because the busy
preparations of tent and cooking prevent, but with the first
pause--after supper usually--it comes and announces itself. And the note
of this willow-camp now became unmistakably plain to me: we were
interlopers, trespassers, we were not welcomed. The sense of
unfamiliarity grew upon me as I stood there watching. We touched the
frontier of a region where our presence was resented. For a night's
lodging we might perhaps be tolerated; but for a prolonged and
inquisitive stay--No! by all the gods of the trees and the wilderness,
no! We were the first human influences upon this island, and we were not
wanted. _The willows were against us_.

Strange thoughts like these, bizarre fancies, borne I know not whence,
found lodgment in my mind as I stood listening. What, I thought, if,
after all, these crouching willows proved to be alive; if suddenly they
should rise up, like a swarm of living creatures, marshaled by the gods
whose territory we had invaded, sweep towards us off the vast swamps,
booming overhead in the night--and then _settle down_! As I looked it
was so easy to imagine they actually moved, crept nearer, retreated a
little, huddled together in masses, hostile, waiting for the great wind
that should finally start them a-running. I could have sworn their
aspect changed a little, and their ranks deepened and pressed more
closely together.

The melancholy shrill cry of a night bird sounded overhead, and suddenly
I nearly lost my balance as the piece of bank I stood upon fell with a
great splash into the river, undermined by the flood. I stepped back
just in time, and went on hunting for firewood again, half laughing at
the odd fancies that crowded so thickly into my mind and cast their
spell upon me. I recall the Swede's remark about moving on next day, and
I was just thinking that I fully agreed with him, when I turned with a
start and saw the subject of my thoughts standing immediately in front
of me. He was quite close. The roar of the elements had covered his
approach.

"You've been gone so long," he shouted above the wind, "I thought
something must have happened to you."

But there was that in his tone, and a certain look in his face as well,
that conveyed to me more than his actual words, and in a flash I
understood the real reason for his coming. It was because the spell of
the place had entered his soul too, and he did not like being alone.

"River still rising," he cried, pointing to the