FOREST, LAKE, AND RIVER 



*' She may be a bit off in her reasoning, but 

 she 's come and gone this ten years, and it 's a 

 great farm she 's got with a tidy house on it." 



" And that is all you know of her ? " I further 

 inquired, eager for information respecting my 

 strange visitor of the night before. 



"Weel," replied MacDonald, "only that she's 

 a great hunter. It 's not lang syne she killed a 

 muckle big bear that was rinnin' after her sheep, 

 and in the winter she gangs awa' intil the bush for 

 caribou. And it 's fearsome to see her standing in 

 her canoe wi' a lang fishing pole, casting recht and 

 left, and a-tearin' down the rapids. But she minds 

 her ain business, and she no likes veesitors." 



" Not unless they are handy at stumping," I 

 laughingly replied. 



" Man, you 're recht, but she 's great at that 

 hersel' as weel," and MacDonald chuckled at 

 the thought. 



"And now," said I, "for McTavish." I found 

 him sitting before the door of his cabin modelling 

 a paddle. His appearance was quite as striking as 

 the Maid's. He was tall and raw-boned, with a 

 red beard and hair to match. The latter was long 

 and curled, hanging over the collar of his blue 

 flannel shirt like a great mane. He was, perhaps, 

 fifty or more. I explained to him that Charlo 



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