CHAPTER XXX. 



GOOD-BYE FLOATING DOWN THE RACKETT A BLACK FOX 

 A TRICK UPON THE MARTIN TRAPPERS AND ITS CONSE- 

 QUENCES. 



WE rose with the dawn the next morning, and before the 

 snn was above the hills we were on our way down the lake, 

 to separate as we struck the Rackett; the Doctor and Smith 

 to return by the way of Keeseville and the Champlain, and 

 Spalding and myself to drift down that pleasant stream to 

 Pottsdam, and thence to the majestic St. Lawrence, to spend 

 a fortnight among the " Thousand Islands " of that noble river. 

 Near the outlet of the lake is a bold rocky bluff, rising right 

 up out of the deep water twenty feet, against which the 

 waves dash, and around which a romantic bay steals away 

 to hide itself in the old woods. This beautiful bay is 

 always calm, for even the narrow strait which connects it 

 with the open water is divided by a rocky, but wooded 

 island, shutting out alike the winds and the waves from dis- 

 turbing its repose. It is surrounded by gigantic forest trees, 



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