me in the water as otters, they plunged in, clothes
and all, without halting, and in a few seconds had gained the other
side.

When they reached the top of the ridge they stopped and gazed in silent
admiration, for there lay stretched out before them a vast woodland
scene of most exquisite beauty. Just at their feet was the lake of
which they were in search; some parts of it bright as the blue sky which
its unruffled breast reflected; other parts dark almost to blackness
with the images of rocks and trees. Everywhere around lay a primeval
wilderness of wood and water which it is beyond the power of mortal pen
adequately to describe; and while all was suffused with the golden light
of an early summer sun, and steeped in the repose of an absolutely calm
day, the soft and plaintive cries of innumerable wild-fowl enlivened,
without disturbing, the profound tranquillity of the scene.

"Does it not remind you of our own dear land?" said Heika in a low soft
voice.

"Ay, like the lowlands on the shores of the Forth fiord," replied Hake,
in the same low tone, as if he feared to break the pleasing stillness;
"and there, surely, are the booths we were to search for--see, in the
hollow, at the head of yonder bay, with the gravelly beach and the
birch-trees hanging from the rocks as if they wished to view themselves
in the watery mirror."

"True--there are three of them visible. Let us descend and examine."

"Hist! Some one appears to have got there before us," said Hake, laying
his hand on his brother's shoulder and pointing in the direction of the
huts.

"It is not a human visitor, methinks," observed Heika.

"More like a bear," returned Hake.

In order to set the question at rest the brothers hastened round by the
woods to a spot immediately behind the huts. There was a hill there so
steep as to be almost a precipice. It overlooked the shores of the lake
immediately below where the huts were, and when the pioneers came to the
crest of it and peeped cautiously over, they beheld a large brown bear
not far from the hut that stood nearest to the hill, busily engaged in
devouring something.

"Now it is a pity," whispered Heika, "that we brought no arms with us.
Truly, little cause have we men to be proud of our strength, for yonder
beast could match fifty of us if we had nothing to depend on save our
fists and feet and fingers."

"Why not include the teeth in your list, brother?" asked Hake, with a
quiet laugh; "but