A TERRIBLE ADVENTURE. 321 



preparing to get under my blankets, when I 

 heard a boat being rowed down the river. I 

 went down to the water's edge to listen, and 

 soon became convinced that it was my own 

 boat, the boat which I had left with my wife, 

 that was approaching, as from the way in 

 which the pins were set, on which the oars 

 turned, a certain clicking noise resulted which 

 there was no mistaking. 



" Full of conjectures as to what could have 

 happened, I holloed loudly as the boat came 

 nearer, and was answered by my wife, who soon 

 brought the boat ashore. 



" She told me that two nights before, the 

 cabin in some way got alight from the stove, 

 whilst she and the children were asleep, and 

 they had only just been able to escape with 

 nothing on but their nightdresses. Everything 

 was burnt — cabin, provisions, clothes, and 

 pelts — and my wife and my three poor little 

 children were left standing in the wilderness 

 without food or shelter. 



"My boat was still in good order, so my wife 



put the children into it, and at once started 



21 



