The Home of the Wolverctic and Beaver. 49 



by the restless steamer, and her pure air unsullied 

 by the smoke of factory chimneys ; and every 

 surrounding was in harmony with the wild 

 landscape. The canoe in which he was seated, 

 without a vestige of iron in her composition, loaded 

 within a few inches of the rippling stream ; the 

 half-clad boatmen plying their paddles with bare 

 and sinewy arms, chanting the while a wild and 

 plaintive melody to which the water fretting against 

 the rocky ledges, formed a pleasing accompani- 

 ment ; the ever-changing appearance of the river, 

 now widening out into a little lake embossed with 

 miniature islands, or anon narrowing into a rocky 

 gorge down which the torrent thundered menac- 

 ingly, requiring strong arms and a steady eye 

 to thread its intricate and foam-covered mazes ; 

 the heavy splash as a salmon flung his silver sides 

 aloft into the air ; and at intervals a rustling and 

 crackling in the underwood that marked the path 

 of the timid deer flying from the presence of the 

 intruder — man. All was novel, all was beautiful, 

 and Paul felt a load lifted from his breast and 

 replaced by an exhilaration to which he had been a 

 stranger since his father's death. All the past was 

 now to be forgotten, the dream of a life devoted to 

 stormy politics or gentle literature, must now be 

 laid aside for ever ; the future lay in his own hands, 



P 



