opening in the shore, to mark the egress of
the water. In the forest above, no traces of this outlet were to be seen
from the lake, the whole presenting the same connected and seemingly
interminable carpet of leaves. As the canoe slowly advanced, sucked in
by the current, it entered beneath an arch of trees, through which the
light from the heavens struggled by casual openings, faintly relieving
the gloom beneath.

"This is a nat'ral and-bush," half whispered Hurry, as if he felt that
the place was devoted to secrecy and watchfulness; "depend on it, old
Tom has burrowed with the ark somewhere in this quarter. We will drop
down with the current a short distance, and ferret him out."

"This seems no place for a vessel of any size," returned the other; "it
appears to me that we shall have hardly room enough for the canoe."

Hurry laughed at the suggestion, and, as it soon appeared, with reason;
for the fringe of bushes immediately on the shore of the lake was no
sooner passed, than the adventurers found themselves in a narrow stream,
of a sufficient depth of limpid water, with a strong current, and a
canopy of leaves upheld by arches composed of the limbs of hoary trees.
Bushes lined the shores, as usual, but they left sufficient space
between them to admit the passage of anything that did not exceed twenty
feet in width, and to allow of a perspective ahead of eight or ten times
that distance.

Neither of our two adventurers used his paddle, except to keep the light
bark in the centre of the current, but both watched each turning of the
stream, of which there were two or three within the first hundred yards,
with jealous vigilance. Turn after turn, however, was passed, and the
canoe had dropped down with the current some little distance, when Hurry
caught a bush, and arrested its movement so suddenly and silently as to
denote some unusual motive for the act. Deerslayer laid his hand on the
stock of his rifle as soon as he noted this proceeding, but it was quite
as much with a hunter's habit as from any feeling of alarm.

"There the old fellow is!" whispered Hurry, pointing with a finger, and
laughing heartily, though he carefully avoided making a noise, "ratting
it away, just as I supposed; up to his knees in the mud and water,
looking to the traps and the bait. But for the life of me I can see
nothing of the ark; though I'll bet every skin I take this season, Jude
isn't trusting her pretty little feet in the neighbor