30 JOCK'S LAKE. 



perch ;m<l winged his silent way into recesses of the ton-t 

 where human foot never trod; the nervous little chipmunk 

 watched the singular invaders of his domain, chippered. 

 and plunged into his hole; a partridge or two whirred and 

 darted off out of sight, almost too swift for the vision to 

 follow; and an occasional rabbit hopped nimbly out of the 

 path and disappeared in the bush- 



This was about all the life of the woods that wa- revealed 

 to our eyes. But there were tracks in the soft earth by tin- 

 streams where the timid deer had stealthily crept and fed; 

 sera tchings on tree trunks where bruin had stood up and. 

 oat-like, dug his claws into the wood and Wretched himself; 

 and we knew that the helmeted >entinels around us. if they 

 could but speak our language, would tell us of the lithe 

 panther, the prowling and sneaking wolf, and of tragedies 

 among hungry beast- quite as entertaining as histories of 

 man's inhumanity to man. 



Wilkinson was compelled to chop out several trees that 

 had fallen across the path, which delayed him somewhat, 

 bill the delay was not ungrateful to us. Indeed, as often 

 as the interesting proceeding had to be repeated, we 

 sat down on a convenient and adjacent log with great 

 patience, and superintended the work as wisely as if we 

 were born wood-choppers. Nobody complained of fatigue. 

 If one fell behind, he was examining the geological >peci 

 metis which the rocks afforded. If he sat down, without 

 a general order to halt, his shoe needed tieing. If one stag 

 gercd and stumbled, it was only "a confounded root "; pale 

 or flushed, he was "a little thirsty, you see." No body 



