CIIAP. x. NIGHT-BLIND COMPANIONS. 157 



' Jerome was also on his way to the shanty, having 

 cleared the creek down to the Matawan. For a week 

 before, night-blindness had been growing on me ; but I 

 thought that as I should soon get out of the bush and into 



O tJ 



the settlements, I would get well at once as most others 

 do when they reach the clearings. I said nothing to 

 Jerome about my malady, and after a smoke we crossed 

 the river, and walked slowly towards the shanty together, 

 talking of what we had been doing during the long winter, 

 and now and then stopping to have a smoke. As near as 

 I can guess, we were about two miles from the shanty, in 

 a rough country, up hill and down hill, with handsome 

 pine, a yard through at the butt, all around us. It began 

 to get dusky, and we both, without saying anything to 

 one another, quickened our steps. I had no fear, for I 

 thought that if my eyes became dark Jerome would 

 guide, and he, as I afterwards found out, thought the 

 same of me. The day had been hot and sultry, a thunder- 

 storm was approaching, and from the hills over which we 

 passed we could see it was raining heavily in the north. We 

 reached the Little Beaver Creek, and the crossing-place lay 

 in a hollow between two hills the tall pines overhead 

 making it gloomy and dark. There might be three feet 

 of water in the creek ; but the current was swift, the 

 crossing bad, and above and below was a rapid which 

 no one could stem in the spring of the year. In the 

 middle of the stream there was a rock, bare, except during 

 freshets. The river ought to be thirty yards wide there ; 

 but a mere brook in summer. We reached the creek 

 and entered it together. Suddenly, before we had got to 

 the rock in the middle, Jerome stopped, and stretching 



