L YING IN A MB USH. 263 



behind the brushwood, and moved neither hand nor 

 foot, lest the slightest motion of his enemies might 

 escape him. 



For an hour the trapper lay perfectly still. During 

 that period nothing disturbed the quiet of the woods. 

 The alarm which had been occasioned by the report of 

 the rifle seemed to have subsided, and again the ordinary 

 noises of the forest were audible the bark of the fox, 

 the call of the loon on the neighbouring Athabasca, the 

 scream of the heron, or the plaintive cries of the water- 

 fowl. Jake, however, was not to be betrayed into a 

 fancied sense of security. He lay still in his ambush 

 waiting with the patience of the cat for the appearance 

 of his foes. At length the bushes on the opposite bank 

 of the creek at a spot about one hundred yards distant 

 rustled violently, and immediately the trapper beheld 

 the raft impelled from their shelter into the stream. 

 The three savages were upon it, and in a moment they 

 had pushed across the creek, where they plunged amid 

 the trees, and were lost in the dim shades. 



No noise betrayed their whereabouts ; but Jake well 

 knew that to discover him, alive or dead, was their 

 object. The moment, therefore, that he beheld the 

 Indians disappear deeper into the woods, as if to take 

 his position in the rear, Jake left his ambush, and 

 descending the steep bank of the creek, he dropped 

 into the water. 



This was deep ; but the old hunter was a good 

 swimmer, and cared little for his immersion, although 



