WILLIE WHISPER 5 



and ineffable peace. His glance was not piercing 

 or alert. It was abstracted rather. His eyes 

 certainly had not what novelists describe as "a 

 far away look " ; but they looked as if they saw a 

 great deal more than there was to see, as if they 

 saw right through everything to something be- 

 yond, as though, while conscious of all his sur- 

 roundings, he was perceptive also of something 

 else in relation to them. His face bore an ex- 

 pression as though to say, " If you knew what I 

 know you would be sure, as I am, that nothing 

 matters and all is well." 



Willie Whisper was, as he told us, on his way 

 down but had got stuck up in the ice a few miles 

 back. Winter had not set in, for the lakes were 

 not full, but the cold snap would last some days, 

 and he had made his way on foot to the old lumber 

 camp to wait for a thaw. 



" You will have more visitors," he added ; "I 

 heard them breaking the ice on the old beaver 

 dam beyond long portage yesterday as the sun 



set." 



" Why ! " I cried, " that is thirty miles away." 

 " Quite so, but all the same I heard them, and 

 I know something about them. Two birch-bark 

 canoes and, I think, six men. I cannot be certain 



