e others we did not know. Evidently the lake was a big one and they
might be miles away. Eddie had the only compass, though this would seem
to be of no special advantage.

At last, just before us, the shore parted--a definite, wide parting it
was, that when we pushed into it did not close and come to nothing, but
kept on and on, opening out ahead. We went a good way in, to make sure.
The water seemed very still, but then we remembered the flatness of the
country. Undoubtedly this was the outlet, and we had discovered it. It
was only natural that we should feel a certain elation in our having had
the good fortune--the instinct, as it were--to proceed aright. I lifted
my gun and it was with a sort of triumphant flourish that I fired the
two signal shots.

It may be that the reader will not fully understand the importance of
finding a little thing like the outlet of a lake on a wet, disagreeable
day when the other fellows are looking for it, too; and here, to-day,
far away from that northern desolation, it does not seem even to me a
very great affair whether our canoe or Eddie's made the discovery. But
for some reason it counted a lot then, and I suppose Del and I were
unduly elated over our success. It was just as well that we were, for
our period of joy was brief. In the very instant while my finger was
still touching the trigger, we heard come soggily through the mist, from
far down the chill, gray water, one shot and then another.

I looked at Del and he at me.

"They've found something, too," I said. "Do you suppose there are two
outlets? Anyhow, here goes," and I fired again our two shots of
discovery, and a little later two more so that there might be no mistake
in our manifest. I was not content, you see, with the possibility of
being considered just an ordinary ass, I must establish proof beyond
question of a supreme idiocy in the matter of woodcraft. That is my way
in many things. I know, for I have done it often. I shall keep on doing
it, I suppose, until the moment when I am permitted to say, "I die
innocent."

"They only think they have found something," I said to Del now. "It's
probably the long slough we found a while ago. They'll be up here quick
enough," and I fired yet two more shots, to rub it in.

But now two more shots came also from Eddie, and again two more. By this
time we had pushed several hundred yards farther into the opening, and
there was no doubt but that it was a genuine river. I was g