A WILD SCENE. 73 



As the mouth of the creek was down stream, in 

 which direction they were travelling, the hunters broke 

 up camp at an early hour and embarked in the canoe. 

 They were not long in reaching the embouchure of the 

 stream. 



Turning up its sombre waters, which flowed slug- 

 gishly beneath the heavy shade of overhanging pines, 

 they shortly came to a spot where the shallowness of 

 the stream compelled them to leave the boat and pro- 

 ceed on foot. Alternately wading in the shallows, and 

 creeping round the base of the cliffs to avoid the deep 

 pools which swirled and eddied fiercely round huge 

 boulders fallen from above, they presently arrived at a 

 bend in the course of the creek. 



" Look hyur," said old Jake ; " hyur's the very spot 

 where I got the fust glimp o' the Injun. Yonder's the 

 cave." 



Looking upwards, the youths in truth perceived a 

 dark opening in the face of the cliff, beneath a beetling 

 rock that overhung the entrance. On the summit of 

 the bluffs a few stunted pines were relieved against 

 the sky, stretching their ragged arms over the abyss. 

 Others, having probably been uprooted in a tempest, 

 hung head downwards, or grew at various angles to 

 the cliffs. Both above and below the spot, the waters 

 of the creek rushed over their uneven bed, filling the 

 gloomy passage with the hoarse roar of ceaseless strife 

 against rock and boulder. 



It was a wild scene, and was rendered doubly so on 



