246 The Home oj tJie Wolverene and Beaver. 



fire. Neither talked much, for Paul was admiring 

 the silent beauty of the snow-sheeted lake, over 

 whose crisp and smooth expanse the moon was 

 sailing in silver splendour, and the Canadian was 

 probably engaged in determining whose were the 

 foot-prints that he felt conscious had made a circuit 

 of the camp. After some ten minutes of silence the 

 latter arose, and lifting a huge log in his brawny 

 arms flung it on to the fire, sending a thousand ruddy 

 sparks upAvard to the branches of the old pine. 

 The flames leapt greedily to devour the new comer, 

 the sudden crackle of the dry bark forming a 

 strange contrast to the dead silence reigning 

 without. As the trapper stretched forth his 

 hands to meet the welcome warmth and drew his 

 lofty figure up to its full height, Paul perceived 

 a form rise from behind the bushes that bordered 

 the margin of the lake, but e'er he had time to call 

 his companion's attention, the sharp crack of a rifle 

 rang ominously through the air, and with a sudden 

 exclamation the Canadian staggered backward and 

 fell amongst the snow, whose pure surface was 

 soon stained with a crimson hue. To dart forward 

 to his wounded companion was, for Paul, but the 

 work of a moment, and exerting all his strength, he 

 managed to lift the huge form of the voyagciir and 

 deposit it on the buffalo robes, and as he did so his 



