a matter beyond
his knowledge or control. The swans might or might not appear, but it
was to be hoped they would. It was likely enough. Many had been seen
on the preceding day, and why not then? To the second question, the
young Canadian gave a definite reply. He assured his cousins that, if
met with, the birds would be easily approached in this manner; he had
often hunted them so. They would either keep their place, and remain
until the light came very near them, or they would move towards it (as
he had many times known them to do), attracted by curiosity and the
novelty of the spectacle. He had hunted deer in the same manner; he had
shot, he said, hundreds of these animals upon the banks of rivers, where
they had come down to the water to drink, and stood gazing at the light.

His cousins could well credit his statements. They themselves had
hunted deer by torchlight in the woods of Louisiana, where it is termed
"fire-hunting." They had killed several in this way. The creatures, as
if held by some fascination, would stand with hea