150 ADVENTURES IN THE WILDERNESS. 



were here all alone, and dropped asleep thinking 

 of it, and, being, in a feverish state, you dreamed 

 that you saw — " 



" Mr. Murray," whispered John, hoarsely, inter- 

 rupting me, "for God's sake, look there 1" 



There was something in his voice, and in the 

 quick motion of his hand as he thrust it out 

 toward the lake, which startled me. Scarcely 

 knowing why or what I was doing, I turned and 

 saw what was enough to quicken the blood in 

 cooler veins than mine. Within a hundred feet 

 of the beach on which I was then standing was 

 what seemed at least to be a canoe, and in it a 

 form sat, bent slightly forward as in the act of 

 listening. A moment it sat thus, and then -the 

 attitude became erect, and a face, as it were the 

 face of a girl imprinted on the air, looked directly 

 into mine. I neither spoke nor moved, but stood 

 steadfastly gazing at the apparition. I was not 

 frightened to bewilderment. All my faculties 

 seemed supernaturally active. I noted the form 

 of the canoe. It was as John had described it,— 

 curved up at either end, and delicately shaped. I 

 noticed the paddle, slender and polished ; the white 

 drapery, the shadowy face. I remembered after- 

 ward that the moonlight fell athwart the prow, as « 

 it projected from the dark shadows of the pines 

 into the unimpeded radiance. It may have been a 

 minute that the apparition faced us ; then, with a 



