as I, that no
sooner did I lie down by the side of my canoe than I fell fast asleep.
It was daylight when I awoke. I sprang to my feet, rifle in hand, and
peered through the bushes which effectually concealed me. I could
distinguish in the distance the Indians, who had likewise just risen,
and appeared to be in a state of no little excitement. They had
discovered my trail, and were hunting about to ascertain in which
direction I had gone.

"`Ah, ah!' I thought, `I have crossed an element which allows no trail
to be left on it. They will scarcely believe that I am still so near
them; or should they even suspect it, they will not attempt to follow
me, for they know the effects of my rifle, and that if they do, three or
four of their number will probably have to pay the penalty of their
lives.'

"On Noggin's account I did not want to exasperate them more than they
were already, or I might have picked two or three of them off, when,
having discovered my trail, they followed it to the banks of the river.
I saw them peering about in every direction--now down the stream, now up
it; but, clever as they were, they could not guess what way I had gone.
They examined the bushes all round, but they told no tale which they
could read. They were evidently not a little astonished at my audacity
in having ventured so close to them as to watch their movements. It
made them look upon me as a mighty brave, and they would, I doubted not,
have tried their most exquisite tortures on me to prove my heroism had
they been able to catch me. I knew that there was a possibility of
their so doing, for I was resolved not to leave my friends to their fate
without trying to rescue them, great as I knew the risk was that I was
running. When they could not, with all their ingenuity, discover what
had become of me, they stamped on the ground, and dashed their hatchets
into it, and gnashed their teeth, and performed many other frantic
gestures. I was pleased at this, because it showed that they had
abandoned their search after me.

"Once more they came to the edge of the water, and spat, and grinned at
it to show their rage at its having disappointed them of their prey, and
then they turned tail and went off back to their camp. I feared poor
Noggin would be the sufferer, but I could not help that. I waited
hidden away for three or four hours, till I thought that they would to a
certainty have taken their departure, before I even stirred from