sfaction.

He then proceeded to bait his line, and in a few minutes had a dish of
splendid bass ready for the coals. Catharine selected a large flat block
of limestone on which the fish when broiled was laid; but old Jacob
opened his wide mouth and laughed, when she proceeded to lay her bush
table with large basswood leaves for platters. Such nicety he professed
was unusual on a hunter's table. He was too old a forester to care how
his food was dished, so that he had wherewithal to satisfy his hunger.

Many were the merry tales he told and the songs he sung, to wile away
the time, till the daylight faded from the sky, and the deep blue
heavens were studded with bright stars, which were mirrored in countless
hosts deep deep down in that calm waveless river, while thousands of
fireflies lighted up the dark recesses of the forest's gloom. High
in the upper air the hollow booming of the night-hawk was heard at
intervals, and the wild cry of the night-owl from a dead branch,
shouting to its fellow, woke the silence of that lonely river scene.

The old trapper stretched before the crackling fire, smoked his pipe
or hummed some French voyageur's song. Beneath the shelter of the canoe
soundly slept the two girls; the dark cheek of the Indian girl pillowed
on the arm of her fairer companion, her thick tresses of raven hair
mingling with the silken ringlets of the white maiden. They were a
lovely pair--one fair as morning, the other dark as night.

How lightly did they spring from their low bed, wakened by the early
song of the forest birds! The light curling mist hung in fleecy volumes
upon the river, like a flock of sheep at rest--the tinkling sound of
the heavy dew-drops fell in mimic showers upon the stream. See that red
squirrel, how lightly he runs along that fallen trunk--how furtively he
glances with his sharp bright eye at the intruders on his sylvan haunts!
Hark! there is a rustling among the leaves--what strange creature works
its way to the shore? A mud turtle--it turns, and now is trotting along
the little sandy ridge to some sunny spot, where, half buried, it may
lie unseen near the edge of the river. See that musk-rat, how boldly he
plunges into the stream, and, with his oarlike tail, stems the current
till he gains in safety the sedges on the other side.

What gurgling sound is that?--it attracts the practised ear of the old
hunter. What is that object which floats so steadily down the middle
of the stream, an