e scanty shelter of their canoe.

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX.

AN UNEXPECTED MEETING, AND AN UNEXPECTED DEER-HUNT--ARRIVAL AT THE
OUTPOST--DISAGREEMENT WITH THE NATIVES--AN ENEMY DISCOVERED, AND A
MURDER.

Next morning they rose with the sun, and therefore also with the birds
and beasts.

A wide traverse of the lake now lay before them. This they crossed in
about two hours, during which time they paddled unremittingly, as the
sky looked rather lowering, and they were well aware of the danger of
being caught in a storm in such an egg-shell craft as an Indian canoe.

"We'll put in here now, Mister Harry," exclaimed Jacques, as the canoe
entered the mouth of one of those small rivulets which are called in
Scotland _burns_, and in America _creeks_; "it's like that your appetite
is sharpened after a spell like that. Keep her head a little more to
the left--straight for the p'int--so. It's likely we'll get some fish
here if we set the net."

"I say, Jacques, is yon a cloud or a wreath of smoke above the trees in
the creek?" inquired Harry, pointing with his paddle towards the object
referred to.

"It's smoke, master; I've see'd it for some time, and mayhap we'll find
some Injins there who can give us news of the traders at Stoney Creek."

"And, pray, how far do you think we may now be from that place?"
inquired Harry.

"Forty miles, more or less."

As he spoke, the canoe entered the shallow water of the creek, and began
to ascend the current of the stream, which at its mouth was so sluggish
as to be scarcely perceptible to the eye. Not so, however, to the arms.
The light bark, which, while floating on the lake, had glided buoyantly
forward as if it were itself consenting to the motion, had now become
apparently imbued with a spirit of contradiction, bounding convulsively
forward at each stroke of the paddles, and perceptibly losing speed at
each interval. Directing their course towards a flat rock on the left
bank of the stream, they ran the prow out of the water and leaped
ashore. As they did so, the unexpected figure of a man issued from the
bushes and sauntered towards the spot. Harry and Hamilton advanced to
meet him, while Jacques remained to unload the canoe. The stranger was
habited in the usual dress of a hunter, and carried a fowling-piece over
his right shoulder. In general appearance he looked like an Indian; but
though the face was burned by exposure to a hue that nearly equalled the
red skins of